Upping Our Game:

Leading on

Transformational

Analytics &

Getting Off the Hits

Train

Unlocking New Value from ContentStephen Abram, MLSStephen.abram@gmail.comstephenslighhouse.com

Are you on the ‘HITS’ train?

BIGDATA

QUALITATIVE INFORMATION

QUANTITATIVE DATA

and

STATISTICS

MEASUREMENTS

and

What do we do when our

buyers are asking for data that does not

align with their goals?

Have Journal Prices Really Increased Much in the Digital Age? (Scholarly Kitchen blog) http://bit.ly/11b3hP2

Good Questions

What if prices of the predominant journal form have actually been falling?

What if we’ve been measuring the wrong things, or measuring insufficiently?

And what if the growth in expenses are not the result of price increases but a result of the growth in science?”

The Real Digital Story

Print subscription prices are a misleading and inaccurate method for tracking library serials spending

“. . . libraries’ spending on periodicals has increased three-fold while their collections have tripled in size . . . Spending three times as much to get three times as much tells a very different story from the “price increases” story. . . .”

Published article output and research spending has grown 3.o% to 4% per year since 1990

And this is all means?

We’re playing a fool’s game when we play the raw statistics game.

Are you locked into library financial mindsets?

What about value and impact?

Or shall we stick with this?

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Grocery Stores

Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

Meals

What do we count and share?

Titles

Clicks

Downloads

Sessions

Session length

COUNTER, (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources)

SUSHI, Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative

etc.

Or should we measure? Was there improved customer satisfaction?

Did learning happen?

Was there an impact on research or strategic outcomes?

Did the patient live, improve, survive, thrive?

Did we impact discovery, creation, patents. . .?

Do librarians or types of end users have different values and behaviours?

Algorithms

Search differentiator

Reducing ‘clicks’ & downloads is good

Commercial algorithms versus those based on big data

Measuring end user success versus known item retrieval…

“Romeo and Juliet”

Problems with the unmonitored trial Wrong tests Poor sampling Mindset issues

Sharing Learning and Research

Satisfaction and change

Usability versus User Experience

End users versus librarians

Known item retrieval (favourite test) versus immersion research

Lists versus Discovery

Scrolling versus pagination

Devices and browsers and agnosticism

Individual research experience vs. impacts on e-courses, LibGuides, training materials, etc.

Gale Analytics

Focus and Understand on the Whole Experience

Inside Lego™ Pieces

Foresee satisfaction and demographic data

Counter & Sushi data

Database usage (unique user, session, length of session, hits, downloads, etc.)

Google Analytics

Search Samples

ILS Data

Geo-IP data

What We Know (US/Canada)

27% of our users are under 18. 59% are female. 29% are college students. 5% are professors and 6% are teachers. Daily, 35% of our users are there for the very first time! Only 29% found the databases via the library website. 59% found what they were looking for on their first search. 72% trusted our content more than Google. But, 81% still use Google.

Statistics, Measurements and Analytics

• Counter & Sushi data are very weak metrics that don’t provide insights into the critical stuff

• Database usage (unique user, session, length of session, hits, downloads, etc.)

• Web and Google Analytics (6,000+ websites)

• Foresee satisfaction and demographic data

• Search Samples (underemphasized at this point.)

• Time of Year Analysis

• ILS Data (from clients &n partnerships)

• Geo-IP data, analytics and mapping.

• Impact studies and sampling.

35

Who are our audiences?

• Librarians (several languages management, reference, acquisitions, systems, LMS, etc.)

• Institutional information technology and systems professionals

• eLearning professionals and developers

• Web design professionals

• Library Management team & Chief Librarian

• City or University administration, Provosts

Or End users?

Analytics

What do we need to know, real info?

How do library databases compare with other web experiences and expectations?

Who are our core virtual users? What are user expectations for satisfaction? How does library search compare to

consumer search like Google? How do people find and connect with library

virtual services? What should we ‘fix’ as a first priority? Are end users being successful in their POV? Are they happy? Will they come back? Tell a

friend?

Gale Library Databases Compare

Very Well to Other

Web Experiences

LibrarySearch

Needs toImprove

Library UsersTrust Library

DatabasesMore.

Wow! Only 29% ofUsers Find

E-Resources Through Library

Websites.

And 39% of YourUsers Are in OurDatabases for For the VeryFirst Time!

Gale Analysis: Mobile

Gale Analysis: MobileMarch 26 – September 25, 2012

End Users Are

Likely toReturn

End Users Evaluate

Our Services as Meeting

Expectations

The School Cycle Drives Many Usage

Scenarios

EDUCATEand Lead

Quick Poll

Should our industry

1. Invest in the development and promotion of a suite of end-user impact and value measurement tools that actually communicate the value in our products?

Should our industry

2 . Just deliver the raw statistics that customers are asking for and let them perform the analyses independently?

Until lions learn to write their own story, the story will always be from the perspective

of the hunter not the hunted.

Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLAConsultant, Dysart & Jones/Lighthouse Partners

Cel: 416-669-4855stephen.abram@gmail.comStephen’s Lighthouse Blog

http://stephenslighthouse.comFacebook, Pinterest, Tumblr: Stephen Abram

LinkedIn / Plaxo: Stephen AbramTwitter: @sabram

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