Fopl webinar august14-2015.4

Overview of FOPL's Ontario
Public Library Statistics and
Measurements Report
Dr. Robert Molyneux, MLIS, PhD
Stephen Abram, MLA , FOPL Executive Director
August 14, 2015

Today’s Webinar
August 14th
, 2015 Noon-1 pm
Overview of FOPL's Ontario
Public Library Statistics and
Measurements Report

Future Webinars in this series
 August 17th Noon-1 pm
 Overview of FOPL's Market Probe Canada Public Opinion
Poll of Ontarians and Public Libraries
 Speaker: Carol French, Senior Vice President, Research &
Client Services, Market Probe Canada
 Strategic Use and Insights from FOPL's Ontario Public
Library Statistics, Polls, and Measurements
 Speakers: Robert Molyneux, MSLS, PhD
 Stephen Abram, MLS, executive director FOPL
3

Introductions
Today’s Speakers
Dr. Robert Molyneux, MLIS, PhD
Stephen Abram, MLA , FOPL Executive
Director
4

Context of FOPL Stats and
Measurements
 Statistics and Measurements Strategies
– Participate in CLA task force on national statistics
– Host 2 iSchool symposia on measurements for libraries
– Lobby for open data for public libraries
– Publish analysis of Ministry data collection for 2001-2013.
– Publish Market Probe opinion polls for 2015 (building on
2001, 2006, 2010 polls)
– Host and record these webinars
– Coming Soon: FOPL Index of Community Engagement
 Thank you to the Ministry of Tourism Culture and Sport for
some support
5

Limits of Library Statistics
 Library statistics are very complicated and complex.
 Most libraries do not have a strong culture of
measurement.
 What is the difference between statistics, measurements,
polls, etc.
 All numbers have inherent risk when communicated and
interpreted.
 Data - Information - Knowledge - Action/Decisions
6

Potential Comparisons
 Compare by size of population (or any other
data point (expenditures per capita, etc.)
 North – South (e.g. SOLS vs. OLS North Libraries)
 Rural, Remote, Town, County, Suburban, Urban
Libraries
 Special Groups – Francophone, First Nations, etc.
 Regional comparisons (e.g. libraries around Ajax or
libraries around Waterloo)
 Handpick a peer cohort
7

What do we normally use our data
for?
 Strategic Planning
 Program Analysis
 Budget justifications and comparisons
 Tracking success, growth, decline
 Decision support
 Finding libraries like ours to compare our experience to
theirs
– Which means they can be a directory to libraries like
mine for benchmarking and cohort analysis
– Comparing like with like is important
 And more . . .
 We will add trying to get a sense of the health and trends in
Ontario’s public libraries
8

If you’re not collecting the
data to inform an action,
then why are you
expending the effort?
Making Decisions and Choices

Library data have a long history
10

Library data have a long history
 We have fragmentary numbers of collections
of a number of these libraries
– And like modern library numbers, we are not
always sure exactly what they mean
 Adriano Balbi, A Statistical Essay of the
Libraries of Vienna and the World [1835]
– First modern attempt at comparing libraries in
major European cities using published statistics
about them11

Balbi’s observations
 “disheartened by a disparity of opinion…”
 “only approximate data”
 “exaggerated” numbers in pursuit of prestige
Then a wonderful discussion of the problems of
comparative library data
12

Types of library data
 Balbi was dealing with reports by visitors to
various libraries at different times who
recorded estimates they heard from a variety
of people
– One-time studies done by different methods
 Episodic surveys
– Attitudinal surveys—particularly users and
non-users
– Data collection on fugitive or new subjects
13

 The data we are going to discuss are
systematically collected, annual data,
professionally compiled from surveys of
Ontario public libraries by the Ministry of
Tourism, Culture, and Sport
 Available from 1999-2013 in pdf
14

Now converted to csv files
 The Ministry has reissued these data in csv
(“comma-separated values”) which means
they can be read into a spreadsheet program
such as Excel or LibreOffice Calc readily.
 In other words, there is not a chance of
introducing error when you rekey data.
 This is a tremendous boon to studying our
libraries using these data.
18

What can we do with these data?
 We can look at any variables we choose for
individual libraries in one year or all libraries
in one year.
– For example: How big were the budgets of
Ontario libraries in 2013?
 With a good bit of work, we can rearrange
the data and look at the select variables
through time—that is, trends.
– Say: What happened to their budgets from 2001-
2013?23

