Summarizes information about public libraries, including their number, administrative structure and legal basis, operating income and expenditures, staffing and collections, and services. Data from the Public Libraries Survey of the National Center for Education Statistics reflect the 8,967 public libraries in the 50 states and the District of…

This paper provides an overview of library statistics as they relate to the value of library services. The first section reviews the Australian national think tank on library statistics, held in 1990. The second section examines the overall state of library statistics in Australia, focusing on deficiencies related to the lack of a central…

This report is a compilation of input and output measures and other statistics in reference to Idaho's public libraries, covering the period from October 1997 through September 1998. The introductory sections include notes on the statistics, definitions of performance measures, Idaho public library rankings for fiscal year 1996, and a state map…

This article offers a number of statistics and performance measures that libraries may find useful in determining the overall quality of their network-based services; identifies a number of service quality criteria; and provides a framework to assist librarians in selecting statistics and performance measures based on service quality criteria.…

Summarizes issues emerging from an institute on strategies and techniques for evaluating children's services in public libraries, including observation as a research method, the importance of statistics on children's services, and the adaptation of traditional evaluation strategies for children's services. (Seven references) (MES)

This report summarizes activities at the Library of Michigan in 1994. Featuring numerous photographs and capsule narratives about the year's activities, it tabulates fundraising efforts, grant monies, equipment purchases, service innovations, and attendance at special events or continuing education sessions. Topics include boards and management,…

This report is based on information from the 1987 Federal/State Cooperative System for Public Library Data, which was collected in machine-readable format by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. Tables present the following data on public libraries in the 19 states that participated in data collection: (1)…

Discusses sources of available data on reference questions asked and answered in public libraries, and analyzes data collected between 1970 and 1985 in nine states. National data from libraries in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain are also presented. (Author/MES)

This SPEC Kit and Flyer focus on the extent to which Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries engage in formal or organized customer service programs. Seventy-five out of the 121 member libraries responded to the customer service program survey (61%). The SPEC Flyer discusses results in terms of customer service program characteristics,…

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) brings together experts from around the country and around the world and asks them to turn their intelligence to the problems that libraries, archives, and information organizations face as they integrate digital resources and services into their well established print-based environments. In…

Presents 14 tables depicting Illinois public library referenda data from fiscal year 1977/78 through November 1995. Discusses success rates in terms of even versus odd years and spring versus fall for fiscal years 1986-95. Outlines types of library referenda, including: annexation; tax increase; bond issue; establishment (district); conversion to…

Contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, including these agencies' governance, services, collections, staff, and income and expenditures. Data are from the State Library Agency Survey, a cooperative effort of several government agencies, including the National Center for Education Statistics.…

Discusses the availability and quality of commercial reference services available on the World Wide Web such as Ask Jeeves and the decline in library reference service statistics. Describes a project in California to help libraries develop live, real-time reference services over the Web by adapting Web contact center software. (LRW)

A librarian at Hazelden Library, a non-profit foundation focusing on chemical dependency treatment, publishing, and education, gives a personal account of the steps used in determining the dollar value of providing library services in a specialized health-care library. After evaluating survey results and reviewing the library's 1998 statistics,…

Discusses the current state of academic reference services from a library administrator's point of view. Highlights include statistics that show a lack of quality reference service that meets users' needs; a decline in the demand for reference services; the role of technology; and changing attitudes about education, including increasing…