html5-img
1 / 17

Collecting Library Statistics for Management Decision-making

Collecting Library Statistics for Management Decision-making. Sarah Aerni Special Projects Librarian University of Pittsburgh 12 April 2005. Overview of this Presentation. Summary of major U.S. library organizations to whom we report statistics. An introduction to the statistics we keep.

parry
Download Presentation

Collecting Library Statistics for Management Decision-making

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Collecting Library Statistics for Management Decision-making Sarah Aerni Special Projects Librarian University of Pittsburgh 12 April 2005

  2. Overview of this Presentation • Summary of major U.S. library organizations to whom we report statistics. • An introduction to the statistics we keep. • Some examples of how these numbers are interpreted. • A discussion of how statistics are kept for Wuhan University libraries and for other libraries in China.

  3. People and Organizations to whom we report Statistics • American Library Association (ALA) • Association of Research Libraries (ARL) • National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) • The Board of Directors of the University of Pittsburgh

  4. Association of Research Libraries • The main library organization who collects statistics on research libraries • It has 123 members, of which 113 are university libraries. • There are 16 Canadian libraries and 107 U.S. Research Institutions.

  5. ARL Statistics • Statistics have been collected and published annually for the members of ARL since 1961-62. • These data are available on the Web at: http://www.arl.org/stats • There are also annual statistics for university libraries for the years 1907-1961 that were collected by James Gerould.

  6. Standards for Library Statistics • There is a standard for library statistics (NISO Z39.7-2002) that is used by ARL. • The standards are modified slightly to accommodate electronic resources. • Problems with adhering to, and variations from, the standard are common in libraries.

  7. Types of Data reported to ARL • Counts of materials (print and electronic) • Counts of Services provided • Expenditures • Demographics of the library, university and student body • LibQual survey measures service gaps

  8. Counts of Materials (print and electronic) • Volumes in library • Volumes added in most recent year • Current Serials purchased • Microform units held • Audio and Video (film) materials • Archives and Manuscripts

  9. Counts of Services Provided • Library presentations to groups • Participants in group presentations • Reference Transactions • Initial Circulation Transactions • Total Circulation Transactions • Inter-library loan (items loaned and items borrowed)

  10. Expenditures • Monographs • Current Serials • Binding of materials • Salaries and Wages • Other operating expenditures • Total library expenditures

  11. Demographic Information • Number of library employees • Number of students at the University (broken down by undergraduate & graduate) • Number of faculty at the University • Full-time and part-time students

  12. What can you do with these numbers? • Trends Analysis – looks at how your library has changed over time. • Comparative Benchmarking – compares your library to certain other libraries. The selection of the comparison partners is an important decision to consider. • Longitudinal Analysis – evaluates your library compared to others over time.

  13. LibQual+ • Survey designed to measure library users perceptions of service quality. It measures the gaps between the desired, perceived and minimum expectations of service. • In 2003, over 300 libraries participated. • Developed by the ARL New Measures Initiatives Program.

  14. LibQual+ • 25 core questions make up the main survey, and they deal with these themes: effect of service, library as place, personal control and access to information. • A “gap analysis” is sent to you as a result. Your library receives individual data, and some summary data for benchmarking purposes.

  15. For more information • ARL Statistics 2002-2003. Compiled and Edited by Martha Kyrillidou and Mark Young. ARL: Washington DC, 2004. • “Library Assessment as a Collaborative Enterprise” Martha Kyrillidou. Resource Sharing and Information Networks special issue (preprint from 9/7/2004). • http://www.libqual.org

  16. Discussion and Questions • How are library statistics collected at the library here at Wuhan University? • Are these numbers reported to anyone else outside the library? To whom? • How do you collaborate with other libraries on data standards? • What types of analysis do you do with the numbers? • What else could we investigate to test how libraries are performing?

  17. Thank you very much for coming and participating today!

More Related