Public Library Survey FY 2010 News

From Peter Haxton at the State Library of Kansas:

Hello public libraries!

Sorry to spoil your summer, but the FY 2010 Public Library Services Survey will be open in just 5 short months.

I wanted to let all of the public libraries know that there will be 4 brand new data elements on the FY2010 survey.  Just like last year, we receive the new elements half way through our year.  Don’t panic, these are collection and time questions, so you weren’t expected to keep count all year.

1. Public service hours per year (outlet level) Most of you already do this, so it won’t be a big change.  It will mainly affect libraries that have branches (including bookmobiles).   You will now be asked to provide the number of hours each branch is open to the public each year.
2. Number of weeks a library is open (outlet level)  This is new.  We are asking for the total number of weeks (rounded to the nearest whole week) each central, branch and bookmobile is open to the public.  For most that will be 52.  This is primarily for libraries that close for renovations, flood, fire, etc.   It helps to more fairly represent those libraries’ annual numbers when their “year” was not 52 weeks.  This answer will be pre-filled as “52” so if your library was not closed, you won’t even have to worry about it.
3. Audio – downloadable titles   We had asked for the total number of audio titles selected by the library for their collection and made available through their catalog.  Now, we are breaking downloadable titles out of that total.  This would only include titles that your library selected and has cataloged, Overdrive titles available through the State Library would not be included.
4. Video – downloadable titles  Same as audio, above, only for video titles.

I will keep you updated as the survey grinds forward.  Look for more in late fall.  If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to let me know.

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This message first appeared on the KANLIB listserv on Friday, July 23. Peter can be reached by phone at (785) 296-2008 or by email at phaxton (at) kslib.info.

NOTE: Training sessions for the survey with Peter will be scheduled and announced at a later time.

Photo Credit: “Youth Services Area at Blue Valley Neighborhood Library” by Flickr user State Library of Kansas under a Creative Commons license.