Secondary Libraries: Customer-Focused and Data-Driven

1. Secondary Libraries: Customer-Focused and Data-Driven A staff development event for secondary teacher-librarians. Thursday September 29, 2011 Facilitated by Anita Brooks Kirkland, Consultant, ITS, K-12 Libraries

2. Evidence-Based Practice Educators regularly gather, organize and analyze both quantitative and qualitative evidence on how their work impacts student achievement and program success.

3. Individual Growth Reading Engagement Cultural Awareness Equity Diversity PROGRAM Guided Inquiry Digital Citizenship Information Literacy

4. PROGRAM Are circulation statistics an indicator of program success?

5. Your concerns about circ stats?

6. Most librarians are content to continue what libraries have traditionally done to to provide services to customers. Occasionally a library will introduce a new service, but rarely does a library embrace the concept of using evaluation as a part of its day-to-day activities. The vast majority of performance measures and statistics historically gathered and used by libraries are focused on inputs and outputs. Yet these measures and statistics do little to reveal the impact the library has on the lives of its customers. Matthews, J. (2007). The evaluation and measurement of library services. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

7. We take this attitude at our peril, however.

8. How ARE circulation stats an indicator of program success?

9. Library Heart Health Clinic: Mutual Support Therapy How healthy are your circulation stats? What factors influence circulation success at your school?

10. Average per student circulation, 2010-2011 school year. All Elementary Schools:44.37 items per student Senior Elementary Schools:17.26 items per student Secondary Schools:4.42 items per student

11. Secondary Schools: Items Circulated, 2009 - 2010 Mean (Average): 6,026 items Median (Mid-Point): 5,636 items

12. Secondary Schools: Items Circulated, 2010 - 2011 Mean (Average): 5,696 items Median (Mid-Point): 5,166 items

13. Overall trend? KCI, FHCI & one other school.

14. A 94% improvement in circulation in one year. How do you explain THAT???!

15. From spectacular to more spectacular. How do you explain THAT???!

16. Sue Danic, KCI Janice Bolzon, FHCI What are they doing RIGHT at KCI and FHCI?

17. Library Heart Health Clinic: Mutual Support Therapy What library program elements will boost circulation at your school? What will that do for kids? How does it align with board goals?

18. The Final Frontier: Empowered by Evidence or Meltdown by Metrics?

19. For any type of library, consideration should be given to constructing and completing outcome studies that identify the benefits and impacts of the library’s resources and its services on the lives of its customers. Matthews, J. (2007). The evaluation and measurement of library services. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

20. A Call for Evidence-Based Practice in School Librarianship Ross Todd, Carol Kuhlthau, Ohio Study 2004 On the basis of how students benefit from effective school libraries, this study sought to provide recommendations for professional practice, educational policy development, further research, and tools for school librarians to chart their libraries’ impact on learning. Ross Todd (2003). Student learning through Ohio school libraries: A summary of the Ohio research study. http://www.oelma.org/studentlearning/default.asp

21. Deal in Data or Die: Learning from Other Library Sectors The KPL Example - Margaret Howell

22. We know that our circulation statistics do not capture the extent to which library print resources are really used. • A small proportion of the collection gets the greatest amount of use. • Circulation is not an accurate measure of total use, and the ratio of in-library use to circulation varies greatly and should be studied locally. • Some research libraries have significant in-library use of low-circulating items. Matthews, J. (2007). The evaluation and measurement of library services. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

23. Supporting Researchers = High In-Library Use Supporting Readers = High Circulation Can we capture data on in-library use? WRDSB Horizon Investigation: Kathryn Broadfoot

24. Making Metrics Matter What kind of library usage metrics can we reasonably gather? How? Why? Will it help demonstrate program efficacy? Will it inform our own practice to help us be responsive to learners’ needs?

28. Some indicators are library metrics. Can you find an example?

29. Is It Time for a Fine Finale? $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

30. Windsor Star, August 19, 2011 Library considers eliminating fines http://www.windsorstar.com/Library+considers+eliminating+fines/5276124/story.html

32. Amos Memorial Library, Sidney, Ohio In 1981 over 5% of the collection was overdue. Costs for administration of fine processes? $30,000 Fines collected? $6000 They decided to eliminate fines. Between 1982 and 1985 less than 1% of their resources were overdue and administrative costs were minimal. ‘No fines’ save money for Sidney, Ohio library.Library Journal 110(4). 1985.

33. … to punish people for keeping things late or discourage them from keeping things too long. … to teach students accountability. … to just get stuff back so that it can be loaned to other people. Teacher-Librarians? Why do libraries charge late fines? Students Teachers Librarians Brehm Heeger, P. (2007). Better late than never: Late fines stop teens from coming to the library. School Library Journal 53(2).

34. Fines, replacement costs and processing fees are affordable for the middle classes, but represent significant and overwhelming costs for poor people. As a result, poor patrons with fines over $10.00 who cannot pay the fines are excluded from accessing library resources. This barrier to library use has short and long-term consequences for the library and the community it serves. DeFaveri, A. (2005). Breaking barriers: Libraries and socially excluded communities. Information for Social Change 21(Summer 2005). libr.org/isc/articles/21/9.pdf.

35. A child knocks a cup out of his mother’s hand in the library, spilling the contents onto the book. Library personnel inform her that she is responsible for the replacement cost. The mother is left visibly embarrassed in a public place as she has to explain that she cannot afford to pay for the book. By choosing to make a $25.00 replacement cost more significant than the role the institution can play in the social, developmental, and community life of the family, the library forfeits its role as a community and literacy advocate and leader. DeFaveri, A. (2005). Breaking barriers: Libraries and socially excluded communities. Information for Social Change 21(Summer 2005). libr.org/isc/articles/21/9.pdf.

36. A librarian decries a plan to waive fines for a select group of patrons who had not been to the library in years. The logic went something like this: “They run up fines as children, stop using the library for a while, and when they come back years later we can get them”. These examples, although extreme, detract from the image of the library. Here the shushing librarian becomes the enforcer, a new taxman or bad cop to be feared. Commonly, fines are defended as a revenue generator, or as a lesson put forth by the library to encourage responsibility. Such lessons are the purview of teachers and parents. But regardless of who generates the notice, or who calls at night, the effect on patrons is the same: a negative view of the library, and decreased use of its services. Sifton, D. (2009). The Last taboo: Abolishing library fines. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research 4(1).

37. The library can examine the borrowing habits of teens and consider making teens exempt from library fines. Fines keep teens out of the library. Few teens are financially independent and so library fines can be as daunting for them as for other socially excluded groups. And like other socially excluded groups, teens that have the least, need the library the most. Omitting fines will encourage ongoing library use throughout teenage years and will promote a habit of library use that will be carried into adulthood. DeFaveri, A. (2005). Breaking barriers: Libraries and socially excluded communities. Information for Social Change 21(Summer 2005). libr.org/isc/articles/21/9.pdf.

38. Major barriers between students and resources include but are not limited to imposing age, grade-level, or reading-level restrictions on the use of resources; limiting the use of interlibrary loan and access to electronic information; charging fees for information in specific formats; requiring permission from parents or teachers; establishing restricted shelves or closed collections; and labeling. Policies, procedures, and rules related to the use of resources and services support free and open access to information. American Library Association. Access to Resources and Services in School Library Media Program: An Interpretation of the LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/accessresources.cfm

39. Fine Issues in WRDSB Secondary Schools What resonates with you in this discussion? What concerns you? What other factors do we need to consider in our organizational context?

40. “Fine” Alternatives? • Proactive Routines?: • Regular reminders • Focus on problem-solving, not punishment • Timely resolution Fine Amnesty Week/Month? Salt Lake City PL: Can’t pay the fine? Do the time. Read your way out of your fine: $1.00 for 10 minutes of reading. Restorative Justice? ABOLISH THEM FOREVER? A Proposal for Action Research Stephanie Ropp, GCI

41. Thanks. See you at the Vendors’ Display. Images in this presentation were used under license from iStock Photo: http://www.istockphoto.com