Date: April 21, 2009
To: RCPL Board of Trustees
From: G. Chapman, Library Director
Re: 1st quarter 2009 statistics
Date: April 1, 2009
To: Terri Davis, Assistant Director
From: Sean Minkel, Morgan Sohl, Stephanie Bents
RE: First Quarter
Summary: The first quarter of
2009 compared to the same quarter a year ago shows growth in circulation,
programming attendance, patron contacts and collection development; the number
of new patron registrations remains steady.
Use of the library’s online social networking resources also shows
growth.
Areas of decrease include materials withdrawn,
computer use, and Pennington County patrons.
The number of Pennington County patron registrations may have reached a
plateau; 8,500 county patrons are currently registered, compared to the
projected number of 8,000. Decreases for materials withdrawn and computer use
are defined in the data and charts below.
Social Networking (YouTube, Facebook,
del.icio.us,
etc.)
·
Social
Networking statistics definitions were redefined in late 2008 to better
correlate those uses with other public library data collection. Therefore, equivalent comparisons with the
previous year are not statistically valid
o Data gathering for social
networking services continues to be refined as the services themselves continue
to evolve
·
The
library continues to develop and add to existing online social networking
services
o Twitter
is being used to provide programming announcements through text messaging
Circulation
·
Circulation
of library materials in all formats is up by 8% from last year
Programming
·
Total Programming
increased by 26%
o There was a 17%
increase in attendance at adult programs
o The number of
off-site programs grew by 125%
o The number of
youth programs offered at Rapid City Public Library-North increased from 1to 9,
and the average attendence for these programs more than doubled
Patron Contacts
·
Overall patron contacts increased by 4%
o Reference and
readers’ advisory contacts increased 14%
o Directional and
equipment assistance contacts decreased by 6%
§
This may be due to the new signage to better direct patrons
Computer Use
·
Use of the public computers declined by 8% during the first
quarter
o
This can be attributed to the library and City IT department
adopting a different support schedule for computer maintenance, which resulted
in some computers being offline during open hours
§ The
library and the City IT department continue to negotiate new models of support
that will minimize this impact to public service
o Options are also
being investigated to track the growth in use of the library’s wireless
network; to date, this data has not been able to be measured
Entry Count
·
The overall entry count decreased by 1%
·
Use of the drive-through window decreased by 13% during the
first quarter
o The majority of
this decrease is due to March weather, but an enhanced marketing program is
being undertaken to further promote this convenience service
Collection Development
·
Materials withdrawn decreased by 49%
o Withdrawals
during the same quarter of 2008 were higher than normal due to the removal of
cassette tapes and VHS
§
The 2008 withdrawals completed a planned 3-year cycle of
removing outdated analog formats
o Selectors now
routinely include withdrawals as part of the selection process
·
7,386 items were added to the collection this quarter. This
is a 37% increase over the previous year’s first quarter
o New staff
members have become selectors, adding to the total number of selectors
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