Collecting Usage Statistics for E-Government Resources
Christopher C. BrownUniversity of Denver, University Libraries
May 20, 2014 -- Online via GPO’s iCohere Platform
PURL Primer
Source: http://www.fdlp.gov/collections/distribution/709-withdrawal-recall-destruction-procedures
The Problem
We have statistics for government documents print circulation
• But our directors want statistics• The viability of our depository
status may rest on our ability to provide statistics
We don’t have any statistics for online usage
Statistics we don’t know
Visits to online docs URLs by our users – we are clueless!
How many times URLs are visited by our users
What titles are visited by our usersWhat agencies are most popular with our
usersWe don’t know the whole picture
How Many PURLS?
142,117 records in CGP with PURLS (as of May 13, 2014).
There are a total of 179,566 PURLS in the GPO PURL database (as of May 13, 2014)
At present, GPO creates about 850 PURLS each month
Source – James Mauldin, GPO
Part 1: GPO Solution
PURL Referral Reporting
The tool also provides a listing of the top fifty (50) referred PURL resources per hostname and/or IP address with: The PURL path. The full path of the target URL for each PURL. The total requests for that individual PURL. A search link utilizing the CGP to view cataloging records for the individual PURL.
GPO releases monthly PURL referral reports; however, these reports include aggregate totals only. Referrals totals strip out bot traffic and focuses on patron requests.
The PURL Referral Reporting Tool is locked down to Federal depository libraries only. Data is current as of the previous day. Historical data is available for twelve months. Tool functionality may be expanded in the future to include greater historical data retention and additional functionality based on funding and community feedback.
Source: http://www.fdlp.gov/23-about/projects/141-purl-enhancement-and-stabilization
Since Dec. 1, 2010 the referral reporting system has been operational.
Steps to getting Custom Reports
Gather the relevant hostnames or IP addresses for your institution – sites where you have PURLs Your library catalog (maybe you have two versions like
we do – classic catalog, next-gen catalog Your web discover tool (if you have one) Your library instruction guides (like Libguides) Other Web pages that may contain PURLs Also consider using your institution’s numeric IP address
Go to http://purlreferrals.fdlp.gov/ (You will need to login with your depository number and your internal password).
Run Your Query (login with Internal FDLP Credentials)
Results of Your Query
Top 50 Results
Export to CSV (Open with Excel)
You can See Exact Titles for Top 50
Older PURL Referrals
http://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/collection-management/purl-referrals
You can get older PURL referral reports from here:
Compare your hits against other depositories
PURL Rot
In theory, it would be a wonderful world if someone behind a curtain at GPO would check every PURL every day to check for errors. But that does not happen. It is up to us – documents librarians – to report these.
PURL Rot: Reporting a Broken PURL
PURL Rot: Keeping Track
PURL Retrieval Summary
You can get the total PURL hits by month,Or the top 50 most popular hitsYou cannot get all specific URLs. No way to
do a more comprehensive analysisStatistics are ONLY for PURLS, not for any
other online government URLsStatistics can be incomplete at times (GPO
server down, etc.)
Part 2: Local Solutions
Objective
To track online government document clickthroughs when accessed via the online catalog
oNot possible to capture every use of government info by our usersoBut is possible to capture all clickthroughs via the OPAC
Different Approaches
GPO PURL Tracking Local URL Tracking
Any PURL clickthrough from an institution
Any URL clickthrough via the OPAC
Broad view: top PURLS and overall numbers
Narrow view: specific PURLS/URLS and then can derive titles, SuDocs, etc.
Wait for GPO to aggregate data Instant access to data
Basic Idea: How it Works
A URL is prepended to the PURL (or URL)This URL initially directs to a library-hosted
web server which traps for the date/time, PURL (or URL), URL of requestor
The user is then instantly redirected to the PURL (or URL) site
Two Methods to Track Locally
Prepend to PURLMethod #1: trap for the URL, date – more
difficult at the end, but easier at firstMethod #2: trap also for a unique record
number – more difficult at first, but benefits later
A Simple Prepend URL
http://library.du.edu/clickthrough/index.php/clicks/?type=gov&url=
Clickthrough Dashboard
Benefits of Clickthrough Project
We can provide meaningful stats to the library director
We can see high-use and low-use areasWe can tell if users benefit from our special
projectsWe can do reactive URL maintenanceWe can see turn-aways and other problemsWe can see search engine attacksWe can see how our docs work within your
discovery tools
Local Use for Docs by FY
Specs: How to ask for a clickthrough system
Project hosted on stable server (such as library Web server).Should be able to handle long URLs – up to 700 characters.Prepended URL sends request to library server. Included in prepended URL is cataloger-supplied 3-letter
code of URL type (ex: gov, cou, ran – any 3-letter combination that may be needed in future).
Server records date/time, IP address of requestor, 3-letter code of URL type, and URL requested.
Server redirects user to desired URL.Reporting mechanism available to gather clickthroughs.Archiving function available to archive stats.Ability to view archived records.Secure login for authorized users.Just give this slide to a code-writer in your
library – and you may have a link-tracking system soon!
Local Solutions to Problem
http://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/1051-tracking-online-document-usage-from-the-catalog
Further Reading