LISU annual library statistics 2005
LISU annual library statistics 2005
LISU Annual Library Statistics 2005: Featuring Trend Analysis of UK Public and Academic Libraries 1994-2004
Claire Creaser, Sally Maynard and Sonya WhiteLibrary & Information Statistics UnitLoughborough2005ISBN 1 901786 93 5ISSN 0967-487X190 pp.£37.50
A Survey of Library Services to Schools and Children in the UK 2004-05
Claire Creaser and Sally MaynardLibrary & Information Statistics UnitLoughborough2005ISBN 1 901786 94 3ISSN 1353-3118319 pp.
A Survey of Library Services to Schools and Children in the UK 2004-05: Regional Supplement
Claire Creaser and Sally MaynardLibrary & Information Statistics UnitLoughborough2005ISBN 1 901786 95 1154 pp.
Keywords: Public libraries, Academic libraries, School libraries,United Kingdom, Information services, Statistics
Once again LISU provide an incredibly helpful and informative compendium of statistical information and analysis regarding library services and work in the UK. A collection of some 100 tables and almost 50 figures are used to present data about public, higher education, national and government library activity in 2005, in a very accessible way. Be warned however, it can become addictive reading.
The presentation of 2005 statistics in the context of a ten-year trend analysis is the particularly remarkable feature of this annual publication,giving its content greater impact and application, in academic research,practical decision making by library directors, and in policy development.
Such a broad range of indicative statistics provides many opportunities for exploring and understanding developments in the specific sectors represented and for comparing a specific library service against sector performance and trends. For example, public library statistics include expenditure, revenue, stock,staff, service opening hour and points, and visitor data.
All of this is supported with succinct but careful analyses of trends (and relevant warnings about data interpretation and use) that provide the reader with a credible starting point for their own interpretation and use of the results.
There are numerous important findings that the reader will soon identify and a review can only touch on a couple. However, it is particularly interesting to note the continuing decline in book issues in the public library sector. Whether this reflects a change in demand for core library services, or a change in policy regarding acquisitions and other service development, begs urgent investigation. Arguably more alarming is the indication that stock return(issue/total lending stock) for adult fiction and children’s material has further declined.
Total library expenditure per capita in Northern Ireland has undergone dramatic change in the last decade (specifically following a recent 20 per cent increase) and is now higher than England and Wales. It will be interesting to monitor this trend, and hopefully the data provided will inspire some future detailed research into the effect of such funding changes.
Although potentially more difficult to gather, there remains a need to incorporate new data into the current ranges provided, for example, use figures for electronic resources. In addition, the excellent provision might be further enhanced by the inclusion of other important areas of library resource and service development, namely “space” and “environment”.
Increasingly the “space” resource is becoming more valued and more carefully invested. Statistics regarding expenditure on space; available space,service space, storage space; and the utilisation of space for facilities, IT,stock, operations etc. should enhance the picture of library activity provided and allow further benchmarking information for practitioners. Similarly environmental data such as recycling achievements, energy use, will encourage and enable library services to assess their own performance and achievements in a wider context.
Issued at the same time as the LISU Annual Library Statistics 2005 is A Survey of Library Services to Schools and Children in the UK 2004-05,and its regional supplement. Produced to a similar high standard as the annual library statistics, these two documents provide a more specific account of service provision of services to children via public authorities (although this survey does not include provision by schools themselves).
Unlike the LISU annual library statistics the figures provided by this survey are often provided purely on an annual basis, although in some places they are supported by a five-year analysis, and in more rare cases, by a ten-year analysis. The point at which this compendium can also as a matter of course,support a ten-year analysis, is eagerly awaited.
Used together, the two volumes provide a wide range of rich indicative data including expenditure, service coverage, staff, stock, issues, use, statistics,and they will surely assist local authority information service directors to compare their own local data with other specific geographic areas (and English Government Office Regions) as well as the overall national data and indicators.
Altogether, the set of statistical data is essential for information service managers and will prove invaluable additions to an office collection, in many different ways. Readily accessible, the data invite scrutiny, begs questions,and inspire thought.
Graeme ArnottSchool of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
