Using Usage Statistics to Build Traffic

As Featured in RE:sources e-newsletter

Louisville Public Library – Louisville, Colorado

A dramatic spike in April and May usage of their Gale Virtual Reference Library resources made the Louisville (CO) Public Library’s Kathy Kelly and Karen Ingish wonder if, possibly, their statistics had become mixed-up with the larger user group — perhaps those accessing the statewide Colorado Virtual Library. “Not so,” said Gale’s Customer Resource Center, “that increase was from your community.”

Kelly and Ingish turned that insight into an opportunity to better serve their community.

The Louisville Public Library serves a population of nearly 20,000 residents and has long had one of the highest circulation rates in Colorado. In August, 2006 a the new, 32,500 square-foot library building opened to offer a range of programs and services to customers – among them a growing collection of eReference titles from the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Adult Services Supervisor Kelly and Adult Services Librarian Ingish concluded that the increases they saw in their usage statistics in early 2008 were the result of students accessing references online for classroom projects. Along with this realization, came a new resolve to be more proactive about their Gale Virtual Reverence Library collection — capitalizing on seasonal trends and anticipating higher patron interest inspired by special events and exhibits at the library.

They plan to create subcollections to focus on titles relevant to special exhibits and add new titles that support them. Early next year, for example, the library is hosting an exhibit on asteroids and weather with the Space Science Institute (SSI); to support this exhibit, they added Environmental Science in Context, Alternative Energy (UXL) and Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia to their Gale Virtual Reference Library collection.

As the Louisville Public Library demonstrates, usage statistics are a great way to identify trends in your community; theyíre available for Gale Virtual Reference Library and other Gale online databases. Subcollections are simple to create and are an excellent way to support these trends with direct links to popular references.

Generate usage reports for individual titles or your entire Gale Virtual Reference Library collection -  link to http://support.gale.com/gale/article.html?article=1675

Create a subcollection in three easy steps - download this fact sheet (PDF – 291K) http://support.gale.com/gale/article.html?article=1882