Publisher's Synopsis
Libraries are delivering an ever-increasing proportion of their services through the web, a trend that seems certain to continue. In order to guide purchases and appropriately distribute services and staff time, it's essential that libraries and librarians accurately track the usage of their websites and online resources. Libraries provide access to thousands of electronic resources. With several commercial entities providing these electronic resources, the result can be silo systems and processes to evaluate cost and usage of these resources, making it difficult to provide meaningful analytics. When libraries stored only physical copies of books, there were limitations based on physical space within the library for how many books a library could subscribe to and subsequently store. The digital era has alleviated most space limitations and arguably removed the barriers to entry around publishing. These factors have given rise to the increase in number of electronic resources available to libraries, with financial rather than physical constraints being the primary limiting factor. Today, a library can have access to more than 100,000 titles from countless content providers. Providing abundant access to a vast amount of research material is a goal that has been realized by many library electronic resources departments. What has become challenging in this environment is to understand the value of the resources to which a library provides access. Specifically, what resources provide real value to the community? What resources are underutilized? What resources are unnecessary? Given the constantly changing nature of electronic resources and libraries' attitudes toward them, as well as the inexorable advance of technology. It is important to create a set of analytic metrics with which institutions can perform their own evaluation to understand their specific community's needs Web Analytics for Library and Information Professionals offers a practical guide to web analytics tools, explaining what librarians need to know to implement them effectively. Overall, the text highlights the benefit of a web analytics evaluation framework for libraries and the impact of classifying titles based on the funding area. Web analytics can address the gap in library service by providing quick access to aggregate information on real users' data collected unobtrusively. Libraries are delivering an ever-increasing proportion of their services through the web, a trend that seems certain to continue. In order to guide purchases and appropriately distribute services and staff time, it's essential that libraries and librarians accurately track the usage of their websites and online resources. Libraries provide access to thousands of electronic resources. With several commercial entities providing these electronic resources, the result can be silo systems and processes to evaluate cost and usage of these resources, making it difficult to provide meaningful analytics. When libraries stored only physical copies of books, there were limitations based on physical space within the library for how many books a library could subscribe to and subsequently store. The digital era has alleviated most space limitations and arguably removed the barriers to entry around publishing. These factors have given rise to the increase in number of electronic resources available to libraries, with financial rather than physical constraints being the primary limiting factor. Today, a library can have access to more than 100,000 titles from countless content providers. Providing abundant access to a vast amount of research material is a goal that has been realized by many library electronic resources departments. What has become challenging in this environment is to understand the value of the resources to which a library provides access. Specifically, what resources provide real value to the community? What resources are underutilized? What resources are unnecessary? Given the constantly changing nature of electronic resources and libraries' attitudes toward them, as well as the inexorable advance of technology. It is important to create a set of analytic metrics with which institutions can perform their own evaluation to understand their specific community's needs Web Analytics for Library and Information Professionals offers a practical guide to web analytics tools, explaining what librarians need to know to implement them effectively. Overall, the text highlights the benefit of a web analytics evaluation framework for libraries and the impact of classifying titles based on the funding area. Web analytics can address the gap in library service by providing quick access to aggregate information on real users' data collected unobtrusively. Libraries are delivering an ever-increasing proportion of their services through the web, a trend that seems certain to continue. In order to guide purchases and appropriately distribute services and staff time, it's essential that libraries and librarians accurately track the usage of their websites and online resources. Libraries provide access to thousands of electronic resources. With several commercial entities providing these electronic resources, the result can be silo systems and processes to evaluate cost and usage of these resources, making it difficult to provide meaningful analytics. When libraries stored only physical copies of books, there were limitations based on physical space within the library for how many books a library could subscribe to and subsequently store. The digital era has alleviated most space limitations and arguably removed the barriers to entry around publishing. These factors have given rise to the increase in number of electronic resources available to libraries, with financial rather than physical constraints being the primary limiting factor. Today, a library can have access to more than 100,000 titles from countless content providers. Providing abundant access to a vast amount of research material is a goal that has been realized by many library electronic resources departments. What has become challenging in this environment is to understand the value of the resources to which a library provides access. Specifically, what resources provide real value to the community? What resources are underutilized? What resources are unnecessary? Given the constantly changing nature of electronic resources and libraries' attitudes toward them, as well as the inexorable advance of technology. It is important to create a set of analytic metrics with which institutions can perform their own evaluation to understand their specific community's needs Web Analytics for Library and Information Professionals offers a practical guide to web analytics tools, explaining what librarians need to know to implement them effectively. Overall, the text highlights the benefit of a web analytics evaluation framework for libraries and the impact of classifying titles based on the funding area. Web analytics can address the gap in library service by providing quick access to aggregate information on real users' data collected unobtrusively.
