This is the title of an article in the March/April issue of Public Libraries in “The Wired Library” column. The author is R. Toby Greenwald, the Virtual Services Coordinator @ Skokie PL in Illinois. The main thrust of his column is the need for better ways to analyze data for measuring the effectiveness of libraries besides circ counts. Greenwald interviews a systems and training manager for a 54 member library system in upstate NY, Emily Clasper. She stresses the need for a method in place for libraries to collect “meaningful” data on non-circ related services, for example, ” library programming, online services, user engagement and facilities use” to better determine the return on investment (ROI) for her libraries. As services continually expand, Casper wants to see better use of data to measure how effectively libraries serve their patrons.
Greenwald then addresses four areas that he would like to collect data on, the first being the use of devices. For example, he suggests using patterns in Wi-Fi traffic to determine what devices people prefer, or to discover when to expect a spike in usage of broadband. Another area to examine is what he calls “third-spacers”: patrons who spend time in our areas for study or work, which sounded interesting. Many patrons do spend a good deal of time in libraries, but is this really taken into account with current statistics? The next area Greenwald uses calls “deep circulation,”: combining two measurements in analyzing circ data, such as looking at the time between cko’s to measure a book’s popularity. The last area is “user mapping” to use geographic info systems software to plot data over a map of a library’s service area, to determine any geographic barriers. I’m not too sure what he means by this last area, but it’s all food for thought.