Hiya Nick
A few completely anecdotal observations:
* Our HG site has now been live for over 12 months, and is now receiving 4000-6000 hits per month (not all looking specifically at Cambridgeshire HER data, but queries that are run against our data)
* General level of enquiries and income from enquiries seems constant, although these are over 50% commercial which one would not expect to be affected. Over time this pattern may change...
* Some enquiries can be solved by simply pointing the user to the HG to browse to their heart's content! This is a blessing! The response from people at knowing they can access this info at home has been very positive.
* HG is very useful as you can link to a single record, making this type of enquiry much quicker than doing a printout/sending a pdf
* Some university enquirers have looked at the HG, refined their sites of interest, and contacted us then to look at specific grey lit reports or backup files. This is far more efficient use of time for us, although the issues of users not understanding thesauri/how sites are indexed crop up as you would expect. Perhaps this will improve with developments to the searching mechanisms, or as people get more experienced at understanding how HE data works.
Happy to talk some more if you have specific questions or share the detail of the figures
cheers
Sarah
-----Original Message-----
From: Issues related to Historic Environment Records
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Nick Boldrini
Sent: 03 June 2008 16:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Heritage Gateway and Inquiry Numbers
Hi Guys
its probably too early to tell this, as I don't expect anyone has had their data on the gateway long enough to make a difference, but I'll ask anyway.
Does anyone have any figures on how making their information available through the Heritage Gateway specifically has affected their HER inquiries? Even anecdotal information would be useful if available.
Also, if anyone has any information on how making their information available online generally has affected HER inquiries that would be useful. In this latter case, it might be useful to have some context (was the online aspect part of an HLF bid, etc).
I am putting a case together for making our stuff available through the Gateway, and one selling point might be reduced inquires and therefore a saving on staff time.
hope that makes sense
thanks
best wishes
Nick Boldrini
Historic Environment Record Officer
Heritage and Environment Section
Development and Countryside Service
Business & Environmental Services Directorate
North Yorkshire County Council
County Hall
Northallerton DL7 8AH
Direct Dial: 01609 532331
Contact Centre: 08458 727374
Office Fax: 01609 532558
Conserving North Yorkshire's heritage - encouraging sustainable access
www.northyorks.gov.uk/her
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