Date: 02/04/08

To: RCPL Board of Trustees

From: Greta Chapman, Director

RE: Statistics Review - Quarterly Review and Yearly Update of Statistics

Date: 01/30/08

To: Greta Chapman, Director

From: Ed Hughes, Circulation/Technical Services Supervisor and Librarian Is

RE: Quarterly Review and 2007 Annual Update of Statistics

Summary:

In comparing Fourth Quarter 2007 statistics with the similar timeframe in 2006, and also making a year to year comparison, several items were noted, as outlined below.

Increases in Programming Attendance at Adult Programs

· Adult programs held in the 4^th quarter 2007 showed an overall increase in attendance. This can be attributed to increased creative involvement by staff, organized marketing efforts, and partnerships with the library coffee shop. November was the first time we held focused programming for Native American Month, and had both high attendance numbers for youth and adults, as well as positive public feedback; this program will be continued in 2008. The Lunch and Learn programs continue to be consistently popular with attendance of nearly 50 people each month.

· November 2007 programming figures had four programs with a total attendance of 113, many of whom attended as families. By contrast, November 2006 featured 2 programs with 68 attendees.

· No programming was offered in December 2006 due to poor programming attendance in prior years, attributable to the busy holiday season. However, because of the continued popularity of Lunch and Learn, that program was offered as the sole program for December 2007

· Overall adult programming increased from 24 programs in 2006 to 39 programs in 2007. Attendance at the programs went from 493 in 2006 to 1,458 in 2007. This nearly 200% increase in adult programming attendance is largely due to focused marketing efforts.

Increases in Programming Attendance at Youth Programs

· The decrease in youth program attendance in October was due to one less program offered.

· Attendance for Youth programs decreased significantly in November. This can be attributed focusing on Native American Month programs, which were directed towards adults and families; those attendance figures show in the adult programming statistics.

· Attendance in December was higher, despite offering fewer programs than in 2006. 472 youth attended six programs in 2007, compared to 300 attending eight programs in 2006.

· The Discovery Days events offered on no school days have become very successful; the audience includes more parents and younger children along with the targeted audience of middle school students. This may be due to increased targeted marketing efforts.

Initially, youth programming figures declined in 2007 due to a vacancy in the Programming Librarian I position. With an interim YS/Programming Librarian I in place for the fourth quarter, the statistics began to reflect an increase.

Increase in Group Tour Numbers

· In October 2007 there were four group tours in Youth Services with 89 attendees compared to 2 tours with 32 people in 2006.

· December showed high tour numbers; over 120 people participated in two tours, one for adults and one for youth.

· Approximately half as many tours were offered in 2007 compared to 2006. This is also attributable to the vacancy of the Programming Librarian I. Tours and tour attendance began to increase after the interim YS/Programming Librarian I began to coordinate tours

Increases in Website usage

Fourth quarter 2007website usage showed an overall trend shows higher use:

· September traditionally shows a decrease, attributed to students’ initial focus on the start of school; usage begins to increase in the later part of that month

o As students begin using our online resources, October’s statistics increase. October 2007 showed the highest website traffic in RCPL’s history.

o November and December usage statistics have tended to decrease, likely due to the holiday season.

As the following chart demonstrates, website usage shows an upward trend line:

Homepage Unique Hits measure of outside computers accessing our homepage. Overall, Homepage Unique Hits have increased 21% in 2007, attributable to increased advertising of our RSS feeds, which allow for timely information about library services, increased exposure of the library’s web address in all publications, and the addition of information that online users find appealing, such as new social networking technologies like del.icio.us, LibraryThing, and MySpace, as well as services like the 1972 flood archive and downloadable audiobooks.

Decrease in Volunteer Hours and in Total Deliveries in the Last Quarter of 2007

Volunteer hours decreased in the last quarter of 2007 compared to 2006; in response, additional volunteer recruitment efforts were put into effect. Total Homebound deliveries remained steady in the months of October and November, but decreased significantly in December compared to 2006; this is due to patron requests to not have deliveries during the holidays. In December a new and more efficient Homebound database was designed and implemented, with staff time being focused on this transition.

Decrease in Volunteers and Hours and Increase in Homebound Deliveries for the Year

The number of volunteers and volunteer hours decreased from 2006 to 2007. Several possible explanations for this trend include:

o The lack of an Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator until May of 2007

o The online volunteer application form was not working for a period of time

o Parking constraints limited some volunteers’ availability

o Some volunteers resigned their positions in 2007

Year to year, there was an increase in Homebound Deliveries in 2007 compared to 2006; this resulted from increased focus on this program throughout the year.

Increase in Patron Contacts

2007 showed a 21% increase in patron contacts. This may be due to the circulation and reference desks being segmented and spread out over a larger area according to patron traffic patterns. Feedback from patrons shows that they like the smaller, approachable service points.

Decrease in Drive-up Window usage

2007 showed a 39% decrease in usage. We believe the decrease in service window usage is statistical rather than actual, due human error involving the change in counting methods. Anecdotal evidence suggests the rate of usage is almost the same as in 2006.

Decrease in Non-Pennington county cards issued.

2007 showed a 47% decrease in new card registrations for non-Pennington county residents. This is likely due to the 2006 annual rate increase for non-Pennington county cards.

Decrease in Print Materials Added and Increase in items Withdrawn for the Year

More non-print items such as DVDs were added in 2007, with a decrease in print materials. This is due to ongoing collection transitions to meet patron requests. 50% more items were withdrawn in 2007 than in 2006, a large amount of which included the planned and scheduled upgrade from VHS and audiotape formats to DVDs, audio CDs, and downloadable audios.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER