Date:  August 3, 2006

To:  RCPL Board of Trustees

From:  Greta Chapman

Re:  Statistics Narrative, Mar - Jun

 

Date: August 3, 2006

To: Greta Chapman

From: Supervisors

Re: Statistics Narrative, Mar - Jun

 

In order to better show the patterns of patron use, statistics are being reported quarterly. This first report, however, includes four months: March through June 2006. From this point forward, statistics will be reported in February, May, August, and November; in this way, we can compile actual statistics rather than estimated numbers. 

 

Our review of this quarter shows trends are generally the same as this time last year, with only one area showing outstanding change: Online resource use is increasing rapidly.

 

  • New borrowers: While new city borrowers are down for the quarter, they are following the normal pattern for this time of the year. County patrons are also following the general pattern, but are closer to last year’s average. We expect that this is a continuance of the trend to have fewer new borrowers while sustaining current borrowers.

 

 

  • Entry Count: As with new borrowers, the pattern for people coming into the library remains the same between 2005 and 2006.

 

 

  • Materials Circulation: this area also follows the previous use pattern for this quarter.

  • Online Resources: It is clear from the graphs that whenever computer use goes up, homepage hits go up. Both are higher this year compared to last, showing the continuing increase in use of online resources.

 

  • Patron contacts are down and have been falling regularly as online contacts go up. With homepage hits 40% up and computer use up 22-48%, thereby demonstrating more patron self-service, it is not unexpected to have face-to-face patron contacts down 26%
  • Programming: Youth programming is on track with last year. Adult programming is slightly lower for most months, but the large drop in June 2006 is due to a large number of tours that were held in June last year.

 

    EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER