Library Online Resource Analysis (LORA) System

IntroductionElectronic information resources and databases have become an essential part of library collections. Understanding how these resources are being used is critical for collection development, accountability, library management and strategic planning.

The existing database analysis tool allows the library management team to understand how the databases and other electronic information resources of KCLS are being used by patrons. The existing tool has limitation in handling large amount of data and producing new statistics as per the requirements of the library management team. Therefore understanding how the existing system is being used, finding out the new requirements, and upgrading the existing system were the aims the project.

Scope of the project• Study the existing database usage analysis tool

• Understand how the existing tool is being used by the library management

• Identify additional requirements to be added into the system

• Modify the system to meet new requirements and test the scalability

Background KCLS licenses 55 databases from 26 vendors and provides online access to these databases in 43 branches and remotely using authentication. Some vendors provide usage statistics of their databases by library users. Vendor supplied data vary widely in the content of their usage reporting. Reports range from detailed lists of individual searches to an aggregate usage count for a reporting period. When similar statistics are supplied, differences in definition and scope prevent comparison of statistics across vendors. Common areas of inconsistency include: Time span; Session or instance; Queries and Views. The University of Washington team studied those usage reports and developed a database analysis tool for normalizing those inconsistencies.

The Current SystemThe existing database usage analysis tool has been developed in MS Access environment. The system produces many statistics based on server log data usage. Statistics are generated either for each branch or for the entire KCLS system. The system has several menu buttons, dropdown and check boxes in the user interface. It has tables, queries, forms, macros and utilizes MS Excel sheets and graphs to generate the final reports. The conceptual design view of the system is shown below

Tariq Alam, MSIM, The Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, Washingtontalam@u.washington.edu

This project is under the supervision of Professor Efthimis N. EfthimiadisThe Information School, University of Washington WA, USA.

Reports can be generated for individual months, comparison of months, or spanning a range of dates, such as a quarter or a year. Additional functionality includes the ability to add new databases, reassign IP addresses, assign databases to a particular vendor for aggregation, and create custom statistics.

16 statistics were developed based on server log data. Statistics generated, for either each branch or for the entire KCLS system, include activity grouped by : 

Month or Year Database Day of the week Vendor Time of day Remote access vs. in-branch activity summary

Example statistics produced by the existing systemThe statistics are exported to Excel spreadsheets for viewing and charting.

Next StepsThe project has so far migrated the Access databases to SQL server environment for improving the overall system performance. The next steps of the project would be:

Edit and test the queries and forms

Develop new queries and additional reports

Installing and testing the new system performance and usability

Continue collection and analysis of the KCLS data itself

Work with other libraries in adopting these statistical measures

Publicize measures beyond the state of Washington

System DevelopmentAfter analyzing the new requirements and studying the scalability issue, the team has decided to migrate the existing system from the MS ACCESS database environment to the SQL server environment. The new system would provide the following advantages and would satisfy users’ needs.

• Improvement of file sharing mechanism: the client/server environment of Microsoft SQL Server is designed for a large number of users and minimizing network traffic • Capable of handling large amount of data: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 can support databases of up to 2 terabytes in size• Increasing the security of the system: Integration of Microsoft SQL Server's security with the security of a Microsoft Windows network allows easier administration of complex network security settings • Availability of the system: SQL Server can be backed up and restored dynamically while the database is in use

Migration to Client/Server application Microsoft Access 2000 introduces Microsoft Access Project, a new type of Access file (.adp) designed as a client/server application. Communication between the client and the server takes place through OLE DB component architecture, which was specifically designed for efficient client/server communication. All tables and data definition objects such as views, stored procedures, and database diagrams are stored on the server. The client stores only code-based objects such as forms, reports, modules, and macros. Most data processing takes place on the server, and only filtered data is sent to the client, thus minimizing network traffic and speed up the overall process.

Month and Year Statistics Average Monthly Activity by Branch

Activity by Database Vendor Average Database Use by Day of the Week

InputServer log data ( text file with .csv extension)

ProcessLogs Database (MS Access environment)

OutputReports and Charts (MS Excel environment)

Parameters Channels

Settings KCLS Administrative offices Issaquah, KCLS Bothell Regional Library and Information School

Actors Manager Vendor Relations, Reference Service Coordinator, Collection Service Manager, Electronic Librarian, Division System Assistant, and System Developer

Events Focus group meetings and Individual meetings

Methods Interviews, Discussions and Observations

Conceptual design of current system

Requirement Collection ProcessThe project team has conducted several interviews to understand how the database usage statistics are being prepared and used in KCLS and helped the decision making process. The interviews focused on the usability of the existing system and collected additional requirements to improve system functionality.

Data collection

Data analysisThe data analysis phase mainly concentrated on the following areas in order to understand how the statistics and tools are being used by KCLS and what would be the possible future development to the system

• User characteristics and tasks• Objectives and purposes of task that relate to statistics• Decisions made by management based on statistics• Internal and external users of the statistics• Usability of the existing tools• Requirements for improving functionalities of the existing system

Flow of database usage reports in KCLSDatabase

reports

ElectronicResourcesCommittee

IntranetBoard ofDirectors

(decision making)

Staff information(non decision-

making)

CollectionDevelopment Annual Report

Budgeting

Public

i) Futuretrends productidentification

ii)TaxesBranch Activity per Computer Access by Time of Day