On 24 Jun 2004, at 08:53, Laura Ewart wrote:
> I'm a Librarianship student at Sheffield and am looking at the use (or
> non-
> use)of community profiling in public libraries throughout the UK for my
> dissertation
As a retired LIP I have one, two-part, general comment:
indirect profiling of library users is increasingly available for
evaluation via library service management systems and I am convinced
there is cost-effective value in their full exploitation, led by
"community librarians" (i.e. all LIPs) strongly supported by guided IT
colleagues
if community profiling is to be anything other than a flavour of the
decade, it needs to focus on why non-users (within which I would
include casual as opposed to regular users) prefer other sources for
whatever aspect of LIS provision they are either consciously or
unconsciously ignoring
It's a question which lies behind most, if not all, of the recent
official reports, current central government debate and indeed the
issues that regularly surface on this list.
Having said that, I wish Laura well with her dissertation and hope she
finds a post worthy of its practical application.
C John Hughes BA MCLIP LIAV MInstLM
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