Online Services
Search It All
Last year there were almost half a million searches from our Libraries' Search It All tool. This is the starting point for our print and online book catalogue and many of our online journals.
Web Site Traffic
The Library web site (library.lakeheadu.ca) had over 200,000 sessions in 2017/18. Most of those sessions (94.7 percent), as defined by Google Analytics, were from desktop devices. (Note: because of the way Google Analytics gathers data changed, combined with changes in how student lab computers store cookies comparisons with previous years have not been included in this year's Annual Report).
In Canada overall, in January 2018, 33 percent of web traffic was from mobile devices.
Why are so fewer Library website users using mobile devices compared to the average? It could be that when students are doing academic research they prefer to be on a desktop computer. On the other hand, is our web site as easy to use on mobile devices?
Source: We Are Social. Distribution of online traffic in Canada as of January 2018, by device. https://www.statista.com/statistics/505773/canada-online-traffic-device-share/ (accessed 8/10/18, 4:27 PM).
One of the important ways our students and faculty find information is through our online collections. The Library maintains a list of 222 databases, including journal publisher collections, online books, statistics and films. In 2017/18 the list had 49,003 views, up 6 percent from the previous year.
Ask a Librarian proactive chat invitation.
Ask a Librarian Virtual Reference
Since 2008 Lakehead University Libraries has been participating in providing collaborative chat reference, first with AskOn and now Ask a Librarian. Ask a Librarian, a virtual reference service that connects students, faculty and researchers with real-time research assistance through chat, is provided collaboratively with a number of Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL).
In February 2018, Lakehead University was the first institution in OCUL to provide the proactive chat option on the library website, inviting users to chat with a librarian online. Take-up of the new option resulted in 26.5% of the February chats coming in through the proactive chat box and rose to 49.0% in March.
Questions asked by Lakehead University Students, Faculty and Staff increased 11 percent over the previous year and our librarians and staff answered 14 percent more questions.
Library Guides
Library guides are an important way for us to help students find the best resources. We have guides related to:
- Subjects or broad disciplines (for example, Nursing)
- Topics (for example, Copyright)
- Specific Courses (for example, English 3417)
There are a total of 141 published guides for 2017/18 with 91,153 views for 12 months, an increase of 21 percent from 2016/17. In the top 10 viewed guides, 5 are related to the Faculty of Education, a testament to the great work done by the Education Libraries in Thunder Bay and Orillia, in developing and promoting the guides.
FAQ
We have 130 FAQ entries that were viewed 6517 times in 2017/18. The top entry viewed was "How do I find past exams", which has been viewed over 2000 times since we started to use this system in 2015.
We also add questions that we get asked in the Library, even though they are not "library" related, for example "Where do I get my free bus pass". Students often seek our assistance on a wide range of issues, and we are proud of being perceived as approachable and friendly. We work with our campus partners so we can make informed referrals to appropriate services.
