COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) was set up in 2002 to improve the reliability of online usage statistics, and is supported by the vendor, intermediary, and librarian communities. The COUNTER Codes of Practice specify the content, format, delivery mechanisms, and data processing rules for a set of core usage reports that are easily implemented by vendors and easily understood by librarians.

The COUNTER 3 Code of Practice aims to further improve the reliability of the COUNTER usage reports by incorporating new protocols designed to mitigate the potentially inflationary effects on usage statistics of federated and automated search engines, internet robots, and crawlers. The Code of Practice also provides tools that will facilitate the consolidation, management and analysis of the COUNTER usage statistics.

Library customers can now
• Download a new report for consortia (CR1)
• Opt for XML format for downloading reports
• Register for our SUSHI service to enable automated download of the COUNTER reports

More information about COUNTER 3 and a list of compliant vendors
http://www.projectcounter.org/code_practice.html.