The Public Library Data Service (PLDS) annual survey is conducted by Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd. (CO) on behalf of the Public Library Association (PLA). This 2017 survey of public libraries from the United States and Canada captured fiscal year 2016 (FY2016) data on finances, resources, service usage, and technology. Each year PLDS includes a special section. This year the supplemental questions focused on young adult services.

The PLAmetrics online service offers subscribers access to the longitudinal PLDS data sets from FY2002. Also included is the Public Library Survey (PLS) annual data (from FY2000) as provided by the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS). PLAmetrics provides real-time access to meaningful and relevant public library data for peer benchmarking and trend analysis using a custom reporting service.

This report includes an analysis of selected measures from the FY2016 PLDS and trends, conducted by CO using the PLAmetrics reporting service.

Research Method and Context

Participation in the PLDS is voluntary and participants have the option to provide responses to any and/or all questions that comprise the survey. As in previous years, public libraries in the United States and Canada are invited to participate in the survey.

The post The 2017 Public Library Data Service Report: Characteristics and Trends first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

PLA continues its relationship with Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd. to provide the service for capturing the data and for the online PLAmetrics subscription service offering access to the longitudinal PLDS data sets going back to FY2002 and data from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) going back to FY2000. PLAmetrics provides public libraries real-time access to meaningful and relevant public library data for comparing and assessing their operations using a variety of custom report formats and customizable report templates.

This report presents selected metrics for FY2014 PLDS data and previous year results in tables and charts with related observations. The results in this report were compiled using PLAmetrics.

Research Method and Context

Participation in the PLDS is voluntary and participants have the option of providing responses to any or all of the questions that comprise the survey. Similar to previous years, public libraries in the United States and Canada were invited to participate in the survey. Emails (2,841) were sent to launch the survey (February). All PLA members were notified of the survey launch via email, social media, and webpage posts; postcards were handed out and the survey was promoted during a PLAmetrics session (at PLA 2014 in Indianapolis); follow-up letters and emails were sent throughout March and April and the deadline for submission was extended to May 13th. State data coordinators from the United States and Provincial/association coordinators in Canada were contacted about promoting the survey to their libraries. Their involvement again led to increased awareness and participation. 2,454 of American and Canadian public libraries partially or fully responded to the request for data—a response rate of 26 percent (a 23 percent increase over last year); however, due to the voluntary nature of this survey, several libraries had to be contacted for additional data resulting in 1,800 libraries included in the final data analysis. This is a decrease from last year’s number of 1,897, but still higher than previous years of 1,579 and 1,461.

Please refer to the PLDS Survey website for copies of the survey and definitions of questions.

Overall Summary

Similar to previous years, table 1 depicts summary data representing all libraries that provided non-zero values for the selected
measures. Though the number of reporting libraries increased the mean, reported values all decreased (exception number of programs with a modest 0.7% increase) compared to FY2012 results, indicating that the increased response rate includes smaller libraries. Consistent with previous years, we also include analysis of the continuously responding libraries and comparison of results within each population grouping.

PLAmetrics includes data from FY2002. Figure 1 shows the cumulative percentage change in mean per capita values reported by the continuously responding libraries (N=230) over the past 11 years since FY2003. Some traditional input/output measures (Circulation, Library Visits) peaked in FY2009.

Between FY2008 and FY2009 the United States and Canada were in full recession. Since 2009, other than Holdings and Registrations, each of these measures has declined with Reference Transactions and In-Library Use showing more significant decreases.

Holdings per capita grew at an overall rate of 1.1% per year since FY2003. The rate of growth in holdings in the past 3 years (FY2011 to FY2013) was 2.5% per year, which is more than 3.5 times the rate of growth (0.7% per year) between FY2003 and F2011. This rate of growth can be attributed to the addition of electronic materials (see figure 10) while populations have increased at a slower rate (see figure 17 for population information).

Registered borrowers per capita for the group of continuously responding libraries (N=230) has grown by 4.8% since FY2003 as shown in figure 2. The fastest growth occurred between FY2007 and FY2010 and has declined across all libraries in the past year—more than ever before.

Coincident with these changes has been the growth in the use of mobile phones and mobile browsing.

According to a September 2013 Pew Research Center article, “Six in ten cell phone owners (63%) now go online using their mobile phones, an eight-point increase from the 55% of cell owners who did so at a similar point in 2012 and a two-fold increase over the 31% who did so in 2009.”¹

Newer devices, such as tablets, e-readers, and netbooks that are more affordable and, for many, easier and more intuitive to use have also emerged in the market. Technology has put the library (its website) and other information sources more readily at hand and given library users an alternative to visiting the library or using the reference services of the library.

Operating Finances

Since the recession, mean library income has flattened reflecting a tightening of available funding and a corresponding reduction in spending. Figure 3 shows the year-over-year percentage increase in mean income since FY2003 with related percentage changes in mean Expenditures for the continuously responding libraries. Between FY2003 and 2009, mean library income per capita increased by 25.4% but in the last 5 years (FY2009–2013) mean income per capita decreased by 1.01%. For these same periods, mean expenditures per capita increased by 25.23% (FY2003–2009) and decreased by 1.14% (FY2009–2013).

Figure 4 includes the five-year trend for mean income and expenditures per capita for the continuously responding libraries. The margin between income and expenditures narrowed in FY2013 resulting in an overall mean budget surplus of $2.66 per capita compared to a budget surplus of $3.02 per capita in FY2008.

Budget surpluses were maintained by all population groups in FY2013, although these diminished compared to the previous 2 years (FY2011 and FY2012). Those libraries serving a population of legal service area (Pop LSA) more than 500,000 reported income per capita ($42.87) and expenditures per capita ($43.65) resulting in a narrow per capita budget balance surplus ($0.78) as depicted in figure 5.

With income per capita plateauing since 2008, libraries have been unable to increase their spending without running thinner budget surpluses. Budgeting allocations are shifting—for example, increased purchases of e-materials, increases in staff expenditures (see figure 6)—and necessitating a shift of spending in other areas of the library and emphasis perhaps in seeking new funding sources (for example, donations, grants, and so on).

Operating Expenditures

Figure 6 shows the cumulative percentage change in Expenditures per capita by type, with reference to the percentage change in income per capita for the continuously responding libraries (N=230). It is notable that staff expenditures per capita (+0.17%) have increased more than any other area since 2009. Materials expenditures per capita (-2.15%) and other expenditures per capita (-0.47%) have decreased.

Figure 7 shows continuously responding libraries (N=229), that reported some combination of print, electronic, CD/DVD and other expenditures. In addition, figure 7 shows overall materials expenditure per capita modestly declining (-0.72% per year) since FY2009. The most significant components of change are attributed to the increase in e-materials spending (63%) and Other Materials spending (12%) with reductions in print materials spending (-18%) and CD/DVD spending (-8%) since 2009.

Circulation

In the 6 years between 2003 and 2009, mean circulation per capita increased at a rate of 3.23% per year and is declining at a rate of -1.25% per year ever since (N=230). Figure 8 shows the levels of mean circulation per capita since 2008 and the changes in mean materials expenditures over the same period. Since peaking in FY2010, mean circulation per capita has decreased an average of 150 circulations per 1000 persons per year.

A contraction in materials expenditure and changes in the mix of materials purchased may be impacting changes in material circulation. Figure 9 shows a decrease (-17.6%) in print materials spending and a decrease (-6.9%) in print materials circulation since FY2009. Print materials circulation and spending appear to be strongly related at a ratio of approximately 2.5:1. This suggests that should spending on print materials continue to decrease at the rate of ~5% per year, then print circulation could likely continue to decrease at a rate of ~2% per year.

Conversely, figure 10 shows mean electronic materials spending per capita and mean electronic circulation per capita (since this metric began being captured in FY2011) increasing at a rate of 12.9% per year and 66.8% per year respectively. But, despite these rates of growth for electronic materials, overall circulation has still declined for the continuously responding libraries.

Mean other materials circulation per capita has grown 8.06% per year since 2008. Other circulation includes laptops, e-book readers, tablets, MP3 players, game consoles, and other equipment that more libraries have declared they circulate in the past 3 years (see figure 15). Conversely mean CD/DVD circulation/capita declined 0.59% per year and spending on CD/DVD materials/capita decreased at a rate of 1.3% per year since 2009. These declines are not unexpected since CD/DVD materials are being gradually phased out in favor of downloadable formats.

Table 2 shows that circulation per capita has declined for all population groups at a rate greater than 1% per year over the past 5 years.

