Identifying User Demographics in Digital Collections with Google Analytics

Abstract

Usage statistics of digitized materials, when collected, can inform future project prioritization for increased access to materials. Demographic information collected through Google Analytics may provide insight into the behavior of users as they engage with digital collections. This presentation outlines some of the tactics used to analyze data collected by Google Analytics for the years 2013 through 2015 by answering questions such as, 'how are users getting to digital collections,' what searches are driving traffic,' and 'how do users navigate through digital collections'? Answers to these questions revealed additional demographic information including language barriers that prevent access to content, the popularity of particular subjects, changes in social media traffic both to and from digital collections, and popularity of device type and operating system among users.