[Web4lib] recommendations for web and catalog "visits" statistics solutions

[Houghton-Jan, Sarah]

Hi all,

I am asking for recommendations on two things:
1) software you are using or would recommend to capture accurate user visit
numbers for your library's website
2) any method or vendor-provided built-in tool that you are using to capture
accurate user visit numbers for your library's catalog.

I am doing a webcast for Infopeople, a California project for training
libraries, on April 24th on recommended tools and best practices for
capturing accurate numbers for the two categories above specifically for the
purpose of having accurate numbers to provide for the Annual Public Library
Survey.  They are adding a new category for statistics this year that
libraries will be asked to submit: virtual visits.  The definition provided
in the survey is as follows:

Virtual visits include a user's request of the library web site or catalog
from outside the library building regardless of the number of pages or
elements viewed.  This statistic is the equivalent of a session for a
library's website. Exclude virtual visits from within the library, from
robot or spider crawls and from page reloads.

So, near as I can figure it, the tricky parts to the above definition are
that they want all those exclusions (the "within the library" is
particularly difficult for all but the most robust stats systems) and that
they're looking for catalog "visits" (not # of searches, # of holds, etc.
which is what the vendor provides us with).  There are a number of kludgey
ways that one can try to guess the number of visits if the vendor doesn't
provide that functionality.  Tell me what you've kludged! 

But the biggest problem, and the wording of the definition here is key, is
that they want "a user's request of the library web site or
catalog...regardless of the number of pages or elements viewed."  Does this
mean that if a user starts in the website, moves into the catalog, then
leaves, that it should count as one visit?  I don't think there's a way to
do that since they are on two different servers, two different systems, two
different databases (correct me if I'm wrong).

Any insight or recommendations you can offer are much appreciated.

Thanks!
Sarah Houghton-Jan
Digital Futures Manager, San Jose Public Library
Author of LibrarianInBlack.net