Holdings

Mean holdings per capita has increased from 3.51 (FY2003) to 5.35 (FY2013) for the continuous reporting libraries; a growth rate of 4.3%/year since 2003 (3.0%/year between 2003 and 2009 and 6.3%/year between 2009 and 2013). Table 3 shows libraries serving populations under 100,000 have increased their holdings in the past 5 years, while libraries serving populations over 500,000 have trimmed their holdings. Some exceptional increases in holdings were reported by the smaller libraries (serving populations under 5,000). One impact on these results may relate to how electronic materials are counted.

Figure 11 shows Collection Turnover Rates per capita for each population group. As a result of greater increases in holdings relative to circulation, over the past 5 years libraries serving populations under 100,000 have lower collection turnover rates decreasing at a rate between -1.5% and -8.6% per year. Libraries serving populations greater than 100,000, however, decreased their holdings per capita relatively faster than the decrease in circulation per capita. Collection turnover per capita rates have declined by 0.3% per year for libraries serving 100,000 to 499,999, and 0.4% per year for libraries serving more than 500,000 persons.

Staff

In FY2013 a new methodology and definition was implemented for capturing staff personnel counts. Previously, personnel head counts were reported as full-time equivalent (FTE) funded positions based on a standard work week of between 35 and 40 hours—whether the position was filled or not. The reporting requirement changed to ask for total actual hours worked per year for all staff persons paid by the library budget, including paid leave and vacation. This change was to normalize staffing figures provided by the libraries, improve the metric in terms of comparability and accuracy, and provide a measure of staff availability.

This change resulted in some challenges. Questions about this change required the most support throughout the survey with several respondents requiring clarification of the requirement. Based on the questions received, the wording of the definition was improved. Analysis and follow-up regarding outlier responses was undertaken. Hours worked were converted into FTE positions by dividing hours worked by the library’s defined standard work week (for example, 37.5 or 40 hours per week). These values were compared to previous years and other available data sets. Where necessary the libraries themselves were contacted to provide clarification or to update their response.

For the continuously responding libraries (N~218), table 4 summarizes the staff hours by type with totals for number of librarian hours and all paid staff.

The values in table 4 are automatically converted in PLAmetrics to Numbers of Paid staff by type, totals, and key ratios. The following is based on these conversions and comparable data from previous years.

Figure 12 shows the mean number of paid staff has declined for the continuously responding libraries (N~230) from 196.7 to 181.5 staff persons. Figure 13 shows that during the same time, the percentage of FTE librarians increased while the percentage of other qualified staff FTEs have declined.

Between FY2009 and FY2013 mean salary expenditures per capita declined from a peak of $26.45 per capita to $25.44 in FY2011 and since has increased to an average of $25.77 per capita for the continuously responding libraries (N=230) (see figure 14). With flat growth in library income since 2009, and a corresponding reduction in overall spending on staff between FY2009 and FY2010, each component of staff shrank somewhat in 2010. However, since then, the percentage of non-MLS librarian FTEs has increased (9.9% annual growth) while the percentage of MLS librarians has decreased (-1.4% per year). Since 2010 mean other staff per capita decreased at a rate of -0.4% annually despite a 2.8% increase between FY2012 and FY2013.

Technology

In the past three years, more libraries (continuously responding libraries) declared that they offer a growing variety of tech equipment. Figure 15 shows a significant increase in the percentage of libraries that circulate tablets—an average 98% increase in each of the last 2 years. Several libraries also declared that they offer e-book readers (33% more since FY2011), while laptops and MP3 players were offered by an average of 9% and 8% more libraries respectively in each of the past two years, although MP3 players were offered by 0.3% fewer libraries in FY2013.

Marshall Breeding has recommended that “It is important for libraries to keep a close eye on the technology trends in the broader consumer arena. We in libraries need to be tuned into the technology habits of each slice of the demographics that use our services and do as much as possible to anticipate the next wave.”² It is good to observe increases in the provision and circulation of technology devices listed in figure 14, including other equipment (for example, digital cameras, video recorders, projectors, wattage meters, leap pads, and so on), however fewer than 35% of the continuously responding libraries offer such electronic devices for circulation. As discussed earlier, it is possible that costs and/or additional spending are prohibitive due to the tightness of budgets and the myriad of competing expenditures. The reality of the last five years is likely holding more libraries back from offering a wider amount and variety of electronic equipment, combined with the challenges inherent with understanding, acquiring, and offering such emerging technologies.

In the same article, Breeding writes “libraries have been working to incorporate elements of social networking into their services and to better support mobile devices. In these areas, it seems as if libraries have been a bit slow on the uptake. Many library products now include some social features, and many patron-oriented products now have versions for mobile devices.”³ Figure 16 shows that as of FY2013, 97% of continuously responding libraries (N=288) offer social networking, compared to 88% (N=1027) of all responding libraries. By FY2015 program and events calendars, the OPAC and social networking will likely be offered by all continuously responding libraries if current growth rates of 1.7% per year continue. It is interesting that online book clubs/discussion forums were offered by fewer libraries (-6.2%) in FY2013.

The number of libraries offering mobile applications has grown by 17% over the past two years among the continuously responding libraries. This growth has been most significant among the library web-based offerings, but slowed to 7.1% in FY2013. According to Pew Research, “As of January 2014, 90% of American adults have a cell phone. 58% have a smartphone.”⁴ Mobile usage and mobile apps are an area of library technologies that bears continued attention by the library community to enable real-time, anywhere access to information and services purveyed by libraries.

It is notable that community links, library staff–created content, virtual references services, and online bookclubs/discussion forums show fewer libraries affirming that they offer these. The combination of these offerings and others differentiate the library from similar alternate sources yet it seems a softening has occurred in these areas of service. Evidence is inconclusive in this area, but it is coincidental that website visits per capita for the continuously responding libraries (N=262) has declined 18.4% per year since 2012 from 17.65 to 11.76 website visits per capita in FY2013. As a metric of success this trend suggests a diminishing affinity for the content and services provided by the library website despite increased means to access these resources anywhere and anytime; and/or suggests that greater competition from other similar services and resources is drawing traffic away from library websites. Perhaps pathfinders like the Edge Initiative can help to direct and focus strategic efforts of more libraries to improve and attain continuous growth and development of their technology services offered to the public.

Population

The foregoing discussion is largely based on per capita ratios. Since the population of legal service area is not static, figure 17 shows the mean population of legal service area (PopN LSA) grouped by various population groupings. From FY2003 to FY2013 PopN LSA grew annually: 0.38% for the group <99,000; -0.14% for the group 100,000 to 499,999; 0.86% for the group 500,000 and over; and, 0.56% for All Libraries (N=230).

Performance Measures Survey—Outcome Measurement

As part of the 2014 PLDS survey, the PLA Performance Measurement Task Force (PMTF) introduced the special section on performance measures to learn about the awareness, importance, and readiness of public libraries in measuring program outcomes. Outcome measurement answers the question, “What difference did the program make to the user?” IMLS defines outcomes as “benefits to people: specifically, achievements or changes in skill, knowledge, attitude, behavior, condition, or life status for program participants (‘visitors will know what architecture contributes to their environments,’ ‘participant literacy will improve’).”⁵

Figure 18 shows the mean ratio of program attendees to programs per 1000 capita since FY2009 for the continuously responding libraries (N≤293). In the past 5 years this ratio has increased by 23.6%/year. However, between FY2009 and FY2010 the average number of programs per 1000 capita decreased by more than 50% resulting in the higher ratio of attendees to programs. Since FY2010 this ratio has increased at a rate of 0.94%/year.

Altogether, 430 libraries responded to the PLA Performance Measures Survey (Special Section), indicating that outcome measurement is Important (3.6 out of 5) and are Somewhat Ready (2.7 out of 5) to measure outcomes. Figure 19 shows the importance and readiness response levels (scale low (1) to high (5)) for each of the population groupings. Note, despite a slightly higher readiness score for the <5,000 population groups, the importance and readiness scores correspondingly increase with the size of PopLSA group. This is more apparent for importance scores where larger libraries serving populations of 100,000 or more responded that outcome measures are important to very important; and smaller libraries serving populations less than 100,000 responded that outcome measures are somewhat important to important. Only the libraries (PopLSA > 500,000) indicate being ready to capture/measure outcomes, and all other libraries in the other population groups responded that they are somewhat ready.

The capture of outcome measures is more challenging and requires the library to ask users (program participants) to declare the benefits they have realized from their library use and/or participation and/or find/track other sources of information relating to demonstrations of outcomes, such as improved grades, reading levels, increased participation rates, higher income, employment, and so on. It is not surprising that most libraries are only somewhat ready to capture and track outcome measures.

