This document outlines plans to create an open-source analytics dashboard toolkit for libraries. The goals are to provide detailed and real-time usage statistics in a consistent format to facilitate comparisons across institutions. Recommendations include starting with high-level overview statistics and incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data. Initial wireframes capture the intended functionality and interface. Next steps involve developing the dashboard and introducing it at Harvard libraries before offering it to other institutions.

1. Library Analytics Toolkit Kim Dulin and Carli Spina

2. Why This Project? Libraries are increasingly focusing on statistics, but use a wide variety of tools and techniques making it difficult to formulate meaningful comparisons. Current technology makes it possible to visualize this data in better, more consistent ways. By creating an open source software tool, libraries will be able to continue to build on this work as their needs change.

3. Goals of the Project Create an interactive analytics dashboard that will: Accommodate statistics as they are currently collected at Harvard; Provide detailed and real-time information about library usage events; and Be open-source and freely available to any library. This will facilitate information sharing and identification of trends and will provide a dynamic view of data.

4. Research Activities Met with staff from libraries, special collections and archives around Harvard. Reviewed the literature regarding metrics and data collection at libraries. Reviewed current dashboard projects underway at other institutions.

5. Recommendations Our dashboard should: Start with high-level statistics with add-on module options; Include clear definitions and guidelines for each metric; Draw from current collection methods to minimize data entry requirements; Be extensible; Incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data; and Build on already existing dashboards.

6. Projects at Other Institutions NCSU’s Data View Project: http://bit.ly/p2wTJe Indianapolis Museum of Art Dashboard: http://bit.ly/qQ80uH Watson Library Dashboardat the Metropolitan Museum of Art: http://bit.ly/ntQfMi Brown University Dashboard: http://bit.ly/ouUwct

7. Wireframes To inform the development of the dashboard, we have created the following initial wireframes to capture the intended functionality as well as the look and feel.

8. Overview Page

9. Reference Statistics Tab

10. Patron Type Prior Statistics

11. Next Steps Move forward with development of the dashboard. Introduce use of the toolkit atthe Harvard University libraries. Offer the software to other libraries to encourage further use and expansion of the toolkit.

12. Interested in More Information? Find us online: http://hvrd.me/LibAnalytics Or contact us: Kim Dulinkdulin@law.harvard.edu Carli Spinacspina@law.harvard.edu