Monitoring Link Usage

[Garbe Grace]

     Robin:
     
     Several years ago I used a Perl script to redirect hundreds of links 
     for just this purpose.  You didn't indicate what type of box your 
     server utilizes.  If it's UNIX, email me and I'll send you the script 
     and other info.  You will need Perl 5 on your sever and a cgi-bin 
     directory. It should be in the web4lib archives, as I posted it here 
     at that time because there were numerous requests.
     
     Using a link checker once a month to check your links cuts down 
     considerably on your maintenance time.  You will still need to check 
     all sites yourself occasionally to be certain that the content still 
     meets your criteria for selection.  I'm using a link checker now to 
     check 500+ urls monthly and it does the job in 4 mins.  As for use of 
     your website, if you promote it strongly (e.g. during orientation 
     sessions if you have those) you increase the probablity of its use.   
     Have you considered just counting hits to the pages initially?  If the 
     number of hits is small, then it's probably not worth the effort to 
     set up the script and do all that this entails.
     
     Grace Garbe
     Systems Librarian
     ZAI AMELEX
     Defense Systems Management College
     Ft. Belvoir, VA


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Monitoring Link Usage
Author:  gelinsrl at alverno.edu (Robin L. Gelinson-Zalben) at INTERNET
Date:    6/12/98 2:23 PM
     
This is a bit different monitoring question...
     
My library has decided to make a rather comprehensive web page..over 150 
links which I need to create into a bunch of web pages.  I have great 
fears that people really won't use these sites, and I will be wasting 
lots of time maintaining this site. So....I'm looking for a way to 
monitor link usage.  I want to know which links are being used, and 
which ones are being ignored.  Does anyone know of such a program?
     
TIA,
     
Robin
     
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Robin Gelinson-Zalben
Automation Librarian
Alverno College
Library Media Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin