A hit is not a return visit on a library portal

Library stewards in Kutaisi are often handed a sheet that says the catalogue was “used” two thousand times in a month. Sit by the terminals after six and you will see what those uses are: a search that freezes, a refresh, another freeze. Each jab can be counted as a hit. Almost none of them are a return visit — a person who came back the next evening and finished a search.

Portal engagement tracking, as we practise it, separates those. A hit is a touch. A return is a person who had a reason to try again. Dwell is how long they stayed when the box actually worked.

The evening question is the one that started this desk. The reading room filled. The portal looked busy on the sheet and dead on the floor. Once we drew return visits in a different ink from hits, the facilities committee could see the freeze. They had been ready to cut the hours instead of the seized machines.

If your sheet cannot tell a refresh from a finished search, say so on the title plate. Do not let a monthly total stand in for a night in the room.