On Tuesday, December 17, 2013, Lauren Magnuson wrote:

> While it's a really good idea to make sure your library's website is
> prominent on your institution's page (because I think that does send a
> strong signal, even to students, that your library is important to your
> campus), the really big question is how easily your students will be able
> to find your web page by googleing "University X Library", or "University X
> JSTOR" or "University X Ebsco."
>
> When a student has an assignment and their professor tells them they have
> to use "the library", they'll probably Google you - they won't try to
> navigate links from the university web page.
>

I've been tracking browsing to our web pages (direct traffic) versus
searches leading to our pages for a few years. Starting this fall, searches
have passed browsing. Many of our users never see our home page. Ensuring
all of your pages are well indexed in search engines is very important.
Locking them behind a login is a disservice to your students.


-- 
Robert Sebek
Webmaster, University Libraries
(http://www.lib.vt.edu/)