Following User Tracks

1
Following User Tracks

• Karen A. Coombs
• University of Houston Libraries
• librarywebchic_at_gmail.com

2
Agenda

• Web Server log files
• Proxy server log files
• OPAC search log files
• Data from ILL Systems
• OpenURL data
• Session path tracing

3
Web Server Log files

• Entry points for library web site
• Exit points for library site
• External pages referring people to pages that are
  part of your site
• Search terms people are using to find pages on
  your site

4
Proxy Server Log files

• Wrote a script to analyze EZProxy log files to
  count database use and where that use was coming
  from
• Referrers will tell you what paths that users
  took to access databases
• Library web site
• Databases by Title
• Databases by Subject
• Fulltext database list
• Catalog
• OpenURL resolver
• E-journal list
• IP address will tell you physically where users
  access databases

5
OPAC Search Log Files

• Can look at what terms users are searching for
• Can see which search indexes are most often used
• Helpful to reference librarians to see what
  research students might be doing
• Useful to see if students are confusing the
  catalog with article databases

6
Data from the ILL System

• Can look at what databases are users generating
  ILL requests from
• OpenURL resolver passes ILLiad a sid that will
  tell you which database the request was generated
  from

7
OpenURL data

• Resolvers like SFX allow you to generate a
  variety of reports concerning how/where users
  using the open URL resolver
• Requests and Click-throughs by Source
• Tell you where the OpenURL requests are coming
  from

8
Session path tracing

• Created a script that constructs XML files that
  trace a users path through the site
• Look at the different ways that users access a
  specific page on the library site
• More specific than the entry page data from
  Server log file analysis

9
Further Resources

• AWStats documentation - http//awstats.sourceforge
  .net
• Web Metrics by Jim Sterne
• Sawing Logs
• Well Marked Trails
• Fichter, Darlene (2003) Server Logs Making
  Sense of the Cyber Tracks, Online 27 (5) 47-55.

10
Further Resources

• Coombs, K. (2005) Lessons Learned From Analyzing
  Library Database Usage Data Library Hi Tech
• Coombs, K. A. (2005). "Using Web Server Logs to
  Track Users Through the Electronic Forest".
  Computers in Libraries 25(1)
• http//www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jan05/coombs.shtml
  
• Coombs, K. A. (2004) Web Server Log Analysis
  Tools and Tips Library Web Chic
  http//www.librarywebchic.net/stories/2004/05/05/w
  ebServerLogAnalysisToolsAndTips.html