COUNTER Newsletter, March 2024

We are nearly three months into 2024 so it is time for another COUNTER newsletter. There’s quite a bit about the first ever COUNTER conference, which is less than two months away!

Speaking of conferences, I’m looking forward to attending the UKSG conference in Glasgow next month along with Siân Harris, our new Communications and Engagement Manager. If you are going to be there do look out for us and say hello, or drop me a line to arrange a meeting.

Last but very definitely not least, if you’ve seen an email from me recently you’ll know that the way to get in touch has changed: my new email is tasha@countermetrics.org. Messages to the old address will still get to me, but they might be a little slower to arrive.

All the best – Tasha

Join us at the COUNTER Conference and AGM on 16th May

Join us at the first ever COUNTER Conference, running alongside our Annual General Meeting on 16 May 2024. This online event will focus on sharing best practices for usage metrics and we have a great line up of speakers – take a look and register through our event page.

The conference is a free event exclusively for COUNTER members, including people who work at libraries affiliated with consortia that are COUNTER members.

For more information about COUNTER and how to join, please visit the membership page.

Sponsor the COUNTER Conference

We are seeking sponsors for the COUNTER conference, to help us ensure this new event is successful and valuable for the whole community. Sponsors will have their names and branding displayed prominently on event pages, slides and in newsletters, as well as during breaks (though as we’re online-only, attendees will have to supply their own coffee).

If you can help support us, drop a line to tasha@countermetrics.org.

Welcoming Our Robot Overlords

COUNTER is launching a project to revise the Robots and Crawlers exclusion list. If you are a report provider included in the Registry and are able to help us by providing the list of bots which sent traffic to your platform in the period April 2023-March 2024, identified using e.g. Google Analytics bot detection tools or Cloudflare logs, please get in touch with tasha@countermetrics.org.

CC-PLUS demo trial available

Libraries and consortia interested in automated SUSHI harvesting of COUNTER usage stats are invited to try out the latest enhancements to CC-PLUS, courtesy of the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL).

To request demo space complete the request form at https://kyvl.libwizard.com/f/ccplus-trial. The demo will remain active through 30 June 2024.

CC-PLUS, Consortia Collaborating on a Platform for Library Usage Statistics, had its origins in 2014 in the International Consortium of Library Consortia. Original development, made possible by IMLS grant funds (2017-2021), was led by PALCI and partners. Further development took place in 2022-2023 when KYVL was awarded a LYRASIS Catalyst Fund grant. Active development resumed in February 2024 with funds committed by KYVL.

COUNTER in the Community

If you are at the UKSG conference in Glasgow from 8th to 10th April, do look out for Tasha Mellins-Cohen and Siân Harris. Tasha will be part of a group session on ‘Open infrastructure and standards: small bodies, big impact’ and both Tasha and Siân will be available to chat about COUNTER, what we are currently working on and how you can get involved.

Did You Know?

One of the questions submitted for our new FAQ page was

I’m an e-resources librarian and I really value normalised metrics. How can I persuade more publishers to offer COUNTER reports?

First off, thank you – it’s great to know we’re helping our community! There are a few things that you can do to boost COUNTER compliance from your publishing partners. The first is as simple as asking them: some may simply not know that you want these metrics. If they need information, just introduce them to tasha@countermetrics.org. Secondly, you can include a requirement for COUNTER reporting in your license agreements. There’s some standard terminology in section 10.1 of the Code of Practice. Lastly, you can collaborate with your fellow librarians to help show just how widespread the demand for COUNTER reporting is!