We did a bit of both and more
 The report is a sampler of what can be done
with these kinds of data with the focus on a
province-wide view, not individual libraries
24

We did not use all data from this series for our
report
 Small number of variables
 In order to analyze trends properly, we only used
data from libraries which reported each year. For this
study, that number is 301 libraries
 Years 2001-2013
 We separated them into 9 “Bands”—8 by size plus
the First Nations’ Libraries in a 9th
Band.
– The Ministry did the same thing
– This is common practice in this kind of analysis
25

LET’S TAKE A TOUR
THROUGH THE REPORT
26

First the Primer
 The big story is the consistent characteristic of the
library world that affects about everything:
– Skewed distribution: a few large libraries and many
small ones
 In 2013, the 10 largest libraries (of 300+) had 60% of the
total circulations and 54% of the total expenditures.
 We must take these characteristics into account in
analyzing data
– Hence, our size “Bands” which follow Ministry practice
27

The Primer, then, informs the analysis in the FOPL
Reports
 Given it is a sampler
– We segment by size of library in “Bands”
 Same as those used by the Ministry with a difference: First Nations’
Libraries are analyzed separately in those tables where we use Bands
– Another common tool is the “Rank Order Table”
 Sort libraries in order by their reported data. That, is rank their results
by the reported data or statistics calculated from these data
– Most commonly per capitas. Dividing, say, circulations, by the
resident population served by the library
 We combine this technique with analysis of Bands.
– Our focus, primarily, is the state of the province’s libraries and trends
affecting them
28

There are many other things you
could do with these data
 This is a rich series
29

2013 data per capita and per
cardholder
 Thirteen ratios, all libraries
 The ratios are largely those we focus on in
the rest of the report.
 As the Primer showed, per capitas allow
apples to apples comparisons of libraries of
vastly different sizes
– You may be small, but you may be doing a better
job with what you have than bigger libraries.
31

Using the Spreadsheet Versions
 You have pre-crafted tables in the report(s)
 You could take the spreadsheet and mosey
around in it a bit. Sort by this or that—it is a
very busy table and one hard to show in
slides
 FOPL can make the spreadsheet available to
the members on request.
 We are also happy to do custom analysis for
you on request for a quoted fee.
32

A bit of caution if you work with
spreadsheets
 Save a copy of the original spreadsheet
 Did I mention saving a copy of the original
and don’t change it
 Make another copy for analysis. If you make
a mistake, you always can go back to the
safe copy
 Working with spreadsheets requires caution
– You think you did something but you can’t audit
what you have done
33

Annual Population and
Circulation, 2001-2013
 Trend analysis is a bit different
 Of all libraries which reported in any year,
301 reported in each year
 These tables are complex
– We will see them again, so let’s take a look
34

Traditional library measures are
steady
 OTOH: New things are growing
37

Rank Order Tables
 Circulation per capita and per active
cardholder, 2013, by Bands
45

Rank Order Tables
 Expenditures per capita and per active
cardholders
49

Conclusions
 This is the beginning. A first shot based on
best guesses of where to look.
 There are other ways of studying libraries
such as qualitative surveys of a library’s
users and their non-users.
– Given the rapidly changing information
environment in libraries, quicker surveys likely will
be a part of the future of data gathering to support
decision making.
57

Next Step
 Develop a NEW FOPL Index of Community
Engagement for testing and discussion.
 Can we combine in various ratios the hard
copy and digital transactions and attendance
of our library members to compare libraries
on a more fulsome basis than ‘circulation’?
58

Questions?
www.fopl.ca
Stephen Abram,
Executive Director
416-395-0746
sabram@fopl.ca

Future Webinars in this series
 Overview of FOPL's Market Probe Canada Public Opinion
Poll of Ontarians and Public Libraries
 Speaker: Carol French, Senior Vice President, Research &
Client Services, Market Probe Canada
 Strategic Use and Insights from FOPL's Ontario Public
Library Statistics, Polls, and Measurements
 Speakers: Robert Molyneux, MSLS, PhD
 Stephen Abram, MLS, executive director FOPL
60

Thank You
www.fopl.ca
Stephen Abram,
Executive Director
416-395-0746
sabram@fopl.ca

Fopl webinar august14-2015.4

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