Home  Use Statistics to Tell Your Story
Numbers You Can Use
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What we know about public libraries:
Public libraries are partners for vibrant & educated communities.
1) Public libraries help children do well in school.
The Facts:
Why participating in summer reading program makes a difference:
- Reading gets better when you practice it.
- Without SRPs, kids lose reading gains over summer. (Especially true for disadvantaged kids.)
- SRP kids more likely to read well than non-SRP kids.
- SRP kids read better than those who go to camp.
- SRP kids who visited library and did free reading gained more than those in a traditional language arts summer program.
The Sources:
Your Story:
- Report number of programs for preschool age children—especially story times and outreach to day care centers—and attendance at such programs.
- Report summer reading program statistics. Also track impact, if possible.
2) Public libraries support lifelong learning.
The Facts:
The top 3 topics for "free choice learning" are:
- Health issues
- Spiritual/personal growth
- Current events
The Sources:
Partnerships for Free Choice Learning: PLs, Museums, and Public Broadcasters (Urban Institute, ULC, 2003) Available at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410661_partnerships_for_free_choice_learning.pdf
Your Story:
- Report numbers of library programs—especially those offered in collaboration with other community organizations—that encourage LL and attendance at programs.
- In annual user survey or focus group interviews, ask about LL uses of library collections & services.
Public libraries are essential for a free people.
1) Public libraries open doors of opportunity.
The Facts:
- Strong library literacy programs help to encourage adult students to persevere to meet their goals. (Counting on Results, LRS, 2001)
- Basic literacy : 42% of these patrons became citizens.
- Business/career: 36% of these patrons explored business opportunities, started or developed business.
*MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, 2001
The Sources:
Your Story:
- Map recent or specific circulation data to learn who is and isn’t using your library.
- Do a community analysis. (Use PLGDB & LRS community scan form.)
- Publicize programs on preparing for GED exam, selecting college, starting home-based business.
- Interview key user groups in your legal service area (e.g., students, adult learners, small business owners).
- Design outreach efforts to reach non-users.
Public libraries are for YOU! The library is what you want it to be.
1) Public libraries will get you through times of no money …
The Facts:
- Public library usage increases when the economy slumps.
- During the 2001 recession, circulation ran 8-9% above what would have normally been expected (ALA, 2002).
2) Public libraries generate a measurable return-on-investment in terms of community development (SLPL, 1998).
The Sources:
Your Story:
- Chart year to year trends for your community, including:
- Library’s local income, collection expenditures;
- Library visits, circulation, program attendance;
- Labor force participation, unemployment rate.
- Survey businesses that use the library about cost savings.
- Ask users for success stories about how library services helped them find jobs, start businesses.
3) Public libraries change people’s lives.
The Facts:
Of general library users
- 74% read for pleasure.
- 56% learned about a skill, hobby or other interest.
- 46% found info needed for school, work or a community group.
* Counting on Results (LRS, 2001)
Of all users for libraries that studied specific service responses:
- Library as place: 59% found quiet place to think, read, write or study.
- Local history/genealogy: 53% made progress researching family histories.
- Basic literacy: 36% read to a child or helped a child choose a book.
The Sources:
Your Story:
- Conduct an outcome-based evaluation of a specific program at your library.
- Conduct an annual user survey to give patrons the opportunity to identify how they have benefited from your library’s services.
4) Public libraries are gateways to the World Wide Web.
The Facts:
From Gates (2003):
- New computers increase user visits, and many new to libraries.
- Includes home schoolers, travelers, and others who depend on library computers.
- 75% of patrons "ask a librarian" when they need help with library computers.
From OCLC (2003):
- 77% have websites.
- 72% of websites provide access to Web resources.
- 70% of libraries provide online catalog access.
- 63% provide access to licensed databases.
- 21% offer interactive reference services.
The Sources:
- The Gates Legacy: What's changed and what's next as librarians work to sustain public access to computers , Library Journal, 2003 Available at: http://www.libraryjournal.com (search terms: gates legacy)
- Articles from OCLC Office of Research in 2003 issues of Public Libraries and Library Hi Tech (storefronts, strip-malls, malls analogy) Available at: http://www.oclc.org/research
Your Story:
- Report website usage statistics for library catalog, licensed databases, etc.
- Publicize profiles of patrons who use online services and how they make a difference.
- Publicize stories of librarians helping patrons with technology.
5) Public libraries bridge the Digital Divide.
The Facts:
- 95%+ percent of library outlets offer public access computers, and 14 million regularly use them. Poor & minority patrons are more likely than others to rely on access (Gates, 2004).
- Libraries in poorer areas, especially rural ones, lag behind more prosperous cities and suburbs; but, E-rate is closing gap (Info Institute, 2002).
- 60% of < 18 use library Internet access to do school work (LRS, 2002).
The Sources:
Your Story:
- Report availability of ___ public access computers at your library to local population in groups likelier to experience digital divide (poor, low educational attainment, minorities, older adults).
- Report how your library’s patrons benefit from more or better access thanks to E-rate.
- Survey or interview library users to determine extent of their reliance on library access to Internet, computer user demographics, and reasons for Internet use (e.g., educational, economic, recreational).
Where to turn for help …
- State Data Coordinators (state library agencies)
- State Data Centers
- Nearest library school
- Centers for library research
- ALA Office for Research & Statistics
- Federal agencies: IMLS, NCES, NCLIS
- Links to all of the above (and more) at http://www.LRS.org
—Keith Curry Lance
Director, Library Research Service
Colorado State Library & University of Denver
Tel. 303 866 6737 - Fax 303 866 6940
E-mail lance_k@cde.state.co.us
Website: http://www.LRS.org
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