John

thanks for your comments - this certainly illustrates the complexity. The
LLDA/ALM project does not go this far - too much for a small scale, discrete
piece of work, but we will raise the issue with MLA nationally to see if
they will consider something more indepth. At best we can hope to identify
the factors, issues and considerations at this stage. Potentially data could
come from some, all or more than just those sources you mention. 

As to granularity (lovely word), I think it's got to be service point level.
If you take business as a model, when people invest money in a shop or
service in a local area, they often work up a clear model and business plan,
including such issues as demographics, local transport nodes, parking,
environmental issues etc. We should aspire to something similar - but a
model that's tailored to the very specific nature of library business.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Usher, John [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 May 2006 16:07
To: Michael Clarke; [log in to unmask]
Cc: Chung, Steve; Doyle, Rosemary
Subject: RE: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] Potenial Issues for a library


Michael,
 
But first define the catchment area, especially in an area like London, with
significant cross-border activity. Local authority and school boundaries are
pre-defined - library catchment areas are self-defined by users, will be
affected by things such as transport routes and availability), and may vary
for each of the 'Client Groups' (if such things actually exist - they are an
artificial construct) across space - and time! 
 
*And* then apply the data for the users, actual or potential, in the
catchment area - and the data is from where? From LMS systems? from
'Community Profiling', carried out by Library staff? from surveys? from
Census data? from (expensive) commercial data like Acorn or Mosaic?
 
And at what level of granularity? London? sub-regional? Borough? individual
library?
 
Can we hope that the LLDA/ALM research will begin to address this, before we
begin to apply appropriate formulae to the data?
 
Regards
 
JU
 
John Usher
ICT Development Manager
Islington Library & Cultural Services 
020 7527 6920
 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries on behalf of Michael Clarke 
	Sent: Thu 20/04/2006 16:16 
	To: [log in to unmask] 
	Cc: 
	Subject: Re: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] Potenial Issues for a library
	
	

	Gary
	
	certainly this is an issue that we at London Libraries Development
Agency
	are interested in. As well as examining potential based on catchment
and
	population (your formulae look very useful and well thought out) I
would be
	interested in 'added value' as well. This would mean factoring in:
	
	- comparative stock spend and stock turnover (ie quality of stock
available)
	- local demographics such as ethnicity, population density and
churn,
	educational attainment and poverty
	- library profile within local authority
	
	all of which may affect usage. We could start to get to a fair
assessment of
	an individual library, or library authority's performance against
what can
	realistically be expected - the kind of added value approach that
has been
	recognised in measuring school performance for some years now. We'd
then be
	able to compare like with like, so that for example it might be
fairer to
	compare London Borough X with one of the metropolitan boroughs in
terms of
	communities served and positioning/budgets, rather than always
assuming that
	other London boroughs are the automatic comparitors.
	
	This will be a complex project. MLA London and LLDA are just in the
process
	of completing what could be phase 1 - its working title is Library
Facts -
	which attempts to get some consistency and read across in current
available
	datasets from both within and outside the sector, but it's a long
way short
	of added value indicators. We hope to interest MLA nationally in
taking this
	further forward.
	
	regards
	
	Michael Clarke
	Director
	London Libraries Development Agency
	35 St Martin's Street
	London WC2H 7HP
	T:   020 7641 5244
	M:  07879 424828
	F:   020 7641 5266
	E:   [log in to unmask]
	W:  www.llda.org.uk
	
	Find out what's going on in London's libraries -
www.londonlibraries.org.uk
	
	
	
	-----Original Message-----
	From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
	[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of gary nugent
	Sent: 20 April 2006 11:38
	To: [log in to unmask]
	Subject: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] Potenial Issues for a library
	
	
	Dear list,
	
	I heard someone mention a while a go (but did not write it down) the
idea of
	using a statistical formula for working out a library's your
potential
	number of issues per year based on your borrowers. Does anybody use
this or
	know the formulae and how valid it's use is?
	
	The context I was looking to use it in is compare our potential
performance
	with actual, and looking  in more depth when we are told we are
	underpeforming  and  we should increase issues by so many % What
this means
	for stock use or how many new borrowers, increase use from existing
	borrowers the target demands.
	
	I can think of a number of variations on formula that would give you
some
	interesting figures (but wonder how valid they were as a statistical
	measurement and tool) e.g.
	
	Active borrowers x loan limit x (weeks in year/loan period) =
potential
	issues for year
	Active borrowers x average loans per user x (weeks in year/loan
period) =
	potential issues for year
	Catchment area pop x average loans per user x (weeks in year/loan
period) =
	potential issues for year
	
	Other factors to consider would be is it realistic figure given your
lending
	stock?
	Adult/junior split
	% of stock out on loan at any one time to achieve this potential
issues
	figure.
	
	
	Hope you can help
	
	Gary Nugent
	Senior Community Librarian
	Lincoln Central Library
	Free School Lane
	Lincoln
	LN2 1EZ
	Tel: 01522 510800
	Fax: 01522 575011
	Email:[log in to unmask]
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