Figure 20 is a ranking of libraries that currently track other measures (Yes) by the twelve areas of measurement presented. Included are the number of libraries that currently measure outcomes and plan to track outcomes or other metrics. This chart essentially provides a glimpse of plans for evidence-based demonstration and defence of the value and benefit of the libraries.
Figure 21, shows the percentage of libraries planning to capture other (input/output) measures (Yes) in the twelve areas of measurement versus the percentage of libraries that do not plan to capture (No) these same measures in the future. Based on percentage of responses, the planned areas of other measures rank quite differently compared to the current other measures ranked in figure 20.

Similarly for planned outcome measures, figure 22 shows the percentage of libraries planning to capture outcome measures (Yes) in the twelve areas of measurement versus the percentage of libraries that do not plan to capture (No) these same measures in the future.

Priorities show a different ranking of the areas of outcome measurement compared to library plans above. In table 5, early childhood literacy is the top priority, whereas in the future it is closer to the bottom. Perhaps this difference suggests a perceived degree of difficulty associated with the capture of some outcomes. While outcomes related to early childhood literacy are considered important, planning to capture these outcomes may represent a bigger challenge. For example, young children and/or infants cannot declare the benefits they have received through library use and participation; instead parents/caregivers may have to provide observations about outcomes (for example, increased levels of interest and/or enjoyment of reading).

Table 6 shows the ranking of the outcome measurements by priority and readiness and cross-tabulated with importance. This ranking is very similar to the ranking by priority. Readiness responses and importance of outcomes at the library do not change the rankings much. For example, community engagement moved from fifth place by priority to fourth place ranked by priority and readiness and importance, a swap with digital access learning. Reaching all segments of the community, for example moved up 2 spots to sixth from eight above. Support for successful learning dropped from seventh by priority to ninth.

2015 PLDS Survey

The 2015 PLDS survey (FY2014 results) runs from January to April 30, 2015. To participate, please visit the PLDS survey website or send an email to pla@countingopinions.com for more information. The PLDS continues to capture timely and relevant data about public library trends and offers online access to this data through PLAmetrics. PLA encourages libraries to use this data to enhance their decision-making and advocacyefforts. We also encourage your comments and feedback. And once again, thank you to all of the responding libraries who took the time to participate.

References

1. Pew Research Center, “Main Findings: Cell Internet Use 2013,” Sept. 16, 2013, accessed Jan. 14, 2015.
2. Marshall Breeding, “The Systems Librarian: Library Technology Forecast for 2014 and Beyond,” Computers in Libraries 33, no. 10 (Dec. 2013), accessed Mar. 25, 2015.
3. Ibid.
4. Pew Research Center, “Cell Phone and Smartphone Ownership Demographics,” Dec. 17, 2013, accessed Jan. 14, 2015.
5. Institute of Museum and Library Services, “Basics,” accessed Jan. 14, 2015.

The post The 2014 Public Library Data Service Statistical Report: Characteristics & Trends first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

PLA and Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd. continue to partner to provide the service for capturing the data and for the PLA metrics online portal subscription service—offering access to the longitudinal PLDS data sets going back to FY2002, and data from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) going back to FY2000. PLAmetrics provides public libraries real-time access to meaningful and relevant public library data for comparing and assessing their operations using a variety of custom report formats and customizable report templates.

This report presents selected metrics for FY2012 PLDS data and previous year results in tables and figures with related observations. The results in this report were compiled using PLAmetrics.

Research Method and Context

Participation in the PLDS is voluntary and participants have the option of providing responses to any or all of the questions that comprise the survey. Similar to previous years, public libraries in the United States and Canada were invited to participate in the survey. Emails (3,430) were sent to launch the survey in January 2013, postcards were handed out at the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, follow-up letters and emails were sent throughout March and April 2013, and the deadline for submission was extended from March 15 to April 15. State data coordinators from the U.S. and provincial/association coordinators in Canada were contacted about promoting the survey to their libraries. Their involvement again led to increased awareness and participation, with 1,949 of American and Canadian public libraries partially or fully responding to the request for data, a response rate of 21 percent (a 1.3 percent increase over the previous year). However, due to the voluntary nature of this survey, several libraries had to be contacted for additional data resulting in 1,897 libraries included in the final data analysis. This is an increase over 1,579 from FY2011 and 1,461 from FY2010.

Please refer to the online PLDS Survey site for copies of the survey and definitions of questions.

Overall Service Summary

The PLDS Survey includes questions that effectively characterize the operations (input and output measures) of each responding library. Table 1 includes a selection of summary data representingall libraries that provided non-zero values for each selected measure.

The FY2012 results include 1,897 responding libraries that reported their population of legal service area, a 20 percent increase compared to the FY2011 response count. Table 1 shows that the population served ranged between 143 to 3,819,702 with a mean and median population of 101,607 and 21,256 respectively. The results are characteristic of the overall composition of the PLDS FY2012 data set and these statistics are consistent with reality, whereby more than 82 percent of the reporting libraries serve populations less than 50,000. New this year is an increase in the number of participating libraries that serve populations of 50,000 or more (a 37 percent increase). For libraries serving populations less than 50,000, the increase in response rate is 14 percent more than last year. As a result of this increase in smaller libraries reporting data in FY2012, the mean and median values listed in table 1 have decreased. However, there is an exception of mean electronic circulation, which shows an increase of 63 percent overall and interlibrary loans (ILLs) to/from other libraries with modest increases in average and mean values compared to last year.

Population

Throughout this article, the population of legal service area is used as the basis for grouping results and for per capita ratios. It is important to note that the sample of responding libraries is variable year-over-year and within each population grouping. As such, we also include analysis of continuous responder data. This discussion includes trends and comparisons for the data segmented into either:

1. nine population of legal service area groupings (shown in figure 1); and/or
2. as a group of libraries (N=352) that have consistently participated in each PLDS survey over the most recent three and/or five years (FY2008 to FY2012).

Figure 2 shows population by legal service area (Pop LSA) reported over the past five years. The trend shows an increase in participating public libraries that serve smaller populations, as evidenced by the lower mean and median values depicted in the last two years. The second part of figure 2 displays the Pop LSA data for the continuous participants, which highlights that the population for this group has not changed much over the past five years and therefore yield more consistent and comparable per capita metrics.

Registered Borrowers

For the continuously reporting libraries, table 2 shows a 2.2 percent increase in the average number of registered borrowers per capita in FY2012 for libraries serving populations fewer than 50,000 compared to a 4.1 percent average decrease in FY2011. Libraries serving populations of 50,000 or more reported an average 0.2 percent increase compared to a 1.5 percent decrease last year. Overall registered borrowers increased by just over 1 percent for this group of libraries in FY2012.

For all libraries reporting both their population of legal service area and the number of registrations, figure 3 shows a three-year trend for mean registered borrowers per capita by population group. For FY2012:

• Overall 1,897 libraries offer services to a total population of 192,748,171 including 102,759,178 registered borrowers (>71 percent of the population)
• For those libraries with populations less than 25,000, these 1,010 libraries offer service to a population of 8,008,103 including 4,976,573 registered borrowers (>82 percent of the population)
• For those libraries with populations more than 25,000, 887 libraries offer services to a population of 184,740,068 including 97,627,462 registered borrowers (>61 percent of the population)

Some libraries, particularly those serving fewer than 10,000, reported a higher number of registrations than the actual number of people in their population of legal service area. Differences in some instances are explained by:

• 2010 census figures are often no longer accurate especially in communities with rapid expansion or contraction;
• libraries may serve surrounding communities outside their LSA; or
• influx of temporary and/or semi-permanent migrant workers.

While library registrations showed a small overall contraction in mean registered borrowers per capita in FY2011, FY2012 results show an increase for libraries serving populations less than 50,000, but a decrease for libraries serving populations of 50,000 or more. The most significant marginal change occurred in population groups under 5,000, with a 36 percent increase. For continuous reporting libraries, the most significant increase is for populations between 10,000 and 49,999. Figure 4 shows the five-year trend for all libraries, those libraries serving populations of 50,000 or more (i.e., excludes those serving populations less than 50,000), and the continuous responding libraries. Filtering out the smaller libraries indicates that registrations per capita has risen and fallen ever so slightly during the last five years for the larger libraries (varies between 56 and 60 percent). Registered borrowers per capita for continuous reporting libraries shows a stable trend (varies between 57 and 62 percent).

Holdings

The three-year trend chart for mean holdings per capita, for continuous respondents, is shown in Figure 5 (note: reverse chronological order).

The three-year trend for mean expenditures on holdings and e-materials, for continuous respondents, is shown in figure 6 (note: reverse chronological order).

