Recommendations for benchmarking Web site usage among academic libraries

The Web sites that academic libraries are developing for their research communities represent an important new aspect of information management. Comparative statistical analysis of Web site usage among similar institutions would improve librarians' ability to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. A centralized voluntary reporting structure for Web server usage statistics, coordinated by the Association of Research Libraries' (ARL's) Office of Statistics, would provide a significant service to academic librarians. Factors to consider in designing such a benchmarking program are discussed, based on a pilot study of Web site usage statistics from fourteen science and technology libraries.