RLUK

CURL has recently subscribed to COUNTER for an initial year as an organisation that fits with the Vision of the new Strategic Plan, 2003-2006, which underlines CURL’s commitment to support innovative projects and services through strategic alliances and collaborative partnerships, as well as improve access to electronic resources. COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) was launched in March 2002, and 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.

If you want further information on COUNTER, please contact either:

Richard Gedye, Chair of the COUNTER Steering Group, 
or its Project Director:
Peter Shepherd