The pages underneath the Counter 5 tab above hold graphs, lists and other information found in the Counter 5 Platform, Database, and Title Master Reports found in LibInsight. These reports track usage of our subscription database platforms, databases, and titles in various ways. Many of you have access to these reports already, but pulling out some of the key information and displaying it in different ways may be helpful in decision making. Below are some tools and resources to help you understand and use these reports.
These monthly dashboards are helpful for comparing types of use across different database platforms. For example, the Unique Title Investigations shows the total investigations for a time period but also individual investigations for a specific databases, such as Credo. This could give a sense of whether some platforms are underutilized compared to those that are heavily utilized.
NOTE - The data provided in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the reports that provide the needed statistics. If a platform is not found here, this is indicative that the platform does not offer Counter 5 reporting in LibInsight.
These annual dashboards are helpful for comparing types of use across different database platforms. For example, the Unique Title Investigations shows the total investigations for a time period but also individual investigations for a specific databases, such as Credo. This could give a sense of whether some platforms are underutilized compared to those that are heavily utilized.
NOTE - The data provided in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the reports that provide the needed statistics. If a platform is not found here, this is indicative that the platform does not offer Counter 5 reporting in LibInsight.
These annual dashboards are helpful for comparing types of use across academic year time periods and is useful for annual academic year reporting purposes.
NOTE - The data provided in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the reports that provide the needed statistics. If a platform is not found here, this is indicative that the platform does not offer Counter 5 reporting in LibInsight.
These monthly dashboards are useful for comparing how users engage with specific database platforms. For example, a higher ratio for Total Item Investigations vs. Unique Item Investigations can indicate a higher level of engagement as users interact with an article by downloading the items that are linked to the article (abstracts, linked cited references, content previews) and not just the HTML or PDF of the article itself.
NOTE - The data provided in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the Master Platform Report that provides the needed statistics. These are Alexander Street Video, American Chemical Society, Bloomsbury/Berg, Credo/Infobase, Docuseek2, EBSCOhost, Gale, JSTOR, Newsbank, Oxford University Press, Project Muse, ProQuest, ProQuest Ebook Central, Science/AAAS, and SpringerLink.
These annual dashboards are useful for comparing how users engage with specific database platforms. For example, a higher ratio for Total Item Investigations vs. Unique Item Investigations can indicate a higher level of engagement as users interact with an article by downloading the items that are linked to the article (abstracts, linked cited references, content previews) and not just the HTML or PDF of the article itself.
NOTE - The data provided in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the Master Platform Report that provides the needed statistics. These are Alexander Street Video, American Chemical Society, Bloomsbury/Berg, Credo/Infobase, Docuseek2, EBSCOhost, Gale, JSTOR, Newsbank, Oxford University Press, Project Muse, ProQuest, ProQuest Ebook Central, Science/AAAS, and SpringerLink.
These academic - year dashboards track the number of Total Item Requests and No License ("turnaways") per academic year for the top ten platforms, databases, electronic journals, ebooks, multimedia, and other media items. While the charts shown are limited to the top ten titles in each category, links are provided at the bottom of each dashboard to the related datasets which can include many more.
NOTE - The data provided for the platform use dashboard in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the Master Platform Report. These are Alexander Street Video, Bloomsbury/Berg, Bloomsbury, Credo/Infobase, Docuseek2, EBSCO, Gale/Cengage, JSTOR, Newsbank, Oxford Online, Project Muse, Proquest, Proquest eBook Central, Science/AAAS, and SpringerLink.
NOTE - The data provided for the database use dashboard in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the Master Database Report. These are Alexander Street Video, Bloomsbury/Berg, Credo/Infobase, Docuseek2, EBSCO, Gale/Cengage, JSTOR, Project Muse, and Proquest.
