<b>Scope and limitations of library metrics for the assessment of ebook usage: COUNTER R5 and link resolver. Dataset</b>

Assessing the usage data of electronic resources has become a prevalent approach to demonstrate the value of digital collections, justify library expenditures, and gain insights into how users interact with library materials. This study analyses the usage statistics of electronic books (ebooks) generated locally by the OpenURL link resolver in an academic library, and statistics collected by platform vendors based on Release 5 of the Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resource (COUNTER R5). Three content provider platforms (Cambridge Core, EBSCOhost and ScienceDirect) were analysed as data sources. The COUNTER and link resolver statistics were examined to determine the degree of association between these two metrics. The Spearman correlation coefficient was moderate (rs &gt; 0.561 and &lt;0.678) and statistically significant (p &lt;0.01). This suggests that these metrics capture different aspects of the usage of ebooks in different contexts. Other factors, such as the types of access to electronic resources and the units of content delivered, were also examined. The study concludes with a discussion regarding the scope and limitations of link resolver and COUNTER R5 as library metrics for measuring the usage of ebooks评估电子资源使用数据已成为论证数字馆藏价值、佐证图书馆经费支出合理性，并深入洞察用户与图书馆馆藏交互模式的主流手段。本研究针对某学术图书馆中由OpenURL链接解析器（OpenURL link resolver）本地生成的电子书（electronic books，ebooks）使用统计数据，以及平台服务商基于《网络电子资源在线使用统计第5版》（Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resource Release 5，COUNTER R5）采集的统计数据展开分析，并选取剑桥核心平台（Cambridge Core）、EBSCOhost与ScienceDirect这三大内容提供商平台作为数据源。研究对COUNTER与链接解析器两类统计数据进行检验，以明确这两项指标间的关联程度：本次分析得到的斯皮尔曼相关系数（Spearman correlation coefficient）处于中等水平（rs值介于0.561与0.678之间），且具有统计学显著性（p < 0.01）。这表明两类指标在不同场景下分别反映了电子书使用的不同维度。研究同时对电子资源访问类型、内容交付单位等其他影响因素展开了检验，最后就链接解析器与COUNTER R5作为图书馆电子书使用量衡量指标的适用范围与局限性展开了讨论。