Library stats all add up to a busy service
WHEN it comes to being compared with others in the business, the Bathurst Library is proving it’s up there with the best.Each year all public library services in NSW are compared in an annual statistical collection and benchmarking exercise conducted by the State Library.
A key factor in this process is comparisons with similar services provided and population size.
Bathurst Regional Council’s director of cultural and
community services Annabell Miller reported the local library’s fine performance to Wednesday night’s ordinary monthly meeting of council.
“Benchmarking the total loans of library material for each library shows Bathurst lent a credible 357,878 items,” she said.
“This ranked the library 52 out of the 99 library services (included in the survey) – well above our ranking of 61 according to population.”
Ms Miller said Bathurst Library achieved a ratio of 9.1 loans per head of population, ranking the library 18th out of the 99 services across NSW.
“When compared within the complete grouping of all libraries, Bathurst lends an impressive total number of items per staff member. In fact, Bathurst staff lent 33,445 items per staff member,” Ms Miller said.
“This places Bathurst library staff as the sixth busiest workers out of all 99 libraries.”
Bathurst’s performance can be gauged by comparing similar sized population centres and their circulation of library materials.
Examples include Botany, with a population of 39,664 and circulation of 159,051; Bathurst, with a population of 39,339 and circulation of 357,870; Eurobodalla, with a population of 37,442 and circulation of 300,931; and Strathfield, with a population of 36,480 and circulation of 239,541.
Councillor Monica Morse told the meeting the staff at the local library do a fantastic job considering the limited number of staff.
“I agree that we should always look to give more money to the library because it provides such a helpful service to the community,” she said.
Benchmarking In Public Library - News
WHEN it comes to being compared with others in the business, the Bathurst Library is proving it's up there with the best. Each year all public library services in NSW are compared in an annual statistical collection and benchmarking exercise conducted
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Better together: benchmarks and advocacy | TechSoup for Libraries
What would you think about a tool that:
Creates a common language for discussing public libraries' and public access technology's role in supporting community goals Sets clear, achievable and measurable standards for public access technology for libraries of all sizes Supports strategic planning, budgeting and advocacy processes Provides an extra layer of legitimacy and authority to library technology discussions Helps you find new and clearer ways to tell your library's storyWould you want to use that tool? How could it benefit your library? What would help you make the most of the tool? And what kind of challenges do you think there might be in implementing it? That's exactly what California public librarians have been discussing recently, as part of an effort to understand how best to implement the Public Access Technology Benchmarks (PATB).
As part of this process, two focus groups were held this month, one in Southern California and one in Sacramento. Sarah and I were lucky enough to attend last week's session in Sacramento, along with about 35 representatives from California public libraries. I also got to meet Stacey Aldrich, the California State Librarian (for a library fan like me, this was awesome, like meeting a rock star).
The compiled results from both focus group sessions were presented at a webinar held on Monday, July 25. The archived webinar is available here . There’s also a survey being conducted to gather additional feedback on the focus group-identified themes. The survey will run until August 2, and all California public library staff (not only librarians!) are being encouraged to participate.
Looking at the webinar and the survey contents, I thought the facilitators did a great job of capturing the main themes that emerged from the focus group session Sarah and I attended. Rather than rehashing what the webinar already covered, I’ll focus on a few of the discussion points that particularly caught my attention.
Many of the potential benefits I mentioned at the beginning of this post - creating a common language, setting standards, supporting planning/budgeting, etc - were what I'd expected to hear in a benchmarking discussion.
Benchmarking In Public Library - Bookshelf
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Benchmarking: Definition from Answers.com
Benchmarking Management tool through which a plan for evaluation, measurement, and improvement is implemented
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Serving the American Public: Best Practices in One-Stop Customer ... partners with the Interagency Benchmarking and Best Practices Council, which was created by enterprising ...