Despite an average 20.98 percent increase in expenditures on e-materials as a percentage of total materials expenditure, holdings per capita for the continuous respondent group increased overall by only 2.9 percent.

When viewing the results for all respondents, the average holdings per capita show a very similar pattern as in previous years (see figure 7). The average overall FY2012 holdings per capita for all reporting libraries is 10.29 (N=1,592). This value is 81 percent greater than last year. This is likely due to the increased number of respondents serving smaller populations (< 25,000). As shown in figure 7, filtering out these libraries (populations < 25,000) the mean and median holdings per capita over the past five years is very stable with slightly more than 2 percent growth, which is similar to the continuous responding libraries (2.9 percent).

Circulation

Continuous respondent libraries circulated about eleven items per capita on average in FY2012, 1.6 percent fewer than previous year’s average, as shown in table 3 by population groupings.

Although 53 libraries within the continuous respondent group did not report electronic circulation figures, the 0.41 e-circulations per capita (an 86 percent increase from previous year) were insufficient to offset the apparent lower reported circulation per capita of physical materials. This reduced level of circulation activity likely coincides with the decrease in library visits (see Library Visits).

Figure 8 shows a similar pattern of lower circulation per capita for all libraries except for those serving populations of less than 25,000. Within this group, a 2.5 percent increase in circulation per capita was reported by continuous responders.

Table 4 summarizes the circulation per capita results for continuous respondents that reported circulation by item type, including electronic circulation (N=291). Print circulation accounted for more than 58 percent, CD/DVDs accounted for more than 34 percent, and “other” accounted for more than 5.8% of circulation. These results are similar to the proportions found in the FY2011 survey.

Table 5 shows electronic circulation per capita for all libraries reporting each item type and circulation activity for their library. Table 6 shows electronic circulation for all libraries that reported this activity in FY2011 and/or FY2012. In FY2012 more than twice the number of libraries reported electronic circulation contributing to a 161 percent increase in total e-circulations (0.40 e-circulations per capita).

Table 7 includes circulation per capita results for 242 continuous reporting libraries that reported both total annual circulation and renewals (renewals represents 27.3 percent of total annual circulation).

Collection turnover rates (circulation/holdings) are depicted in figure 8 (FY2012 results for all libraries and the continuous reporting libraries).

The rates calculated for each library, summarized in figure 9, show the effect of a higher number of reporting libraries giving rise to lower mean and median collection turnover rates compared to previous years. The collection turnover rate for the continuous reporting libraries shows a continuing softening over the past three years. Collection turnover rates are likely also impacted by the current transition to new formats of holdings (e-materials) and new ways to consume information (circulation) and the ways in which these are counted.

Annual Visits

The continuous library responder group shows fewer library visits per capita (1.5 percent fewer). Table 8 shows results for continuous respondents.

Table 9 shows results for all responding libraries. Libraries serving populations of less than 25,000 recorded more visits per capita, between 4.7 and 25.5 percent, an average of 1.6 more visits per capita than libraries serving communities of 25,000 or more. Libraries serving populations below 100,000 saw an average of at least 7.03 visits per capita very similar to the previous year.

Average library visits per capita for all reporting libraries was 7.05 (N=942) (>11 percent increase over last year). Figure 9 shows that this increase can be accounted for among smaller libraries serving populations of less than 25,000 people where more libraries in this segment contributed data this year (959 libraries reported 535,057 mean annual visits in FY2012 compared to 377 having mean annual visits of 648,273 in FY2011). Libraries serving population groups of 25,000 or more reported a decrease in average library visits per capita; a trend continuing from the previous year.

Figure 10 shows the percentage change of library visits in the past two years for each population grouping and figure 11 shows the three-year trend for the mean annual visits per registered borrower for each population grouping. This pattern of declining registrations suggests a relationship between the decreasing library visits for libraries serving populations of 25,000 or more.

Changes in hours of operation (total hours open and convenient hours open) likely impacts the number of library visits and other in-library service usage, including circulation, program attendance, and reference questions asked/answered (where staff involvement is required). Table 10 shows the three-year trend for hours open per week by population grouping. Consistent with other observations, in four out of the nine population groups, the mean public service hours per week has reduced. This reduction in hours likely explains reductions in the numbers of library visits and other activity counts.

Tables 11 and 12 show the three-year mean activity counts for in-library visits and reference questions. While fewer hours of operation are not the only factor affecting visits and related service usage, the pattern is consistent for libraries in population groups showing reduced hours of operation. The mean in-library use of materials rates per capita are 6.98 percent lower (248,766 in FY2011 to 231,396 in FY2012) and mean reference transactions are 17.89 percent lower (160,261 in FY2011 to 131,587 in FY2012).

Given the availability of remote online library services (including reference services, downloadable materials, and online databases) it might be reasonable to assume that physical visits have been displaced by remote/online visits. However, as figure 12 shows, an expected increase in web visits per capita has not occurred. Instead web visits have declined an average of 13 percent. It is difficult to ascertain the cause, but the variability of systems and methods used to count website visits is likely a factor. The count methods combined with an updated definition for how to count website visits as well as difference in systems and tools used to count this activity are likely explanations for some of the differences from the previous year.

Operating Finances

Income and expenditure measures continue to provide useful insights and therefore are a major section within the PLDS survey. For the continuous respondent group, the average overall annual library income was $14,001,457 or $53.20 per capita of the legal service area (N=351), a decrease of $0.18 from last year’s average per capita income of $53.38 (N=352).

Overall annual library expenditures per capita is $49.91 (N=351). This is an increase of $0.17 per capita from the average of $49.74 (N=352) per capita in FY2011.

As shown in figures 13 and 14, the most notable patterns for the continuous responding libraries are found in the population groups serving fewer than 50,000 and those serving 50,000 and more where average income per capita and operating expenditures per capita are reported compared to the previous two years. Increases in both per capita income and expenditures were reported for the fewer than 50,000 population groups, and the 50,000 and more group reported mostly lower income and expenditures—unchanged from the previous years, although the 500,000–999,999 population group did report higher income.

Overall average income and expenditures per capita increased in FY2012. However libraries serving populations between 25,000 and 499,999 continue to experience reduced funding and thus continue to make cuts to expenditures per capita. Figures 15, 16, 17, and 18 depict the patterns of income and changes in the expenditures over the past five years for the medium-sized libraries. The graphics show a relationship between funding and expenditure per capita levels each year and the pattern of variability in the budget among competing categories of expenditures.

These patterns of income and expenditure per capita are similar for all libraries and appear to depend on the sources of funding. For FY2012, all libraries serving populations of fewer than 25,000 reported increases in income from state/provincial and other sources, including the federal government. These libraries show higher income levels per capita and correspondingly higher expenditures per capita. This is most significant in the fewer than 5,000 population group.

One thing common for all libraries serving populations of fewer than 500,000 in FY2012 is that each has experienced cuts in income from local government per capita, often the most significant funding source for such libraries. The result of these cuts in spending is depicted in figures 15, 16, 17, and 18 for the population groups from 25,000–499,999.

These figures show the impact of cuts to expenditures and specifically reduced expenditure on staff. Interestingly, for the group of continuous responding libraries, the portion of total expenditures spent on staff has tended to grow (1.67 percent from 2008 to 2011, and -0.14 percent in 2012) relative to the other areas of spending and since 2007 the percentage of librarians on staff has been increasing while the percentage of non-librarians on staff has been decreasing; a reversal of the trend between 2002 and 2007 for the composition of staff.
Table 13 (see page 38) summarizes various library outputs as a function of expenditures per capita in each population grouping for the continuous responding libraries (N=349). Icons depict the change in value relative to previous year values. In FY2012 per $1,000 spent, continuous reporting libraries realized on average per $1,000 spent:

• 1.63 percent fewer visits
• 1.41 percent fewer circulations
• 3.36 percent more program attendees
• 6.25 percent fewer reference transactions
• 22.63 percent fewer in-library uses
• 4.36 percent more registered borrowers

Table 14 on page 38 (also reported last year) represents the overall use of funds by the libraries (activity per expenditure). As compared with results published last year, most figures have increased. Each of the population groups show similar relative changes in activities and expenditures. For example, the population groups between 50,000 and 499,999 overall incurred lower expenditures per capita (-8.56 percent) between FY2011 and FY2012 and had fewer registered borrowers (-0.29 percent) and library visits (-7.47 percent) per capita and simultaneously recorded fewer activity counts. Overall the measures show more up arrows (34) than down arrows (19). This suggest that the respondent libraries in general in FY2012 were accomplishing more with fewer dollars (or more with more dollars) and the implication being
that activity levels are proportionately higher than the operational expenditures that support these activities.

