Shaping Library Services

Background

Our Institution

Moving to discovery

Siloed approach not working

Began noticing

Different tool = Different behaviour

Vendor statistics = Uniform information

Informing

• COST PER USE (mainly)
• Full-text downloads
• Searches & sessions
• Turnaways

BUT

How do we know...

the impact of user behaviour on usage?

ENTER

Google Analytics

Setup

System Dependant

Three Columns

• Account
• Property
• View

Account

• FILTERS: Lowercase [to avoid counting boolean terms]

Property

• EDS SEARCH (Unique tracking ID)
• Default URL: ebscohost.com
• Industry category: Ref?
• Enable Demographics
• Enhanced Link attribution

View

• All Website data
• Exclude URL Query Parameters: sid, bdata
• Site Search Tracking: ON
• Query parameter: bquery
• Filters: Lowercase

Findings

Location

Device

Traffic Source

Examining Searches

Top Searches

affected by...

assignments

time of year/semester

User Behaviour

Result Page Views per Search

Time on page
Time after search
Bounce Rate

Advanced searches
=
> page views &

Limiters not well used

Don't develop KEYWORDS

Natural language searching

Lack of phrase searching

Do NOT use Boolean Logic

Search database names

Search citation styles

But still finding what they need?

Satisficing?

Implications

Data shows habits of students are changing

Library services must adapt

Collection Development

Interface/System Design

Faculty collaboration

Staff

Information Literacy

Building upon existing knowledge

Contact