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.
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
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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