Technology

Use and availability of technology in libraries is an important part of the PLDS survey. This set of questions was unchangedfrom the previous year and provides useful comparative results, listed in descending ranked order according to the percentage of libraries that confirmed they provide the technology service.

Technology equipment available in libraries showed an increase in each category except automated systems. Tablets (127 percent), Video game consoles (60 percent), e-book readers (55 percent), other equipment (e.g., wattage readers) (15 percent), and laptops (10 percent)  posted the largest increases in the percentage of libraries confirming they offer these technologies compared to last year’s results.

Among the many website offerings, library apps for mobile devices (32 percent) showed the largest increase and user-driven content (10 percent) and streaming live programs made modest increases in the percentage of libraries confirming they offer these services.

Meanwhile, in terms of responding libraries, a smaller percentage (12 percent) indicated they offer Wi-Fi inside. Statistics concerning Wi-Fi outside, tracking of subscription databases, and access to local digitized content were unchanged in proportion of libraries offering these services.

Special Section: Facilities Survey

A report summarizing results from the Facilities Survey questions included in the PLDS 2013 special section is posted online at www.plametrics.org. If you would like to be notified of additional information about these results and future surveys, please contact pla@countingopinions.com or fill out the notification form on the PLAmetrics website.

2014 PLDS Survey

Results of the 2014 PLDS survey (FY2013 results) will be available soon. For more information, please visit the PLAmetrics website or send an email inquiry to pla@countingopinions.com. The PLDS survey continues to capture timely and relevant data about public library trends. PLA encourages libraries to use this data to enhance their decision-making and advocacy efforts. We also encourage your comments and feedback. And once again, thank you to all of the responding libraries who took the time to participate.

The post The 2013 Public Library Data Service Statistical Report: Characteristics and Trends first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Rather, this article presents trends and insights across the data and across population groups.

Highlights

• Per $1,000 of expenditures, libraries tended to experience slightly greater output in all measures than last year, reversing last year’s trend.
• Income and expenditures per capita decreased, but not significantly from last year.
• At 96.99 percent, nearly all libraries responding possessed a website, and 94.18 percent of responding libraries supplied wireless Internet access. Most other technology trends remained stable except an increased availability of wireless Internet.
• Circulation per capita varied significantly by population grouping but circulation per registered borrower did not vary significantly by population grouping, showing that libraries of all sizes were serving actual patrons at approximately the same rate on this measure.
• Print circulation was approximately double that of CD/DVD circulation on average for the first year that these individual circulation counts were collected.
• By inviting all libraries to participate in the PLDS survey, libraries serving a smaller population increased their participation rate in the survey and the total number of survey responses increased. This necessitates comparisons within population groups or other characterizations as opposed to averages across all libraries when performing longitudinal analysis of PLDS data.

Research Method and Context

This article uses data from the PLDS 2010 Statistical Report. In 2010, unlike previous years, all public libraries in the United States and selected Canadian public libraries were invited to participate in the survey. Also, postcards were used for invitations instead of letters as in previous years to defray the increased costs from the much larger invitation pool. These were complemented with e-mails to the small set of library respondents from past years who supplied valid e-mail addresses. The 2010 response rate was 11.9 percent, or 1,105 of the 9,272 libraries who were invited to participate in the PLDS survey (compared with 852 from 2009 when a smaller pool was utilized). A higher response rate may have been possible with more advertising of the survey and if a more expensive distribution method of invitations was utilized, but an overall increase in total responses was achieved. Nine hundred eighty-seven of these libraries completed more than 20 percent of the survey, were validated following data checking, and were included in the final report and online database. For this article, all valid answers were analyzed where possible and appropriate, including libraries that did not answer more than 20 percent of the survey. For each of the continuous variables, the following statistics were obtained: number of libraries reporting, minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation.

For each of the categorical variables, frequencies of responses and percentage of libraries responding were calculated. Calculations were completed using Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS v.19. For copies of the survey and full wording of the questions included, please refer to the statistical report or longitudinal
database.

Overall Service

Table 1 provides a statistical summary of selected characteristics of participating PLDS 2010 libraries. The responding libraries in the PLDS 2010 Statistical Report ranged in size from those serving 125 to 3,672,882 people in their legal service areas. Figure 1 presents the distribution of participating libraries by population of legal service areas represented. The expanded survey pool allowed for an increased level of participation among libraries with smaller legal service areas than in earlier PLDS surveys. This change in research pool as expected changes overall statistical averages, but did not affect statistics when pooled by population groupings. Overall for the 2009 fiscal year, 860 PLDS libraries responding to the appropriate questions served 87,825,383 registered patrons from a population of 163,327,973 in the United States and Canada.

The PLDS survey includes descriptive characteristics on a variety of important library statistics (see table 1). For example, in the 2009 fiscal year, library holdings ranged from as little as 8 to 16,341,122 items among the 965 reporting libraries. Children’s holdings (or at least items that libraries self-identified as children’s, which could be misrepresented to mean available to children and not simply present within a special section) represented 32.1 percent of totalholdings on average by libraries reporting this value. PLDS libraries also circulated items 1,548,590 times on average, representing a reduction of 16.6 percent over last year’s average, but indicative of the change in overall sample. Total circulation of children’s materials could not be directly compared or removed from this value because they were specifically defined to include renewals in all cases, which the general circulation question did not require; however, this value showed an average count of 540,573. For the first time, the PLDS Report also included circulation counts for independent materials in 2010. Of libraries reporting counts, print items were circulated 1,050,518 times on average and CD/DVD items were circulated 522,552 times on average. Since not all libraries reported all counts, these should not be directly compared to the overall circulation average mentioned previously. For those including annual renewals in their circulation counts, 547,979 or 35.3 percent of the total circulation, was accounted for by renewals on average. Meanwhile, materials were counted as used within the library 429,306 times on average.

In other areas of service, PLDS libraries on average performed 216,872 reference transactions, had 927,277 library visits, provided programs to 47,694 patrons, and provided 16,656 materials to other libraries, while receiving 16,875 materials from other libraries annually. All of these numbers represent decreases from last year of 10.8 to 28.2 percent showing the change in population sample once again.

Selected Library Services by Population

The population of legal service area of individual libraries influenced many relevant output measures. Several of these measures are visualized in figures 2–7. For the most part, the trends have followed the same patterns or lack thereof as past years. For some of the trends analyzed, a pattern can be seen in the visualizations.

For example, when viewing library registrations as a percent of population (see figure 2), the percentage increased as the population size decreased, going from 51.24 to 88.14 percent. Average holdings per capita show an even more dramatic shift with population served (see figure 3). Libraries serving populations under 5,000 had average holdings more than 4.87 times than those of the largest libraries. Generally, as the population served grew, the average holdings per capita decreased. Libraries serving populations of 5,000 to 9,999 individuals had the second highest value of average holdings per capita at 5.871 and were 2.65 times as large as the lowest value of 2.216 for libraries serving more than 1,000,000 individuals. Holdings per capita (F_(8,956)=59.4, p<0.001) and holdings (F_(8,956)=141.5, p<0.001) varied significantly by population group. The overall average holdings per capita for all reporting libraries was 4.71 items (n=965). This value increased 25.9 percent from last year showing the effect introduced by the increased number of smaller libraries in the respondent pool.

Although not as skewed as registrations or holdings, library visits per capita also showed a larger value for libraries serving smaller populations; although the largest value was actually seen for libraries serving populations of 5,000 to 9,999 (see figure 4). These libraries saw 2.24 more visits per capita than libraries serving more than 1,000,000. All libraries serving populations under 50,000 saw more than 7.2 visits per capita annually. Both library visits per capita (F_(8,893)=4.911, p<0.001) and total library visits (F_(8,893)=282.5, p<0.001) varied significantly by population group. The overall average library visits per capita for all reporting libraries was 6.83 (n=902) showing a 10.5 percent increase from last year due to the increased participation of smaller libraries.

Unlike previous years, most of the remaining library services statistics did not show a clear pattern by population groupings. In-library use of materials saw the largest number for libraries serving a population below 5,000; however, the second largest number was for libraries serving a population of 250,000 to 499,999, with middle-sized populations having the smallest values (see figure 5). The average in-library use of materials per capita for all libraries reporting was 2.015 (n=380). Enough libraries from each population grouping did not complete this question for valid cross-analysis.

