Reflections on the first COUNTER conference

Last Thursday we held our first ever COUNTER Conference. The talks covered eight different topics, from the technical (how do COUNTER audits work?) to the aesthetic (the power of data visualisation!). There was also plenty of best-practice guidance from librarians about how they use COUNTER in their work.

We are enormously grateful to our 10 speakers for sharing their insights with the audience. Thank you also to all who attended and participated in some great discussions in the chat and Q&A. Over the five hours of the event, 180 people participated for all or part of the time, from at least 18 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. And we know there are others who registered but were unable to join live because of time zones or scheduling conflicts. We hope to share recordings with registered participants over the coming weeks.

When we put out our call for proposals at the end of last year we were delighted with the quality of the proposals we received. When we and the COUNTER comms group were selecting speakers we also identified some talks that would make good standalone educational sessions. Keep an eye on our email newsletter and social media for news of those sessions later this year.

New faces and old

Our conference was not just about the great presentations and discussions. We also held the COUNTER Annual General Meeting. We are still writing up the minutes but, we do have some updates to share about our Board of Directors.

Two new Directors will be joining the Board (Monica Westin and Gary Van Overborg). And Jo Lambert was appointed as our new Board Chair. That does mean we say goodbye to Anne C Osterman and John McDonald, who’ve come to the end of their terms of office. Thanks to both of them for their support and their work over the years.

Give us your feedback

We’ve had some fabulous feedback as well as constructive comments for improvement so far. Thank you to attendees who have already filled in our post-conference survey. If you have not yet done so please see the link in your email. We want plenty of feedback to help us shape future events.

“Our organization is not new to COUNTER, but my role within the organization and COUNTER reporting are new to me – thank you for sharing information and learning in a way that even I could understand!”

Attendee at the 2024 COUNTER Conference