Alexander Street Press

Customer Usage Report

Lawrence University

January – December 2005

WHAT WE REPORT

• Visits are the number of times a user entered the database.
• Queries are the number of times searches are executed across the database.  This does not include menu selections. 
• Menu selections are the number of times items have been selected from a menu.
• Viewed items are the number of items (images or documents) delivered from the server to clients.

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

Through our partnership with the University of Chicago, the usage data for some Alexander Street products reside on distributed servers, where a user sometimes ceases to be identifiable as he moves from server to server in his search. Therefore, we believe that the numbers below reflect lower usage than what is actually taking place.

Alexander Street Press does not use gimmicks to make stats look better. For example:

- We don’t hide an automatic “or” feature in the search engine, which would bring back large numbers of hits (many irrelevant);

- We don’t include lots of words that undergraduates search for (“sex”) or load up the contents with items listed at the beginning of the alphabet (where undergraduates click most often);

- We don’t build in a delay before the return of search results, which would increase session time;

- Nor do we use any of the dozens of other tricks that publishers can play in order to make their stats look better.

Our databases are designed to answer questions with as few clicks as possible. The search engine allows a user to ask very specifically, get the answer quickly, and leave.

Rather than compare stats among products, we encourage you to look at the stats of one product across time, measuring a product only against itself. That allows you to answer valid questions such as: This product was used less often than I expected, so do I need to do a better job marketing it on campus? Or… This database was used less this year than in the previous three years – why? It’s especially important not to compare the stats of a humanities monographs and images database with those of a journals database – truly apples to oranges.

Help increase use of THE databaseS

• Do your patrons know about us? Have you established plenty of pointers to the databases on your library’s website? Be sure not to be too restrictive when you list subject areas. Women and Social Movements, for example, can be listed not only in the Women’s Studies category, but also in U.S. History, Images, Directories, Newspaper Clippings, and other categories.
  
• MARC records are available free of charge. Watch for usage to increase when you import our MARC records into your OPAC. Permanent URLs in the 856 field will allow users to link directly to books, plays, manuscripts, and other data in the Alexander Street collections.
  
• Look for our “release letters” with each update. The letters (sent to you by email) provide enticing information about new content and links to some of the best passages. Be certain always to forward these messages to faculty and staff.
  
• Work with your faculty on course adoption for the databases. We have seen a professor base an entire course around one of the collections, with very exciting results.

The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries

	Visits	Queries	Menu Selections	Viewed Items
2005-01	35	101	59	166
2005-02	25	90	49	129
2005-03	8	0	0	27
2005-04	36	188	92	260
2005-05	13	43	30	68
2005-06	2	19	13	30
2005-07	1	0	0	2
2005-10	50	119	68	209
2005-11	19	12	10	63
2005-12	1	0	0	2

North American Women's Letters and Diaries

	Visits	Queries	Menu Selections	Viewed Items
2005-01	9	41	20	60
2005-02	3	16	9	21
2005-03	8	1	1	50
2005-04	28	59	50	117
2005-05	39	66	46	139
2005-09	3	42	4	42
2005-10	229	2019	1135	2354
2005-11	137	911	483	1187
2005-12	2	0	0	3

If you have any questions, please contact your sales representative, Gail Zachary, at (800) 889-5937 ext. 214 or gzachary@alexanderstreet.com.