Library Link Resolvers and Analytics: Using Analytics Tools to Identify Usage Trends and Access Problems with Electronic Resources in Libraries

Analytics have become vital to exploring the use of websites in the library world. They allow us to discover who is using our sites, when they are using them, and how they are using them. I believe this data will only become more important as libraries continue to prove their worth in the digital world. However, there are some challenges with using analytics. One major issue is that some of the essential sites relating to the delivery of library materials do not actually belong to the library. One example of this is the link resolver, which attempts to connect patrons to electronic materials in various databases. This paper will detail the steps I took to add Google Analytics to our link resolver, 360 Link. I will provide examples of how I used Google Analytics to explore usage of online tools, to identify sources of citations, and to study errors