On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 5:28 PM, Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I don't understand the distinction between "organic findability" and "direct going to the URIs" (presumably URLs, which go >somewhere). While going directly to resources would skew your stats, presumably in a good way, I don't see that they would >impact your findability.

Let me clear this up for you: The student is Indiana Jones and the
library's website is the holy grail. Can he get there without trials
and tribulations? Or will there be pit snakes, German spies, or a love
interest along the way? Who knows! This is organic by means of
students adventures in the website starting from SOMEWHERE and landing
on the library's page at some point in the journey. If it takes 10
clicks from some unknown spot never before recorded in time or from
single click from the college's landing page to the library, who
knows! It's like choose your own adventure up in here.

When the librarians teach at _least_ five info lit classes a day for
2-3 solid months, and are giving students direct URLs and URIs, this
is not organic. Students are not allowed to figure out the path of
clicking righteousness on their own, hence why our stats during these
periods are not a reliable source of information on figuring out how
our students find us.

I'll be looking forward to your enlightening tribute to Organic
Findability With Respect to College Websites and The Status of LIbrary
Holdings in the next $NameOfJournal. I'm sure it will be a rip roaring
yarn.

-Lisa





Lisa M. Rabey | @pnkrcklibrarian
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An Unreliable Narrator: http://exitpursuedbyabear.net
Cunning Tales from a Systems Librarian: http://lisa.rabey.net