Overall Usage

The DRS has been systematically tracking usage for all files it stores since 2015. As with many similar systems and websites, statistics are recorded when a user interacts with particular portions of the repository. There are three categories of recorded usage:
 
  • A page view is counted when a DRS user opens a file’s full metadata page.
  • A file download is counted when a user opens a DRS file in a browser or saves the file to their computer.
  • An audio or video stream is counted when any portion of an audio or video file is played in the browser or in a podcast service.

 

In an effort to only report genuine usage of DRS files, statistics are gathered daily and processed nightly to filter out usage that can be reasonably flagged as artificial. This happens in two ways:
  • Usage from a single IP address is counted for each page view, file download, or stream only once per hour. This prevents artificial inflation of usage through repeated page refreshing. 
  • Usage statistics recorded today will be processed overnight, filtered to remove known interactions from bots, data harvesters, and other web-scrapers, and displayed to users with management permissions the following day.
 
This page will be updated quarterly with new reports on general usage.
 
For more information about usage information gathering and library's commitment to patron privacy, visit: https://library.northeastern.edu/about/visitors/visitor-policies-and-forms/privacy-statement

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Usage Statistics Reports