A lot happened in 2025, so we understand if the changes in COUNTER reporting passed you by. However, we found three unexpected and actionable gems that publishers can use to make their usage reporting more business relevant and impactful.

#1 Report on a broader range of content

COUNTER 5.1 allows publishers to think strategically about how they package and sell their content, and translate those packages into usage reports for librarians. For example, it is now easier to measure the usage of products that include text as well as audio, video, images, and interactive elements (such as maps or quizzes).

Client example: A Humanities publisher with a large multimedia archive has new insights into how users are engaging with videos. In particular, their bibliographic summary pages are valuable jumping off points for users to view videos, based on the ratio of usage between summaries and videos.

LibLynx has leaned into more granular tracking of content for our clients. The reports generated with these new tags – e.g., sound, audiovisual, news item, reference item – offer a better view into what types of content are of interest to a library’s users and a publisher’s customers.

#2 Item-level reporting benefits both publishers and libraries

In COUNTER 5.1, books and reference works, such as an encyclopedia, can be treated as a collection of chapters, as well as a single item. This allows libraries and publishers to analyze performance of the individual chapters as well as the overall title.

Client example: A publisher with edited volumes is now able track their chapter-level performance by organization. The new COUNTER standard means they can spot the break-out chapter that caught fire with students, when previously this per-chapter usage was rolled up into the entire book usage.

If your content platform allows for download of both chapters and whole books, deeper analysis of usage per book can be achieved by measuring the ratio of total chapter views versus the unique chapter views in the item report. For edited volumes, or other publications with multiple authors, we can now pinpoint usage trends for specific chapters, providing opportunities for insights into how readers engage with content with such titles.

#3 Flexible reporting on both controlled and open usage

COUNTER 5.1 enhanced our ability to report usage by type of access. For content with rolling embargoes or as part of open-access models where access may change over time, we now have more control in tracking these various states. Previously, subscribe-to-open content was typically tracked as controlled access, even after it flipped to open; but now we can report on both the controlled history and open history of a publication.

Client example: One of our society publishers offering Subscribe-to-Open agreements was thrilled that COUNTER 5.1 allows them to track both open and closed usage for a single title. They can now track how a title performs when it is controlled and when it is released under an S2O agreement.

This means that we can deliver new insights into how content performs during periods of time when it is open and when it is paywalled. This is important for publishers shifting back to controlled- or paid-access models after experimenting with subscribe-to-open agreements.

Do your COUNTER reports showcasing the value of your content?

These changes in reporting means that LibLynx can empower our clients to move beyond the use of COUNTER reports as stand-alone intelligence tools. Taken in aggregate, these metrics can provide deeper insights into usage trends for both publishers and librarians. COUNTER 5.1 unlocks new ways of comparing content engagement across all publications and platforms than previous versions of the Code of Practice.

If you would like to get more value from your COUNTER 5.1 reports, give us a call!