Average circulation per capita, although showing the smallest value for the largest population group, still showed a mostly linear pattern by population groupings (see figure 6). The average circulation per capita for all libraries reporting was 10.50 (n=956). Overall, the value of circulation per capita (F_(8,947)=2.335, p<0.05) and total circulation (F_(8,947)=239.5, p<0.001) differed significantly by population group. Also, the values of print circulation (F_(8,758)=176.0, p<0.001) and CD/DVD circulation (F_(8,721)=105.0, p<0.001) varied significantly by population group. When looking not at the population, but only at the registered borrowers though, the circulation per registered borrower does not vary significantly by population grouping (F_(8,864)=1.657, p=0.105).

Collection turnover allows a librarian to see how often items within the collection are being used by dividing the total circulation by the total holdings. When analyzing collection turnover (see figure 7), the graph skewed in the opposite direction as other figures. Larger population libraries had a significantly larger average collection turnover than smaller population libraries (F_(8,934)=12.186, p<0.001), with the largest collection turnover for libraries serving a population of 500,000 to 999,999 and the smallest collection turnover for libraries serving a population below 5,000 (a 2.84x difference). The overall average for all reporting libraries was 2.829 items circulated per item held (n=943), a 5.3 percent decrease from last year due to the increased participation of smaller libraries.

While overall averages are reported here and are a useful means for a general picture of library services, the net effect of the change in survey population has resulted in an overall adjustment in all of the given averages this year. However, when one looks specifically at a single population grouping, a certain value may be more informative for a given library. For example, if one looks only at visits per capita for libraries serving a population of 25,000 to 49,999, the net percent change was -1.5 percent as opposed to the +10.5 percent for the sample as a whole. Being able to make such comparisons highlights the usefulness of such comparative data in the online database. Still, a potential overall shift in usage patterns may exist since many of the population patterns seem to be following the overall average patterns. A more thorough analysis has not yet been conducted though, as one needs a few more years with the new sample population to build enough longitudinal data for a valid analysis.

Operating Finances

Income and expenditure measures are a primary concern of many libraries and are therefore a major section within the PLDS Report. Averaged over all respondents, library income was $48.01 per capita in the legal service area (n=974; $48.61 last year) while library expenditures were $45.31 per capita in the legal service area (n=962; $45.65 last year). The overall income and expenditure averages and the averages for most populations groupings except those below 5,000 remained practically the same as last year. Income and expenditures per person were largest for the libraries serving middle-sized populations and smallest for libraries serving the largest populations (see figures 8 and 9). Fluctuations by population were relatively identical between income and expenditure. Income per capita (F_(8,965)=2.717, p<0.01) and expenditure per capita (F_(8,953)=81.344, p<0.005) varied significantly by population group.Total income (F_(8,965)=254.3, p<0.001) and total expenditures (F_(8,953)=237.2, p<0.001) also varied significantly by population group. Total income on average exceeds total average expenditures for all groupings.

Although income and expenditures are usually compared against total population, resulting in significant statistical results, when they were compared against total registrations, a different result is seen. Fluctuations in income per registration (F_(8,842)=1.257, p=0.263) and expenditure per registration (F_(8,832)=1.185, p=0.305) were not significantly different by population grouping. This year the PLDS survey divided materials expenditures into categories by type of material. Overall, libraries spent $5.72 per capita on materials but the variability was large with a range of $0.05 to $68.68. As with the total expenditures, the expenditures on materials in total and the expenditures on materials by all types were seen to vary significantly by population groups (F_{MaterialsTotal(8,953)}= 212.8, p<0.001; F_{MaterialsPrint(8,922)}=181.2, p<0.001; F_{MaterialsCD/DVD(8,834)}=126.7, p<0.001; F_{MaterialsElectronic(8,893)}=164.9, p<0.001).

Library Outputs in Relation to Expenditure

Often there is a need to validate that expenditure has yielded a desired result within a public library. Table 2 summarizes various library outputs as a function of expenditure. In 2010 per $1000 spent, libraries on average received 168 (149 last year) library visits, circulated 254 (235 last year) materials, saw 10.5 (9 last year) patrons attend programs, fielded 26.9 (29 last year) reference transactions, measured 49.1 (48 last year) uses of materials within the library, and registered 18.5 (17 last year) new patrons. Compared to 2009 survey values, most numbers were up slightly on average, meaning that per $1,000 of expenditures, libraries were experiencing slightly more output measures on average. This increase reverses a trend from the previous year.

Technology

Technology is a major component in the modern public library that has become indespensible in numerous aspects. The majority of PLDS libraries made use of numerous technology tools and services as shown in table 3. The number of libraries that reported having a website rebounded from last year’s low of 92.43 percent back to 96.99 percent. The contents of these websites remained relatively constant with basic library information (96.77 percent), programming information and events calendars (92.68 percent), online catalogs (91.82 percent), community links (81.38 percent), and available online databases (80.09 percent) being the most prevalent items. Other website features were less prevalent, but all options were present greater than 60 percent of the time.

The technology category showing the largest change from last year was the use of wireless Internet. The availability of wireless Internet rose from 88.22 percent last year to 94.18 percent this year. Furthermore, libraries with wireless Internet access extending outside the library rose dramatically from 46.03 to 60.70 percent. When Internet access was filtered, it was generally performed by the library staff. Use of filtering rose 4.28 percent up to 69.52 percent this year overall. For 67.71 percent of reporting libraries, Internet access was filtered by staff, while only 11.31 percent of libraries allowed patron control of Internet filtering. These numbers are not exclusive in that a library may allow filter control by both staff and patrons.

The increase in virtual reference services seen over the last couple of years no longer occurred in last year’s survey. The use of these services remained about the same and in the same order of preference with e-mail/Web forms used twice as often (60.96 percent) as online chat services (32.42 percent) which were nearly twice once again as instant messaging (18.37 percent) which was itself twice again the final new category of texting services at 8.79 percent.

Access to locally produced digitized content remained essentially the same as last year at 42.90 percent.

This year’s special section on children’s services measured technology use by children in several areas. Of particular note, 79.33 percent of libraries specified having computers available for use by children only. Of computers for children’s use only possessing Internet access, 66.97 percent were indicated as filtered and 32.36 percent were indicated as unfiltered.

Future Directions

The 2011 PLDS survey will run from January to April 2011 and will include a special section on public library finances. These data will prove useful for analysis of important financial figures in today’s uneasy economic times. Also, now that all libraries are invited to participate, a broader and more complete statistical landscape can be attained from this data. Any library not receiving an invitation is encouraged to contact PLA for more information (Kathleen Hughes). More longitudinal analysis through the PLDS database will become available with the increased participation of smaller libraries, in particular, to help determine to a better degree their impact on these statistics as indicated in this report. Furthermore, one can look forward to programming developments within the PLDS database currently being discussed. Since the Institute of Museum and Library Services has introduced locale codes into the national public library survey, PLDS is considering population density as a new database category for the future. More data availability and better tools to manipulate and analyze that data in meaningful ways can only help further the needs of public libraries.

The post Characteristics and Trends in the Public Library Data Service 2010 Statistical Report first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

PLA has partnered with Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd., to provide the service for administering and supporting the survey. As well, PLA-launched PLAmetrics, an online subscription service offering access to the longitudinal PLDS data sets for this and subsequent survey years going back to 2002. The advent of PLAmetrics gives public libraries timely access to meaningful and relevant public library data for comparative analysis and the assessment of their operations by offering an array of pre-configured summary reports in online published formats and in  ready-to run and/or customizable report templates. As well, PLAmetrics subscribers can create any number of custom reports based on the available data definitions and participating libraries from any one or more years of PLDS data, including data from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS).

The graphs, comments, and calculations used in this report were derived from data in PLAmetrics. This report presents a selection of metrics for PLDS which presents results for the most recent FY2011 and previous results in tables and charts with related observations.

Research Method and Context

The participation in the PLDS is voluntary and participants have the option of providing responses to all or some of the questions that comprise the survey. This year, similar to previous years, all public libraries in the United States and Canada were invited to participate in the survey. Emails (3,284) were sent to launch the survey in January 2012, postcards were handed out at the PLA 2012 Conference in Philadelphia last March, letters were sent to the libraries, and four follow-up emails were sent between the beginning of March and the end of April. State data coordinators from the U.S. and provincial and association coordinators in Canada were contacted and asked to promote the survey to their libraries. Their involvement led to increased awareness and participation. Of the libraries contacted, 1,829 responded to the request for data, a response rate of 19.7 percent (an increase of 2.4 percent from last year). However, due to the voluntary nature of this survey, there was a high dropout rate, and many libraries had to be contacted for additional data. Although only 1,579 libraries were included in the final data analysis, this number still represented an increase over 2011’s number of 1,461 and 1,105 for 2010.

Please refer to the online PLDS Survey site for copies of the survey and full wording of the questions included.

