Tracking usage by number of clicks on a page

I am using TinyCat as a digital library. As such I cannot track usage/loans by using the patron functions. I wonder if I can track usage by the number of clicks/downloads of a link? Our digital titles are placed as links on the Comment field on LibraryThing. Thanks for any information you have

This is very do-able.

1. Can you share a link to your library so I can see how it works now?
2. Are you using Google Analytics to track traffic? (You don't need to use this specific product. There are other ways but GA is very good and continues to be free at the basic level.)

Hey there! I hear you. If you were to track lending on TinyCat for your digital copies, you'd have usage stats, but that would double your work.

If you wanted to go the link-tracking route, then you might want to look into setting something like Google Analytics up for your TinyCat site. You might be able to see what sort of usage your links are getting, but keep in mind that your TinyCat catalog is visible to the public. This means that anyone could click on those links and not borrow the item in question.

I'm sorry I don't have an easier solution for you, here. If you have your digital titles hosted on another platform perhaps there's a way you can track usage there?

Hi Kristilabrie and vthp thanks again for insights.

My library homepage is https://www.librarycat.org/lib/UUC

Yes, I will try Google Analytics
Yes, we've linked internal documents on Sharepoint and can use that to evaluate views and downloads.
Yes, we allow public users to just get a taste of it. Our library functions more like a reference library rather than a lending library so scholars are likely to just flip a few pages rather than read/borrow a whole book.

We just wanna track which resources are used more frequently than others.

Thanks again

Definitely try Google Analytics it is very usable with Librarything.

(A few year ago I set up around a a Librarything Account for a corporate lending library. Then TinyCat was released , so we set up a TinyCat and I also set up the Google Analytics. In our case we wanted to see which office locations/areas was utilizing our catalog and etc. The biggest obstacles I found was trying to keep the analytics page down to just a few charts, especially if you want to share and analyze the data.)

If you are using it in a nonpersonal usage corporate or academic, you might reach out to your IT department and see if they have any issues with tracking and casually mention you have started looking into the Google Analytics features. In all likelihood with Google Analytics they will not have an issues, but they will appreciate the check and you might receive a few tips about Google Analytics. ;)

Good luck and have fun with it.

>5 BooksandMovies: Thanks so much for your encouraging note BooksandMovies