LibStats: An open source online tool for collecting and reporting on statistics in an academic library

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and practical applications of a highly configurable online tool – LibStats – licensed under GNU GPL, for collecting and reporting on statistics in the academic library, developed at the University of Queensland Library.

Design/methodology/approach

LibStats – an online tool – was used to make quantitative and qualitative assessments and to benchmark the results against those of other academic libraries in Australia and New Zealand.

Findings

Beyond an introduction to the tool this paper explores the potential benefits it brings to the organisation in terms of information available to management and staff time saved.

Originality/value

LibStats is a tool which is available as open source software and which facilitates the collection, recording, analysis and reporting of statistics in an academic library. It is highly configurable, which allows for customised implementation in other organisations.

Citation

Jordan, E. (2008), "LibStats: An open source online tool for collecting and reporting on statistics in an academic library", Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 18-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/14678040810869396