[WEB4LIB] Analyzing OPAC logs

[Margaret Gaffney]

> I am planning to start a detailed analysis of our logs, which 
> have been accumulating for more than six months since we 
> launched a new Web PAC. 
...
> A concrete point that puzzles me a bit (not exactly 
> library-related): what concrete information can you extract 
> form the list of IP numbers (the REMOTE_ADDR variable)? Does 
> the count of different IP numbers mean anything? Is there any 
> geographical information you can extract from them?

If you have reverse DNS lookups enabled, you can extract a fair amount
of information, including a general idea of where your users are coming
from (country, organisation).  Take a look at some log analyser sample
reports to see the kinds of things you can find out.  A basic example is
here: http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/webstats/stats.html#dom

cheers
-- 
Margaret Gaffney, Web Administrator
Victoria University of Wellington Library
New Zealand
tel: +64 4 463 5481