Looking back on UKSG 2026

Last week was the 49th UKSG Annual Conference & Exhibition, and it was – as usual – fabulous. This year was also the first time that COUNTER’s been able to be part of an exhibition. To make sure we could always have someone on-stand, Siân and I took Jo Lambert (the Chair of our Board and Deputy Director at SCONUL) with us to Glasgow. Hundreds of people came to visit us over the course of the conference, and we were able to answer lots of questions.

Tasha’s Takeaways

This isn’t a wrap up of everything that took place at UKSG, just the bits that are relevant to COUNTER!

• In the two COUNTER breakouts, there was near-universal agreement that libraries and publishers saw usage decrease in 2025. As we said in February, we think that’s mostly related to increased reliance on AI. Our forthcoming best practice on reporting AI usage should help highlight the shift.
• A smaller number of libraries haven’t quite caught up with the key change in R5.1, that Item is now the unit of reporting, so they’re confused about book usage appearing to increase. Our Friendly Guide to Changes in R5.1 should help.
• Many libraries are still relying on standard views, much as I might wish otherwise.
• The community thinks we’re doing a good job, but expect us to do more, faster. Here’s the thing: we’re still staffed at less than one full-time equivalent person, with some incredible volunteers. There’s not much more we can squeeze into the available time! If you want us to do more, please contact me and let me know how you’d like to get involved.
• Last but not least… there is such a thing as too much coffee. Who knew?

Our booth

I’m a bit proud of my design work on these banners!