Greetings Michigan Library Community,

Have you ever wondered who the super users of MeL are? According to the usage statistics, it's elementary school children, young people, and those that guide them to MeL. Let's take a look at the areas of MeL they visit most often.

First, let's talk about exit traffic as reported by Google Analytics. These are numbers that show the percentage of users who are exiting MeL.org via particular links. Bookflix is 30% of our outgoing traffic. That's tremendous and it demonstrates clearly the importance of that resource to our users. The Britannica Suite has risen to a total of 9.9% of outgoing traffic now that the school year is in full swing. That's very impressive as well. These are all percentages of the total outgoing traffic of MeL which as you know serves all 9.8 million residents of Michigan. These are not small numbers; they are huge numbers.

Where are they going on MeL to access these links? As you're no doubt aware, resources in MeL are listed in multiple places. Hands-down, the most popular portal (subject gateway) in MeL is Kids where Bookflix accounts for 52% of outbound clicks in both the Storytime section and in Homework Helpers. The other resources that really make the grade in Homework Helpers are Britannica Elementary, Worldbook Kids and finally Britannica School.

And the story continues with MeL Teens. From the Databases page, Opposing Viewpoints in Context comes in  as the second most popular link on the page and Gale Virtual Reference Library is #5. This is reinforced by the usage we see of the Teens Gateway, where the Homework Help section is the most popular area and both of these resources can be found there as well.

It's safe to say that some of MeL's key resources are those that support Michigan's young learners and that's something we can all be proud of.

Brought to you by Deb Renee Biggs and Sonya Schryer Norris, Library Consultants at the Library of Michigan

MeL databases are available to Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.

MeL Minutes are brought to you by the Library of Michigan.  Want more information on MeL?  Stay tuned for the next MeL Minute available on many Michigan library listservs, email us at contact@mel.org,  visit http://mel.org, or sign up for the MeL Minute and other Library of Michigan e-mail lists via GovDelivery. We encourage you to share MeL Minutes with your colleagues and networks.