Transaction logging systems: A descriptive summary
| Pages | 67-78 |
| Date | 01 February 1993 |
| Published date | 01 February 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047885 |
| Author | Patricia Flaherty |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
TRANSACTION LOGGING SYSTEMS:
A DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Patricia Flaherty
CONTENTS
Introduction
Typical Transaction Log Data Elements
Patron's Entry
Date and Time
Terminal Identification
Search File
Number of Hits
System Response
Additional Data Elements
Capturing Transaction Log Data
Storing Transaction Log Data
Retrieving Transaction Log Data
Third-Party Software
Built-in Reports
Downloading Transaction Log Data
Report Writer
Full Transaction Logging
Okapi
OLIVE
A CD-ROM Transaction Logging Product
An Ideal System?
A Basic Log
The Basic Log and Beyond
Conclusion
Flaherty is a
programmer/analyst
working in
systems
development for MSUS/PALS, an automated library
system serving 55 academic and state agency libraries
in Minnesota.
INTRODUCTION
Most automated library
systems
include a transac-
tion logging component. Yet this fact may be among
the best kept secrets in the automated library arena.
Often only a few people within a library are aware of
its existence, and even fewer have access to the
transaction log data. This is unfortunate, since the
concrete data garnered by transaction
logs can
provide
bibliographic instructors, reference staff members,
systems librarians, and system designers with unique
and valuable insights into the patron/system interaction.
There are two broad categories of transaction
logging
systems.
One simply counts transactions as they
occur
("chits
in a bucket"); the other actually stores
the text of the transactions. All transaction logging
systems
in the
second category perform
the same
basic
functions: They capture and store
patrons'
entries and
provide for retrieval of the stored data. This is how
it
works:
When a patron enters a transaction, such as
a search command, the transaction logging system
creates a record of the entry and stores it in
a
transac-
tion log file. This record contains both a snapshot of
the patron's transaction
and
information about the entry
such
as
date,
time,
and
terminal
ID.
Some systems also
store information about the response returned by the
system. The stored transaction
log
records can
then
be
retrieved and analyzed at a later time.
The intent of this article is to familiarize the
readers
with
transaction logging systems in
the
second
category—how
they
capture and store data, which data
elements are common among systems, how data are
retrieved, and what an ideal system might look like.
— TRANSACTION LOGGING SYSTEMS —
ISSUE
42 - 11:2
(1993)
67
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