In collaboration with LibLynx, The Chronicle provides COUNTER compliant usage reporting for consistent, comparable metrics and a seamless experience.

What is a COUNTER report?

COUNTER stands for Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources and is standardized reporting for recording and reporting of online usage statistics for consistency, credibility & compatibility among vendors. Interested in learning more? You can find everything you need on the COUNTER website.

How does COUNTER reporting benefit my role in the academic library?

It allows you to compare usage easily between different publisher platforms with standardized formats, assess user activity, and engagement with the content and make data-informed decisions for renewing electronic resources.

How do I gain access to the LibLynx portal?

Notify us that you want COUNTER usage reporting by sending an email to [email protected] and our customer service team will submit a request for an invitation to the portal to be sent to your email address.

How long does it take to receive the invitation to the portal?

Usually on the same day, but no longer than 24 hours.

What should I see in my COUNTER reporting?

COUNTER metrics appear within three categories.

Usage Metrics show engagement with the content as Investigations and Requests.

Search Metrics appear in a Platform report or a Database report.

Denial Metrics show that the institution does not have a license to the content.

Here is a simple analogy of the above: a publisher platform (website) is like a popular restaurant. Search metrics represent the people coming to the restaurant. Usage metrics are people seated in the restaurant who are buying food and drinks. Access denials are the people turned away because they do not have reservations.

Want a closer look at each report? You can explore them on the COUNTER reports page.

What is the difference between an Item Investigation and an Item Request?

These refer to specific types of content, such as books or reference works like a dictionary or a bibliography. Chronicle reports accessible under the site license can appear here if the title of the report is provided. 

Want to understand how Investigations and Requests are counted? The Using COUNTER guide offers a friendly overview, and the COUNTER Code of Practice has the full technical definitions.

What are the different types of search metrics in the 5.1 Release?

Four types of search metrics are provided in the COUNTER report:

Platform searches, which appear only in the Platform report.

Regular searches, which allow the user to choose a database to search.

Automated searches, which apply to multi-database platforms and the user cannot select which to search.

Federated searches are for those conducted outside of the publisher’s platform.

Regular, automated, and federated searches will appear only in the Database Report.

Want to dig deeper into how searches are counted? The COUNTER metrics guide offers a friendly overview, and the COUNTER Code of Practice has the full technical definitions. 

Why should I care about reporting on Access Denials?

Access denials can be valuable in acquisition decisions for the collection. High No License counts might suggest that users from an institution need a resource that isn't being made available to them. In contrast, being able to demonstrate an absence of denials could help librarians push back against acquisitions that might not be used frequently.

Want to learn more about how access denials are tracked? The COUNTER metrics guide offers a friendly overview, and the COUNTER Code of Practice has the full technical definitions. 

How many years of reporting is available?

As of now, we cannot provide reporting prior to November 2024.

Can my COUNTER reporting be enabled for SUSHI?

Yes, the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) is available. Please indicate you would like to include SUSHI in your request to access the portal. For more information about SUSHI, see the COUNTER documentation.

If I have an issue in the portal, who do I contact?

You can contact LibLynx customer service at [email protected].

What if I have existing profiles with LibLynx separate from access Chronicle reporting?

You can contact Liblynx to synch the other profiles. This is a service they provide to their publishing partners.