Rod Sawyer and Adam Haviaras at the Culture (Library) Services Unit of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport continue to offer customized reports for inquiring public libraries. Consider using Ministry services to provide customized reports from the Ontario Public Library Statistics that would be most helpful. The latest published data we have available for this is for 2016.
Ministry staff can provide customized reports including:
1) Customized reports that enable a requesting library to compare services with specific libraries it wishes to compare with (requesting libraries should provide names of other libraries or note an upper tier region or county for which it needs all library information, and note data fields needed)
2) Customized reports on a library’s own data (please note data fields needed)
3) Ontario Public Library Statistics Standard Reports for an alternate population range than those published on the Ministry website e.g. a library could request reports on population range 75,000 to 150,00, in place of existing population ranges 50,001 to 100,000 and 100,001 to 250,000
The attached 2016 Annual Survey can help a library with data fields for the library’s request.
2016 Annual Survey of Public Libraries – Blank Survey (English)
Requesting libraries should provide at least two weeks-notice to enable Ministry staff to work on their request. Please do not send in requests such as the afternoon before an evening board meeting!
Libraries should let Ministry staff know if they need reports available as printed out page view that board members might prefer for a board meeting, or if they plan to use the reports solely for viewing on their computer screen. They should clarify if they could also benefit from brief analysis and features such as bar graphs as part of their request. GIS map print-outs may also be available.
Other Ministry service offers:
Individual Library Profile Report
This is useful to libraries that require a general statistics standard report on their own library, such as for a board meeting. Libraries can also request Individual Library Profile reports on other libraries.
Libraries can also create their own reports:
1) Use Ontario Public Library Statistics Open Data. See the province’s Open Data website. Library CEOs and staff who are most familiar with large spreadsheets and making their own reports are able to use these themselves, directly.
2) Ontario Public Library Statistics Standard Reports organized by population served or upper tier county libraries, published in Accessible Excel versions, with 2016 available here: http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/libraries/statistics_2016.shtml
CEOs and staff with Excel skills should be able to create their own Excel reports from these if they wish, adjusting as needed, page view, page size, margins, column widths, rows and columns of data needed etc.
The service offers above from the Ministry carry no fees. For more analysis such as on longitudinal data and a more sophisticated looking presentation a library may wish to make its request to FOPL.
Rod Sawyer
Library Services Adviser
Culture Services Unit, Programs and Services Branch
Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport
401 Bay Street, 17th floor
Toronto, ON M7A 0A7
telephone: 416 314-7627
fax: 416 212-1802
email: rod.sawyer@ontario.ca