Looking for Numbers with Meaning

Abstract

Since the introduction of the first computerized information retrieval systems in libraries, librarians have attempted to gather statistical information on system usage. For Web sites, the most important source of this information is the Web server transaction log. This paper explores the reasons behind the search for Web usage statistics, the limitations of Web server logs and the methods used to analyze them, and possible ways to gather more meaningful Web usage statistics, taking into account the particular challenges Web servers present for electronic reserves.

Key Words:

• Electronic reserves
• academic library
• transaction logs
• transaction analysis
• usage statistics
• library Web site