I decided to take a break from ERM for a few hours today. Something caught my eye: our Google Analytics statistics for the library’s website, our Summon (discovery service) usage reports, 360 statistics (AZ management system: EBooks and EJournals, Databases) and LibGuides / LibAnswers.
Some background:
Google Analytics gives us insight on how users are interacting with our website. We can get information such as:
- number of page views
- number of unique page views
- average time spent on a page/screen / or set of screens
- bounce rate: each time a person leave your site without interacting with it
- new and returning visitors
- Browser and Operating system used
- Mobile statistics such as desktop, mobile and tablet used
- Users demographics: age and gender
- and many more
Summon (Discovery layer) stats provide:
- Visitor Profiles:
- Referring Source
- Geo Location
- Geo Map Overlay
- Network Location
- Domains
- Technical Profiles
- Browser
- Platform
- Browser and Platform combos
- Connection Speed
- Top Queries
Taken from Summon Knowledge Center
360 Usage Statistics provide:
- Click-Through: A variety of views into the number of times users click on article, journal, ebook, and database links in ProQuest discovery tools.
- Search and Browse: Shows what types of searches your users are conducting (for example, Title Contains and ISSN Equals) and what subjects they are browsing within ProQuest discovery tools.
- 360 Link Usage: Reports about where your 360 Link users are starting their research, and how much use 360 Link is getting.
- 360 Search Usage: Shows the amount of 360 Search federated search sessions and searches.
(Taken from 360 Core and Intota knowledge center)
LibGuides provide statistics on
- libguide homepage tracking (daily and monthly basis)
- detailed statistics for all libguides
- session tracking
- browser / OS tracking
- search term tracking
- assets
- content summary
(Taken from LibGuide Dashboard)
LibAnswers also provide statistics on
- general statistics on inquiries
- FAQs
- turnaround time
among others. (Taken from LibAnswers Dashboard).
From all those stats, I started to wonder:
- What does the term/keyword entered by users into the various access points mean?
- If a certain keyword/term appears constantly, is it pointing to a lack of information? or lack of awareness of an existing service?
- Can we improve our library homepage usability when the bounce rates are high?
There are more than just the ones listed above.
How can all these stats influence the way we provide services to our library users – whether it’s an online service or a physical service. After all, we are here to serve our users.
Rain D Librarian 