<div dir="auto">Hi all,<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Thanks Rebecca! I knew there were changes regarding the metrics (from webinars and such) - I think I just misinterpreted or misunderstood Chris' response. It sounded as if there was something wrong with the counts being produced with item requests, and I thought I missed something 😆</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Thanks all!</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, May 22, 2026, 3:09 PM Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l <<a href="mailto:eril-l@lists.eril-l.org">eril-l@lists.eril-l.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi Erika and all,</div><div><br></div><div>>From what I understand it isn't an item request inaccuracy — it's one of the main differences between COUNTER 5 and 5.1. I attended several webinars when COUNTER announced the changes and they were hoping the update in how item requests were counted would bring book item requests more in alignment with journal item requests (a unique item request for a journal counts if only one article is downloaded so this new 5.1 rule means that book chapters and journal articles are counted the same in the unique item report). </div><div><br></div><div>Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that what Chris is noticing is a feature not a bug, at least from COUNTER's perspective.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks,</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Rebecca Michelson-Ziegler<div>(she/her)<br><div>Electronic Resources Specialist</div><div>Swarthmore College</div></div><div><div>McCabe Library</div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/500+College+Avenue+Swarthmore,+PA+19081?entry=gmail&source=g">500 College Avenue</a></div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/500+College+Avenue+Swarthmore,+PA+19081?entry=gmail&source=g">Swarthmore, PA 19081</a></div></div><div>(610) 328-8443</div><div><a href="mailto:rmichel1@swarthmore.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">rmichel1@swarthmore.edu</a></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, May 22, 2026 at 1:57 PM Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l <<a href="mailto:eril-l@lists.eril-l.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">eril-l@lists.eril-l.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Hi all,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Chris — just out of curiosity how the unique item request inaccuracies were discovered? I've never heard of that and I don't think I've seen the COUNTER folks share anything about it, and I didn't know if they've addressed this directly themselves and I've just missed it, haha.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Thanks!<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Erika</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, May 22, 2026 at 12:03 PM Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l <<a href="mailto:eril-l@lists.eril-l.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">eril-l@lists.eril-l.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">[<strong><font color="red">Caution</font></strong>: Email from External Sender. Do not click or open links or attachments unless you know this sender.]<br> <div dir="ltr"><div>I just learned from a presentation at the <a href="https://acquisitionsinstitute.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Acquisitions Institute</a> this past week that Counter 5.1 apparently reports unique title requests accurately, but not unique item requests. Unique Item requests count all items of a title as used even if only one was used (i.e. all book chapters record usage when only one book chapter was actually accessed). Perhaps that is what is happening.</div><div><br></div><div>I do not yet know specifics for all of the reports, but had planned to explore it.</div><div><br></div><div>Chris</div><div><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>_______________________<br></div>Christine W. Blackman (Chris)<div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Head of Collections and Systems</span><br></div><div><a href="https://library.williams.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Williams Libraries</a></div><div>(413) 597-4403</div><div>pronouns: she/her<br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, May 22, 2026 at 9:41 AM Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l <<a href="mailto:eril-l@lists.eril-l.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">eril-l@lists.eril-l.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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I understand the distinctions between searches, total item requests, and unique item investigations. What I’m wondering about is why a database would have a large number of searches (over 1,000) yet only have small, double digit unique item investigations
and/or total item requests. Is there some explanation for this significant variance?</div>
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Thanks</div>
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Mark</div>
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<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Mark Gooch</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Collection Management Librarian</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">The College of Wooster Libraries</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/1140+Beall+Ave.+%0D%0A+Wooster,+Ohio+44691?entry=gmail&source=g">1140 Beall Ave.</a></span></p><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/1140+Beall+Ave.+%0D%0A+Wooster,+Ohio+44691?entry=gmail&source=g">
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<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Phone: 330-263-2522</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)">FAX: 330-263-2253</span></p>
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