by Beth Staats
Quick Summary
Faced with a highly diverse combination of externally and internally collected data (web visits, gate counter, collection usage, subject analysis, budgets, space use, reference help interactions, etc.), academic libraries have rapidly mastered the value and use of analytics.
Faced with a highly diverse combination of externally and internally collected data (web visits, gate counter, collection usage, subject analysis, budgets, space use, reference help interactions, etc.), academic libraries have rapidly mastered the value and use of analytics. Whether analyzing prospective subscription packages to determine their value for an institution’s research activities or reviewing usage data drawn from the local digital repository, libraries want to extract meaning from the increasing volume of library data. What does that data look like? How should that data be managed? And in what combinations is that data most enlightening?