It’s already week 8 (including the primer on stats) and there’s more to come. In 2015 we expect to get the 2011 and 2012 and 2013 data sets added to these analyses and we can republish and for the first time in along time be up to date on our statistical profiles of Ontario Public libraries!
Many of your fellow FOPL members are telling us they are printing these and assembling them into a binder with tabs to use for their strategy planning activities. Some are preparing packages for their new boards or sharing the reports as they appear. Some await the 2015 summary when we get the up-to-date open data files.
Programs Offered and Program Attendance, 2001-2010,
Ontario Public Libraries, By Band
FOPL Data Report, Week 7
As the information needs of the public and the methods of storing and retrieving information have changed over the years, Ontario’s public libraries have responded to the challenge of providing library service in this rapidly changing information environment. For example, we saw in the Week 5 report the increases in expenditures for electronic materials by these libraries. Just a few years ago, the term “electronic materials” would have meant nothing to us and now it is a major part of what we do. Library programs were always a part of our environment so they are not new, however, the increases in numbers of programs and attendance at them are astonishing.
The two variables reported by the Ministry which track the programs offered and their
attendance at these libraries show similar kinds of increases and for similar reasons. Such a rapid change in this information environment resulted in many of the public looking to
libraries for help and the libraries added 60,000 programs over this period. The public, in
turn, voted with its feet, with over one million more attending these programs in libraries
from 2001 to 2010. These conclusions are supported by the tables included in this report.
FOPL_Report_7_Programs (5 page PDF)