NOTE - The data provided for the journal, ebook, and other media use dashboards in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the Master Title Report. These are ACS, Bloomsbury/Berg, Credo/Infobase, EBSCO, Gale/Cengage, JSTOR, Newsbank, Oxford Online, Project Muse, Proquest, Proquest eBook Central, Science/AAAS, and SpringerLink.
NOTE - The data provided for the multimedia use dashboards in these views are limited to those platforms that provide Counter 5 reports through LibInsight and offer the Master Item Report. These are Alexander Street Video, Bloomsbury/Berg, Docuseek2, JSTOR, Oxford Online, Proquest, and Science/AAAS.
The resources below should help you understand and use Counter 5.
Project COUNTER’s mission “COUNTER exists to develop and maintain the standard for counting and reporting the use of electronic resources. It will ensure that content providers can implement the code of practice efficiently and that their library customers and users will receive relevant usage reports in the format they need.”
COUNTER’s standardized usage reports allow libraries to:
• Compare usage easily across different publisher platforms & vendors and reports/formats are standard
• Assess user activity, in relationship to their content & improve user experience
• Inform renewal and new purchasing decisions
• Justify budget spend to their stakeholders
• Inform faculty/power-users about the value & use of current library resources
• Derive “cost-per-use” for content
Some of our online platforms do not provide Counter 5 data, but offer other usage data. These dashboards are linked in the drop-down menu above and include -
There is a compiled monthly and annual dashboard of non-Counter resource linked here. The corresponding dataset is here.
Included here is data related to the use of our LibGuides and the A-Z List of databases. These dashboards are linked in the drop-down menu above and include -
Note - the links above go to my OneDrive folders of the data used to produce the datasets and the dashboards used in the drop-down menu. If you would like access to these, please let me know.
Included here are other dashboards related to electronic resource use in the HCC Libraries.
Platform_Reports
This report provides an overview of each platform's usage, including investigations, requests, searches, and access denied tracking. Also, you can view cost-per-use statistics, as well as each platform's total number of journals, databases, and ebooks..
Database_Reports
A customizable report that offers usage on all metrics and content types for databases, including full-text usage, investigations, searches, turnaways, and federated searches.
Title_Reports
A customizable report detailing activity by title that allows the user to apply filters and select other configuration options.
Total_Item_Investigations
Total number of times a “Content Item” or information related to a “Content Item” was accessed. Double-click filters are applied to these transactions. A “Content Item” could be an “Article”, “Book Chapter”, “Multimedia” files.
Unique_Item_Investigations
Number of unique “Content Items” investigated in a user-session. Examples of items are “Article”, “Book Chapter”, “Multimedia” files.
Unique_Title_Investigations
Number of unique Book titles investigated in a user session. Examples of “Titles” are whole books or chapters of books. Any book can only be counted once in a single session.
Total_Item_Requests
Total number of times a “Content Item” was requested (i.e. the full text or content was downloaded or viewed). Double-click filters applied.
Unique_Item_Requests
Number of unique “Content Items” requested in a user-session. Examples of items are “Article”, “Book Chapter”, “Multimedia” files.
Unique_Title_Requests
Number of unique Book titles requested in a user session. Examples of “Titles” are whole books or chapters of books. Any book can only be counted once in a single session.
Searches_regular
Number of searches conducted on the host site or against a user-selected database where results are returned to the user on the host UI. The user is responsible for selecting the databases or set of data to be searched. This metric only applies to usage tracked at the database level and is not represented at the Platform level.
Searches_automated
Searches conducted on the host site or discovery service where results are returned in the host-site UI and multiple databases are searched without the user selecting those databases. This metric only applies to usage tracked at the database level and is not represented at the Platform level.
Searches_federated
Searches conducted by a federated search engine typically where the search activity is conducted remotely via client-server technology. This metric only applies to usage tracked at the database level and is not represented at the Platform level.
Searches_platform
Searches conducted by users and captured at the Platform level. Each user-initiated search can only be counted once, regardless of the number of databases/collections involved in the search. This metric only applies to Platform reports.
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