Summarizes information about public libraries, including their number, administrative structure and legal basis, operating income and expenditures, staffing and collections, and services. Data from the Public Libraries Survey of the National Center for Education Statistics reflect the 8,967 public libraries in the 50 states and the District of…

Presents detailed data on the status of academic libraries in 1996, as well as detailed historical comparisons with previous years, focusing on comparisons since 1990. Data were collected from the Academic Libraries Survey, which was part of the 1996 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. (Author/SLD)

This article offers a number of statistics and performance measures that libraries may find useful in determining the overall quality of their network-based services; identifies a number of service quality criteria; and provides a framework to assist librarians in selecting statistics and performance measures based on service quality criteria.…

Explains the USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and its implications for libraries and patron records. Considers past dealings with the FBI; court orders; search warrants; wiretaps; and subpoenas. Includes:…

Discusses the value of statistics in public library administration and recent efforts by the federal government and the Public Library Association (PLA) to gather public library statistics. PLA's Public Library Data Service (PLDS) Statistical Report '88 and planned online availability are described. An inset shows data on salaries for beginning…

Summarizes issues emerging from an institute on strategies and techniques for evaluating children's services in public libraries, including observation as a research method, the importance of statistics on children's services, and the adaptation of traditional evaluation strategies for children's services. (Seven references) (MES)

Explains how libraries can use data mining techniques for more effective data collection. Highlights include three phases: data selection and acquisition; data preparation and processing, including a discussion of the use of XML (extensible markup language); and data interpretation and integration, including database management systems. (LRW)

This report summarizes activities at the Library of Michigan in 1994. Featuring numerous photographs and capsule narratives about the year's activities, it tabulates fundraising efforts, grant monies, equipment purchases, service innovations, and attendance at special events or continuing education sessions. Topics include boards and management,…

This report is the fifth in a series that constitutes a comprehensive evaluation of the public library statistics program carried out annually by the Federal State Cooperative System for Public Library Data (FSCS). The evaluation aims to revise and promote the FSCS classification structure that divides library organizations into municipal, school…

Contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year 1997. Data were collected through the State Library Agencies Survey, which provides policymakers, researchers, and other interested users with descriptive information about state library agencies. (SLD)

Offers a methodological critique of Thomas Hennen's American Public Library Rating Index as well as a response by Hennen. Discusses statistics; indexes; correlations; variables; weighting; and how public libraries should be assessed, and Hennen defends his work and suggests it should be called a scorecard rather than an index. (LRW)

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) brings together experts from around the country and around the world and asks them to turn their intelligence to the problems that libraries, archives, and information organizations face as they integrate digital resources and services into their well established print-based environments. In…

Contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, including these agencies' governance, services, collections, staff, and income and expenditures. Data are from the State Library Agency Survey, a cooperative effort of several government agencies, including the National Center for Education Statistics.…

Discusses the availability and quality of commercial reference services available on the World Wide Web such as Ask Jeeves and the decline in library reference service statistics. Describes a project in California to help libraries develop live, real-time reference services over the Web by adapting Web contact center software. (LRW)

A librarian at Hazelden Library, a non-profit foundation focusing on chemical dependency treatment, publishing, and education, gives a personal account of the steps used in determining the dollar value of providing library services in a specialized health-care library. After evaluating survey results and reviewing the library's 1998 statistics,…