Overall Service Summary

The PLDS Survey includes several questions that effectively describe the characteristics of each of the responding libraries. In table 1, a selection of these descriptive statistics is presented and summary data is provided with respect to all libraries that provided values greater than zero (>0) for each selected measure.

The latest FY2011 results include 1,579 responding libraries, just over 8 percent more than the FY2010 response count, providing their population of legal service area. Table 1 shows that the range of the size of population served was from 90 to 3,792,621 people. The distribution by groupings of the population of legal service area is shown in figure 1. As was found last year, there was a notable increase in the number of participating libraries that serve a population of legal service area less than 50,000 people.

For those participating libraries that reported both their population of legal service area and the number of registrations:

• Overall, 1,455 libraries offer services to a total population of 175,297,816 people and serve 93,234,730 registered borrowers.
• Overall the ratio of registrations to population of the legal service area is somewhere between six and seven people registered out of every ten people, as depicted in figure 5.
• For those libraries with populations of less than 50,000 people, these 963 libraries offer service to a total population of 13,451,047 and serve 8,342,742 registered borrowers.
• For those libraries with populations of 50,000 or more people, these 492 libraries offer services to a total population of 151,500,673 and serve 84,891,988 registered borrowers.

Some libraries may have reported a higher number of registrations than the actual number of people in their population of legal service area and have noted that their 2010 census was no longer accurate due to rapid community expansion and growth.

Population

Throughout most of this discussion, population of legal service area will be used as the basis for grouping results and also as a basis of several key ratios. It is important and useful to note, especially when comparing results between each population group and when comparing year-over-year trends, that the sample of responding libraries is mostly variable from year to year and within each population group. Recognizing this variability, this discussion includes trends and comparisons for 306 libraries that have consistently participated in each survey conducted by PLDS in the last five years (FY2007 to FY2011).

Table 2 and figure 2 show population by legal service area adopted over the past five years. The trend report for all respondents shows an increasing number of PLDS public library participants from libraries serving smaller populations. In particular, this is noted by the drop of the average and median values prior to 2010 and the leveling off of these values between the last two years, where the size of sample has also increased to a lesser degree. This trend could indicate the growing importance of library metrics and the need for data across all public libraries. The second part of table 2 displays the data for the consistent participants and the values remain fairly stable.

Holdings

For FY2011, library holdings ranged from as few as 1,500 to as many as 16,140,023 items as reported by the 1,465 libraries that responded to this question, 61 more respondents than the previous year, and an increase of less than 1 percent of the total (485,641,446) reported in 2011.

Figure 3 shows the trend for the last five years for holdings per capita. The first chart shows the trend for all PLDS libraries that reported and the second chart shows only those PLDS libraries (N=306) that reported data in each of the last five years. What seems apparent for all reporting libraries is that holdings per capita overall are increasing. But this result is more a function of the increased number of responding libraries that serve smaller populations of the legal service area. The median population of legal service area in FY2007 was 93,398 and this year the median value was 20,228. Generally these smaller libraries have larger holdings per capita each. This skewed relationship is also shown in figure 6, but this data is from the FY2011 only. Overall, year over year the marginal decrease in the average and median reported population has been greater than the decrease in the average and median reported holdings, thus holdings per capita shows an increasing trend over the last five years.

The second figure 3 chart shows holdings per capita for the group of libraries that reported consecutively in each of the last five years and these libraries have relatively stable holdings and an average that has slightly increased.

Circulation

PLDS libraries circulated items 1,200,632 times on average in FY2011, slightly higher than last year’s average, although fewer libraries this year reported their total annual circulation (1,069 reporting libraries, 0.09 percent fewer than last year). Total circulation of 1,529,604,633 was 1.12 percent less than the previous year. As in the previous two years the 2012 PLDS statistical report included circulation counts for independent types of materials. Of libraries reporting these counts, print items circulated 742,466 times on average, CD/DVD items were circulated 414,068 times on average, and all other materials were circulated 91,702 times on average.

Care should be taken not to compare this information with the total circulation results in table 1 since some libraries may or may not have reported their circulation counts for both total and independent types of materials.

Table 3 takes a look at those libraries that reported both total annual circulation and the contribution of renewals to these circulation counts. For the 593 libraries that reported total and renewal circulation, total annual renewals on average accounted for 518,767 or 24.4 percent of the total annual circulation.

PLDS trend data (see figure 4) shows that the circulation per capita has on average generally increased from FY2007 through FY2010 and has retreated in FY2011 to below-2009 levels. Similarly for those libraries (N=306) that reported data in each of the past five years, circulation had increased between 2007 and 2010, the period during the world financial credit crisis, and also shows a decrease in 2011, to a level below the 2009 average.

Meanwhile, in general as table 1 shows, materials used in the library accounted for 273,192 (N=473) uses on average, 12 percent less than that the average calculated last year (average uses of 309,926, N=471). Interestingly, electronic circulation accounted for 39,216 circulation counts on average, compared to 18,804.4 in fiscal year 2010. In the previous year’s survey 1,162 libraries reported electronic circulation and this year only 658 libraries reported electronic circulation. So, although 43 percent fewer libraries reported electronic circulation, the 57 percent that did report, these libraries circulated on average twice as many e-materials compared to those in the previous year.

Similar to the findings from last year’s survey, the average values for library visits (669,666), in-library use of materials (273,192), and reference transactions (155,719) were each lower. These lower averages are again likely due to the change in population sample having a 12.4 percent increase in libraries with legal service areas of 50,000 or less. Interestingly, while the average number of programs (1,427) also decreased, the average program attendance (39,335) increased. Similarly the average number of materials sent to other libraries (16,136) and those received from other libraries (14,161) both increased compared to the previous year.

Selected Library Metrics by Population

Figures 5-9 provide a visualization of several library measures reported as a percentage of population of legal service area.

Library registrations as a percent of population, in the previous year showed a smooth curved relationship that as the population size increased the percentage of registrants decreased. This year’s results demonstrate a similar relationship but suggest there are tiered plateaus. The most significant marginal change in the average registrations occurs between the two smallest population groups. Then a similar marginal decrease of the average registration occurs and the first plateau is reached for the population groups between 10,000 to 249,999 persons. A smaller marginal decrease in average registrations occurs and another plateau is reached for the population groups between 250,000 to 1,000,000 and over.
Libraries with legal service areas with fewer than 9,999 people tended to register a larger proportion of the population.

Average holdings per capita show a very similar pattern as in previous years (figure 6). For example, as observed in last year’s report, libraries serving populations below 5,000 had average holdings per capita over five times those of the largest libraries. The overall average holdings per capita for all reporting libraries was 5.66 (N=1,467). This value is more than 2 percent lower than last year. This again is mostly due to the increased number of participating libraries serving the smaller population groups less than 100,000 people in size.

Library visits per capita continue to show the highest numbers for libraries serving smaller populations. The smallest libraries saw an average of 3.83 more visits per capita than libraries serving over 1,000,000. All libraries serving populations under 100,000 saw an average of at least 6.04 visits per capita annually.

However, overall the average library visits per capita for all reporting libraries was 6.61 (N=1,236) showing a 5.84 percent decrease from last year. Figure 7 shows that the largest decrease was reported by the smallest libraries serving populations of less than 25,000 people, and there were more libraries in this segment that contributed data this year which might account for some of the overall decrease. But, a decrease in average library visits per capita was reported by all libraries (figure 7). The general decrease may be attributed to increased use of remote or online library services including reference services, downloadable materials, and online databases.

In-library use was reported by the fewest number of libraries (N=473). The largest in-library use of materials was from libraries serving populations of 0 to 5,000 and 5,000 to 9,999. However the third largest number was for libraries serving a population of 1,000,000 and over with middle sized populations having the smallest values. The pattern for this statistic continues to change from year to year without any apparent consistency or relationship. This may be a result of the challenges libraries have in consistently tracking these numbers.

Average circulation per capita, despite showing the smallest value for the largest population group and the largest value for the smallest population group, there is no clear pattern between each population group (figure 8). The average circulation per capita for all reporting libraries was 10.32 (N=1,294). This, as shown in figure 8, is a decrease from the average of last year, and consistent with a decrease in the average for circulation per capita for all repeat responding libraries (N=306).

Collection turnover allows a library to see how often items within the collection are used by dividing the total circulation by the total holdings. When analyzing collection turnover (figure 9) larger population libraries have a larger average collection turnover than smaller population libraries, with the largest collection turnover for libraries serving a population of 500,000 to 999,999 and the smallest collection turnover for libraries serving a population of 5,000 to 9,999 (a 3.83x difference). The overall average for all reporting libraries was 2.54 items circulated per item held (N=1,234).

