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Libraries remain one of the last places on campus where the purging of usage data is encouraged and "tracking" is a dirty word. While some libraries have demonstrated the usefulness of analytics, opponents bring up issues of privacy and debate the feasibility of student-generated library data for planning and assessment. Using a study conducted at the University Library, California State University, Long Beach, the authors of this article identified practical knowledge of data research that academic librarians will benefit from understanding. Readers will learn about the role campus culture plays in data gathering, be exposed to the complexities of learning analytics and Institutional Review Board (IRB) clearance, and read how the authors weighed the ethical use of big data analysis for assessing students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fall of 2015, two librarians at San Diego State University initiated a project to enhance the visibility of some of the library’s numerous electronic resources. Promotional materials were created to highlight some of the main features and functionality of seven specific databases to which the library subscribes. Although there are many factors of this project that warrant further research, the authors can definitively state that usage for six of the seven electronic resources featured in their promotional project did increase when they were advertised to a wider campus population via the library’s website. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]