Statistics for Online Document Use

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Statistics for Online Document Use

• Christopher C. Brown
• University of Denver
• cbrown_at_du.edu

Federal Depository Library Conference Oct. 22,
2003
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Statistics we now know

• Items received
• Circulation statistics
• Web site visits
• GPO Access statistics

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Statistics we dont know

• Visits to online docs URLs we are clueless!
• How many times URLs are visited
• What titles are visited
• What agencies are most popular
• We dont know the whole picture

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Objective

• To track online government document usage through
  our online catalog

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Why we need URL statistics

• Justify our depository status to administrators
• Assist with item selections
• URL maintenance
• Knowing where theyre going is always helpful

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URLs at University of Denver

• Over 65,000 URLs in our catalog
• Many of these not in CGP
• Aggressively added URLs

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How it Works

• URL click sends user to CF database
• Database records URL, date, time
• Database instantly refers user to URL

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Website Management Menu
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URL Clickthrough Statistics
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The URL Redirects
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Access Database Form
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Click-through to Catalog
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URL Testing
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CGP Lookup
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Reports SuDocs Major Class
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Reports Title by Title
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Reports Specific Agency
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Reports By Class
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Heres the Cold Fusion code
MOD DATE 8.11.03 MOD DESCRIPTION changed
cflocation to cfheader MODIFIED BY
alex ---gt ltcfif IsDefined('URL.LinkURL')gt lt!---
set the cgi.QUERY_STRING variable to LinkURL
---gt ltcfset LinkURL"cgi.QUERY_STRING"gt lt!---
strip off 8 characters "http//"---gt ltcfset
weblink"RemoveChars(LinkURL,1,8)"gt lt!--- what
is the cgi.REMOTE_ADDR AKA IP address
---gt ltcfset IP"cgi.REMOTE_ADDR"gt lt!--- add
param to avoid errors ---gt ltcfparam default""
name"LinkURL"gt lt!--- drop stats
into db ---gt ltcfquery datasource"request
.dsn"gt INSERT INTO Tbl_PeakLinks
(LinkURL, UserIP) VALUES ('weblink',
'IP') lt/cfquerygt lt!--- send
user to website ---gt ltcfheader
name"refresh" value"0URLweblink"gt
lt!--- stop page ---gt ltcfabortgt lt/cfifgt