Table 4 shows a five-year trend for the collection turnover rate for those PLDS libraries (N=306) that have reported in each of the past five years. The turnover rate shows a softening of circulation transactions relative to the size of the holdings, relative to previous year results.

Operating Finances

Income and expenditure measures continue to provide useful operational insights for many libraries and are therefore a major section within the PLDS report and all library statistical reports. The average overall respondents’ library income was $4,892,178 per year or $46.68 per capita of the legal service area (N=1,576), a decrease of $2.74 from last year’s average per capita income of $49.42. Library expenditures, however, were $4,657,232 on average per year or $41.95 per capita of the legal service area (N=1,428). This is a decrease of $3.55 per capita from the average of $45.50 per capita expenditure in fiscal year 2010. The most notable change was a decrease seen in the under 5,000 population group, which saw a decline from the previous year’s increase in average income per capita. The 10,000 to 24,999 population group also saw a decline from the previous year while the remaining groups saw their average income per capita remain relatively stable from the previous year. This holds true with the previous year’s trend of individual libraries.

Overall the average income and expenditures for libraries decreased in FY2011. For the most part, income appears to be unchanged for most population groups, except for the first and third smallest population groups which show decreases in average income per capita of over 14 percent (figure 10) with similar decreases in expenditure (figure 11). Income and expenditures per person were largest for the libraries serving middle-sized populations from 25,000 to 49,999 followed by those serving populations of 50,000 to 99,999 and smallest for libraries serving the largest populations. Unlike the previous two years, the total average income did exceed total average expenditure for the largest population groupings (libraries serving more than 500,000), but only by a small margin. The other population groups (as shown in figure 12) have wider margins between the average income and expenditures per registrations and per capita.

Figure 12 also shows a similar pattern of income and expenditure per registrations (top line pairing) and per capita (bottom line pairing).
Table 5 shows the trend for the last five years for operating expenditures per capita. The first table shows the trend for all PLDS libraries that reported and the second table shows only those PLDS libraries (N=306) that reported data in each of the last five years. Among the consistent contributors operating expenditures have been more consistent hovering around $49 on average for the last four years. The median values for this group increased by $0.75 over FY2010 values.

The PLDS survey collected total materials expenditures and again provided the option for materials expenditure to be divided into categories by type of material. Overall, libraries spent $5.04 per capita on materials (N=1,430), with a range of $0.00 to $80.24. This change also represented a decrease of $2.84 over last year.

Figure 13 shows the five-year trend for materials expenditure per capita for those 306 libraries that have responded to the survey in each of these years. The average and median show a general decreasing trend for materials expenditure per capita. For this group of libraries the average population reported has actually decreased in the past two years, suggesting that the expenditure on materials has had to similarly decrease for this ratio also to decrease. Given indications of lower total expenditures for all population groups (figure 11), materials expenditure has also contracted with the overall decrease in spending.

Table 6 summarizes various library outputs as a function of expenditure. In FY2011 per $1,000 spent, libraries on average realized:

• 176 library visits (179, 168, 149 for the prior three years);
• 263 materials circulated (260, 254, 235 for the prior three years);
• 12.23 patrons attend programs (12.1, 10.5, 9.0 for the prior three years);
• 25.57 reference transactions fielded (25.3, 26.9, 29.0 for the prior three years);
• 48.35 uses of materials within the library (47.2, 49.1, 48.0 for the prior three years); and
• 22.97 new registered patrons (20.0, 18.5, 17 for the prior three years).

Reference transactions per $1,000 spent stabilized this year and did not continue to decrease and overall there is an emerging trend of increased circulation and new borrower registrations per $1,000 spent over the past four years. These improved observations, however, are due to a simultaneous general decrease in expenditures, and this is confirmed by the fact that reference transactions, circulation, and registrations are also generally lower this year compared to last. Library visits have also dropped from last year but overall are still higher than previous years.

Program attendance is overall increasing while use of material within the library is slightly declining over the four years. Table 7 shows a variety of output measures expressed as an average per $1,000 of expenditure by population group. For each characteristic the outputs per $1,000 expenditure are varied with respect to population grouping. This variability is due to simultaneous decreases in both the output and input measure (expenditures). If the output measure (denominator) has decreased in proportion more than the input measure (numerator) compared to the previous year, then the ratio would suggest better performance. What is unclear from the analysis is degree to which lower expenditures (figure 13) are the result of improved efficiency or simply a reflection of tightened spending (lower income), see figure 12. A decrease in output measures could suggest that decreased spending has a detrimental impact on the volume of outputs produced.

Technology

Technology questions remain an important part of the PLDS survey which reflects the importance of technology in the modern public library. This year, the PLDS survey was altered slightly to include questions regarding e-readers and tablets while removing questions regarding CD and DVD players, to remain current with activities taking place at the library. Questions on social networking were amalgamated to keep better statistical and comparative results as social networking sites individually may change and use may rise and fall with current popularity.

It is no surprise that more than 95 percent of libraries with a website include information on programs and events, as well as access to the OPAC (as shown in table 8). Not too far behind (at more than 79 percent) is the inclusion of online databases, and among the new technology questions, almost 78 percent of libraries include social networking features in their online presence (N=1,365). Rounding out the top six online resources is library staff created content (68.88 percent) and virtual reference services (61.24 percent).

Virtual reference service, however, was another question that was reformatted and combines the previous year’s separate questions into one general question. This year’s result shows a slight increase (+2.14 percent)from last year where 59.1 percent of libraries provided some form of virtual reference.

Regarding tablet circulation, 47 libraries indicated that they do circulate tablets, 3.2 percent of all 1,459 responding libraries. This will be an interesting question to follow in the 2013 survey as an indicator of technology adoption and the priority libraries are placing on it.
Other results include 13.2 percent of libraries using automated materials handling systems such as book sorters, automated check-in devices, and so forth. (N= 1,469); 85.2 percent of libraries did not circulate e-book readers (N=1,463).

Some libraries support mobile computing and devices, with 34.7 percent of libraries offering library apps that are accessible on a mobile device (N=1,353).

Special Section: Young Adult Services

Each year PLDS focuses on a specific topic outside of the standard questions. For 2012, the focus was on young adult (YA) services. Of the 1,448 libraries who answered the question “Does your library provide YA services?” 81.8 percent answered yes (see figure 14). Of those 263 libraries that do not offer YA services:

• 46.6 percent serve a population of legal service area of fewer than 5,000;
• 23.7 percent serve a population of legal service area of 5,000 to 9,999;
• 17.3 percent serve a population of legal service area of 10,000 to 24,999; andthe remaining 11.4 percent of these respondents serve a population of legal service area of 25,000 people or greater.

While a significant number of libraries within the smaller population groups do not offer YA services, more than half of the libraries in this group (57.2 percent) do offer YA services.

As expected, average expenditures on YA materials for FY2011 and FY2010 display a clear tendency for larger libraries to spend more than medium and smaller libraries. But as a portion of total materials expenditures (figure 15), the smaller libraries dedicate a larger portion of spending on YA materials than their larger counterparts. Generally, libraries that serve populations of 10,000 people and above spent between approximately 4 and 7 percent on YA materials as a portion of their materials expenditure. The smaller libraries serving populations below 10,000 people spent more than 9 percent of their total materials expenditure on YA materials.

It is not surprising that of those libraries that do offer YA services, 65.7 percent have a specific section for young adults on the library webpage. For those 384 libraries that do not have a specific section for young adults on their webpage, they do have a presence on social network sites:

• 12.6 percent indicated that they have a social web presence;
• 25 percent indicated they have a presence on Facebook for young adults;
• 5.8 percent indicated they have a presence on Twitter for young adults; and,
• 5.8 percent indicated “other” social networks (such as Flickr, Pinterest, Google+, and Tumblr) where they have a presence for young adults.

Future Directions

The 2013 PLDS survey will run from January to April 2013 and will include a special section on library facilities, which has not been covered since the 2009 survey. Any library not receiving an invitation is encouraged to contact PLA or Counting Opinions (SQUIRE) Ltd. (pla@counting opinions.com) for more information. The PLDS will continue to collect data on library trends, including technology trends within the library. PLA strives to produce a survey that captures timely, relevant data and encourage libraries to use this data to enhance their decision-making  processes. We also want to thank all of the responding libraries who took the time to participate. Contact us at pla@ala.org with comments or feedback.

Editor’s note: PLAmetrics is your portal to the Public Library Data Service (PLDS) Statistical Report digital database. Visit www.plametrics.org to subscribe.

The post The Public Library Data Service 2012 Statistical Report: Characteristics and Trends first appeared on Public Libraries Online.