Continuing my theme of usage statistics analysis [1] [EZproxy usage statistics. I needed to design a system that would allow users to generate a report on how much a particular resource had been used. For the purposes of the analysis a resource was defined as a related set of domains. For example to collate usage of the ScienceDirect electronic resource we needed to collate usage for the sciencedirect.com and elsevier.com domains.
The system that I’ve developed has been written in Perl and uses a MySQL database, although it could just as easily used any other RDBMS platform. The system is comprised of two parts. One part imports data into the database from the monthly text files used by the AWStats platform. The other is a series of CGI scripts that report on data stored in the database.
The first CGI script allows a user to specify a resource, by providing a resource name and a space separated list of domains. Below is a screen capture of what the page looks like:
(Click on the thumbnail for the larger view)
The second CGI script allows a user to edit a resource definition. Clicking the edit link to the right of the resource name populates the form ready for editing. It is also possible to delete a resource using this form. Below is a screen capture of what the page looks like:
(Click on the thumbnail for the larger view)
The third, and last, CGI script allows a user to search for usage statistics for a particular resource. The user needs to specify:
- The name of the resource
- The year
- The month. Or “All Months” for the entire year including year to date
- And the profile, because we break up EZproxy statistics into certain categories based on user groups
Below is a screen capture of what the page looks like:
(Click on the thumbnail for the larger view)
Utilising the Spreadsheet:WriteExcel Perl module from CPAN I’m also able to export the usage statistics displayed a search results as a Microsoft Excel Workbook. Which is very handy for those users who want to do further analysis.
So far user feedback has been positive with indications that the system will assist in the decision making process.
June 9, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Thanks for this.
I don’t have the skills to do this, which is kind of why I think it’s so useful that you posted it. I think every academic library should have someone with the skills you have, and then uses them like this. It’s so frustrating knowing that all this info is there, but we need to ask big, off-the-shelf product sellers to do this for us, because we don’t have the skills in house.
I know enough to follow what you did, and that’s really the amount I want to know…I don’t want to be able to do it, just want someone on staff who can. I really appreciate you sharing your examples with us.
June 9, 2007 at 4:47 pm
@ Kathryn
Glad I could be of some help. I’m told the system is already providing some interesting insights into the usage of our electronic resources.
I agree with you that it can be frustrating knowing what you can do with the data, but having to need to get past the culture of going through the big vendors to get what you want. I think the type of skills shortage you mention is going to be an issue for libraries moving forward.
If I can be of any more help, don’t hesitate to let me know
June 13, 2007 at 1:02 pm
How can we extract xls to xml through perl script
June 14, 2007 at 10:52 am
@pramod,
I’m not sure how you would read data from an Excel file. Perhaps one of these modules could help:
- Spreadsheet::ParseExcel
- Spreadsheet::Read
- Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Simple
I’ve only ever needed to use Perl to create the spreadsheet, not read from one.