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Interested in the work prison librarians are doing? Check out our new Fast Facts Restorative Librarianship in the Colorado Department of Corrections. This edition consists of a look at Colorado's "Out for Life" program - an Institutional Library Development (ILD) program designed to promote libraries’ role in helping prisoners successfully reenter society.
A new Field Initiated Study (FIS) has been posted! ID Requirements for Library Card Registration consists of responses compiled by Heidi Baker, of the Special Populations Committee, from several questions posed to the Libnet and REFORMA-CO listservs. The questions posted to the listservs asked about the identification requirements libraries have for patrons to obtain a library card.
To see this Field Initiated Study, click the title above or go to our Field Initiated Studies section.
-Jamie
In April, we launched the 60-second survey, “Libraries and the Economic Recession.” This survey was prompted by several news articles discussing the recession’s impact on libraries and librarians.
We wanted to know what folks on the front lines had observed about the economy, and how the recession had impacted their work and their career plans. Nearly 500 people responded.
The results indicate that libraries are indeed seeing increases in use and requests for assistance, and librarians are feeling the squeeze themselves.
When asked, “In the last 12 months, have you had to help more library patrons with the following services,” 70 percent selected “computer use,” which included help with software and Internet searching. More than three in five (66%) said they’ve had more requests for assistance with job-seeking activities, such as online job applications and resume preparation.
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Similarly, when asked, “In the last 12 months, have you personally noticed an increase in use of the following resources in your library,” 67 percent reported increases in public access computer use by patrons, while more than half said they’ve noticed an increase in library visits (63%) and circulation of materials (54%).
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When asked, "To better serve patrons, do you feel a need for additional professional training in any of the following areas," nearly half of the respondents (46%) indicated they could use training on available public assistance/social programs.
Detail
When asked, "As a result of the current economic downturn, do you feel a need for additional training in any of the following areas for your own professional development," more than two in five (44%) said they would benefit from stress management training. One in three (31%) indicated they could use additional training on how to deal with difficult patrons.
Detail
In addition, more than half the respondents shared personal observations about how the recession is impacting their libraries and their patrons.
More detail about the results of this 60-second survey will be published in an upcoming edition of Fast Facts. Let us know what you think about the recession’s impact on libraries by leaving a comment below.
Briana
After many months of hard work by public library staff (and LRS, too), the preliminary data from the 2008 Public Library Annual Report (PLAR) is available on LRS.org.
LRS-i has customizable statistics reports at: http://www.lrs.org/public/stats.php?year=2008
Standardized reports, including input/output measures, state totals, averages, and ratios, are available at: http://www.lrs.org/public/cannedstats.php?year=2008
The final PLAR data for Colorado will be available this summer. Before the data is considered "final" it will go through a second round of edit checks. Working with the U.S. Census, I will put the data through the Federal software to verify it and, with help from the field, make corrections where necessary. Typically the data does not change substantially during this process; however, if it does change we will update the LRS.org database and reports.
Also of note, IMLS just published the 2007 national public library data files. See: http://harvester.census.gov/imls/data/pls/index.asp
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~ Nicolle
steffen_n@cde.state.co.us
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