ProjectCounter.org
Title
COUNTER - Online Usage of Electronic Resources
Contact
- Counter
-
- Edinburgh Scotland
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland EH36NR
-
- +44.1315579703
Description
Introduction
Launched in March 2002, COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) is an international initiative designed to serve librarians, publishers and intermediaries by facilitating the recording and exchange of online usage statistics. The use of online information resources has been growing exponentially and it is widely agreed by producers and purchasers of information that the use of these resources should be measured in a more consistent way. Building on a number of important, existing initiatives, COUNTER has set out to achieve this.
In December 2002, COUNTER released a Code of Practice that provides, inter alia, guidance on data elements to be measured, definitions of these data elements, usage report content and formats, as well as on data processing.
COUNTER will initially focus on journals and databases, as these types of content are not only the major items in most library material budgets , but have also been available online for some time and have a core of well-accepted definitions and content structures. This is not the case, for example, with e-books; these and other types of content will be covered in subsequent Releases of the Code of Practice. COUNTER will also establish an organizational framework and technical/business model for ongoing implementation and development of the Code of Practice.
