Does Release 5 Finally Give Us a Level Playing Field?

Abstract

ABSTRACT COUNTER Release 5 introduced four new reporting metrics: Total_Item_Requests, Unique_Item_Requests, Total_Item_Investigations, and Unique_Item_Investigations. These new measurements allow librarians to compare use across different platforms and finally overcome the shortcomings of previous COUNTER releases where platform design strongly influenced usage statistics and often resulted in double counting PDF downloads and HTML views. The presenters explained the changes from Release 4 to Release 5 and the impact of the new metrics on more robust decision-making and easier comparison of usage across platforms. Special emphasis was placed on investigating the effects of the new reporting metrics, identifying providers most impacted by the changes in metrics, and assessing how much of the double counting in COUNTER 4 was eliminated by the standards change. The session also covered how Open Access usage data can inform librarians in decision-making and the impact of the global pandemic on 2020 usage statistics.