The Data Dude recently attended the SDC (State Data Coordinator) conference in Louisville, KY. The Dude votes thumbs up on the conference sessions, the city of Louisville (its all about horses and bourbon), and the invaluable time spent with colleagues from other states. The Dude votes thumbs down on flight delays and the anxiety producing craziness of the typical airport. The purpose in writing today is to explore what data elements are important to
you, the actual people that capture and record these statistics on the annual public library survey (affectionately known to many as the “Bibliostat One” and unaffectionately known as many other things). Are there statistics you are collecting that you think might be important on a state or national level? Please let me know, or even let me know some general ideas or thoughts you might be having, so they might be explored further or built upon. A few things were discussed at the SDC conference that are worth noting and might jog your ability to collaborate creatively. Number one: Virtual library visits. As physical visits may be declining, it probably is important to track virtual visitors to the library (e.g. visitors to the library website). Some states already collect this data. Does your library track this information? If so, does it underline the importance of your website, and perhaps more importantly, keeping it updated?
Secondly, how many of you use non-pc devices? The thing that immediately comes to mind would be the 3D printer; however, what about other non-pc devices such as tablet computers? I know many libraries make these available in lieu of the traditional PC. For those of you with tethered (or non-tethered) tablets, are you counting and reporting those now, or would this fit more appropriately under a separate data element called “non-pc devices”? With the recently concluded digital inclusion survey (Nebraska scored a stellar 64% response rate), how about broadband speed? I know of a few libraries that completed the speed test, looked at the low numbers and said, “wait a minute…”. They used this as a catalyst to talk to their ISP and found out they were getting the shaft (maybe intentionally, maybe not) when it came to what they were paying for. The point is that the DI Survey uncovered these gross injustices, and the librarians took action to remedy them. The question that remains is: Would actual speed reporting be beneficial, or are there simply too many variables in place to capture it accurately?
Furthermore, new library services that may be worth noting in data collection include self-directed education and local digital collections. Is there anything else on your list? I’ve already starting thinking about next year’s survey and perhaps some tools to help you with using the compiled data. Capturing uses of electronic resources continues to be problematic. There are numerous
download services that libraries might subscribe to. If the library pays for it, and the virtual library visitor uses it, shouldn’t we somehow try to paint a picture of its use? Many of these things are currently lumped into the “database” bin and counted as boring ol’ “1”, simply because there is no other definition that they fit into. I wonder if instead of trying to write a definitino that captures all of these services, perhaps we should simply add a three part question to provide a more accurate portrayal: (1) Does your library subscribe to an electronic downloadable or streaming service; (2) if so, what is the name of the service; and (3) how many times does it get used in a year. The survey could provide a prompt to enter this information for each subscribed service and a separate element could do the calculations for the total uses of all downloadable services. Shaka.
The Data Dude recently attended the SDC (State Data Coordinator) conference in Louisville, KY. The Dude votes thumbs up on the conference sessions, the city of Louisville (its all about horses and bourbon), and the invaluable time spent with colleagues from other states. The Dude votes thumbs down on flight delays and the anxiety producing craziness of the typical airport. The purpose in writing today is to explore what data elements are important to you, the actual people that capture and record these statistics on the annual public library survey (affectionately known to many as the “Bibliostat One” and unaffectionately known as many other things). Are there statistics you are collecting that you think might be important on a state or national level? Please let me know, or even let me know some general ideas or thoughts you might be having, so they might be explored further or built upon. A few things were discussed at the SDC conference that are worth noting and might jog your ability to collaborate creatively. Number one: Virtual library visits. As physical visits may be declining, it probably is important to track virtual visitors to the library (e.g. visitors to the library website). Some states already collect this data. Does your library track this information? If so, does it underline the importance of your website, and perhaps more importantly, keeping it updated?
Secondly, how many of you use non-pc devices? The thing that immediately comes to mind would be the 3D printer; however, what about other non-pc devices such as tablet computers? I know many libraries make these available in lieu of the traditional PC. For those of you with tethered (or non-tethered) tablets, are you counting and reporting those now, or would this fit more appropriately under a separate data element called “non-pc devices”? With the recently concluded digital inclusion survey (Nebraska scored a stellar 64% response rate), how about broadband speed? I know of a few libraries that completed the speed test, looked at the low numbers and said, “wait a minute…”. They used this as a catalyst to talk to their ISP and found out they were getting the shaft (maybe intentionally, maybe not) when it came to what they were paying for. The point is that the DI Survey uncovered these gross injustices, and the librarians took action to remedy them. The question that remains is: Would actual speed reporting be beneficial, or are there simply too many variables in place to capture it accurately?
Furthermore, new library services that may be worth noting in data collection include self-directed education and local digital collections. Is there anything else on your list? I’ve already starting thinking about next year’s survey and perhaps some tools to help you with using the compiled data. Capturing uses of electronic resources continues to be problematic. There are numerous download services that libraries might subscribe to. If the library pays for it, and the virtual library visitor uses it, shouldn’t we somehow try to paint a picture of its use? Many of these things are currently lumped into the “database” bin and counted as boring ol’ “1”, simply because there is no other definition that they fit into. I wonder if instead of trying to write a definitino that captures all of these services, perhaps we should simply add a three part question to provide a more accurate portrayal: (1) Does your library subscribe to an electronic downloadable or streaming service; (2) if so, what is the name of the service; and (3) how many times does it get used in a year. The survey could provide a prompt to enter this information for each subscribed service and a separate element could do the calculations for the total uses of all downloadable services. Shaka.
