GLAM Web Analytics: Methods and Metrics for Elevating Online Engagement and Content Discovery

Dear Colleagues,

In the contemporary digital landscape, Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) have emerged as increasingly vital institutions for disseminating knowledge and preserving cultural heritage. Their digital platforms, including online collections, virtual exhibitions, research portals, and digital archives, are integral to fulfilling their public mandate. Within this framework, web analytics (WA) serves as a critical feedback mechanism, providing profound insights into the storage, access, and use of these digital heritage assets by a global audience.

WA has evolved from a primal measurement tool into an indispensable strategic asset that helps understand the complex processes through which cultural and scholarly knowledge is created, valued, and engaged. This Special Issue seeks scholarly contributions that examine the expanding role of WA within modern GLAM institutions, particularly in the context of the growing integration of generative AI into information workflows. WA now provides essential, high-quality data that supports AI-driven applications, such as AI-powered search functions and collection interpretation, thereby introducing new complexities and opportunities in the realms of digital curation, public engagement, and information science theoretical lens.

In this respect, we invite submissions that critically explore this multifaceted landscape, addressing  the technical and managerial challenges of implementing WA in often resource-constrained GLAM environments. Topics may include an investigation into the symbiotic relationship between WA and digital content strategy, specifically how analytics can inform optimizations for diverse audiences, ranging from scholarly researchers to the general public, as well as for emergent generative AI discovery engines.

Particular interest lies in submissions that address the practical challenges of integrating a diverse array of data types specific to the GLAM sector. This includes patron behavioral analytics derived from digital catalogs and exhibits, social media engagement metrics, technical performance data from digitized repositories, and textual content sourced from visitor reviews, mobile tour applications, or collection of relevant metadata.

We are particularly interested in theoretical frameworks and empirical case studies addressing topics including, but not limited to the following:

• WA as a strategic asset for informing digital collection development, preservation, and public outreach strategies.
• The role of WA in validating and informing generative AI applications concerning collection interpretation, automated metadata generation, and patron-facing chatbots.
• Frameworks for integrating heterogeneous data (to name a few, legacy catalog data, user analytics, social media analytics and digital object metrics) for comprehensive institutional assessment.
• Patron interaction analytics as a means of explaining information-seeking behaviors within digital archives, online exhibitions, and library databases.
• The impact of web analytics on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for enhancing the visibility of cultural heritage collections via AI-generative content creation platforms.
• Leveraging WA to augment metadata structures (e.g., schema.org, MARC, EAD, Dublin Core and others) for improved discoverability and findability of digital assets.
• Innovative theoretical models linking analytics to public value creation, organizational learning, and the demonstration of impact within non-profit cultural institutions.

The overarching aim of this Special Issue is to convene diverse perspectives from information science, museum studies, digital humanities, archival science, and computer science, fostering a comprehensive understanding of how web analytics can be effectively leveraged to cultivate more intelligent, effective, and user-centric cultural heritage institutions.

Dr. Ioannis Drivas
Dr. Eftichia Vraimaki
Dr. Angeliki Antoniou
Guest Editors

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• GLAMs
• digital heritage
• web analytics
• generative AI
• generative engine optimization (GEO)
• data integration
• user interaction analytics
• metadata
• information discovery