Assessing Finding Aid Discoverability After Description Improvements Using Web Analytics

Abstract

Archivists use best practices, like More Product Less Process, and professional standards, like Describing Archives: A Content Standard, to create descriptions of archival collections that promote collection use and discoverability. However, most existing usability literature assessing online finding aids looks at navigability and ease of use, but does not examine increase in traffic and discoverability of those finding aids. University of Colorado Boulder Archives improved online finding aid descriptions on ArchivesSpace during 2020. Google Analytics data from 2020 and 2021 show an increase in users and sessions on ArchivesSpace. It also indicates that most users arrive to the site from Google searches. Based on this data, this case study demonstrates that improving online descriptions is connected to increased online finding aid use.

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