Author name: Linda Hofschire

July 2013 ebook price comparison chart from Douglas County Libraries
July 2013

According to ALA’s 2013 State of America’s Libraries Report, 2012 was yet another tumultuous year for libraries in their quest to achieve fairness in e-book lending. ALA President Maureen Sullivan published an open letter to America’s publishers in September, requesting change, after Penguin (one of the “Big Six” publishers) denied libraries access to its titles, […]

38% of younger Americans have used computers and the internet at libraries in the past year

July 2013

Image credit: Pew Internet The Pew Research Center’s newest stats from its Internet & American Life Library Services Survey dive into younger Americans’ (16-29 years old) library and reading habits and reveal an interesting blend of technology and traditional service expectations. Perhaps most telling is that this group is significantly more likely to have either […]

The Impact of School Libraries on Academic Achievement

July 2013

We are honored to have co-authored a chapter with our founder, Keith Curry Lance, “The Impact of School Libraries on Academic Achievement,” in the new book School Libraries Matter. In addition to reviewing the school library research that LRS and RSL Research have conducted over the past two decades, the chapter also contains a 5-step […]

Public libraries serve 96% of the U.S. population, or approximately 297.6 million people

June 2013

Image credit: Justin Grimes “There’s always that joke that there’s a Starbucks on every corner,” says Justin Grimes, a statistician with the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington. “But when you really think about it, there’s a public library wherever you go, whether it’s in New York City or some place in rural […]

Attending ALA Annual? Here are the research & statistics sessions that are on our radar

June 2013

Will you be attending ALA Annual? These are the research and statistics sessions that are on our radar: Friday 8:30AM-4:00PM (preconference): Planning, Assessing, and Communicating Library Impact: Putting the Standards for Libraries of Higher Education into Action 9:00AM-3:00PM (preconference): International Statistics: Helping Library Users Understand the Global Community Saturday 8:30-9:30AM: Data-Driven Services: Library Research Roundtable […]

Nearly 80% of library stakeholders rated “library workers and leaders who embrace change” as being very important to the success of future libraries

June 2013

Image credit: Summary of Stakeholder Engagement Survey Results, the Global Libraries Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Recently, the Global Libraries Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation surveyed more than 3,000 library stakeholders to solicit ideas on the role and key attributes of a future library and how the foundation could […]

36% of school librarians rated connecting young people to reading and lifelong learning as the top satisfaction of their jobs

June 2013

Image Source: Mark Tuchman, http://www.slj.com/2013/05/research/sljs-2013-job-satisfaction-survey/ School Library Journal recently surveyed more than 1,000 school and public librarians to pinpoint sources of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction within the field. For both school and public librarians, connecting young people to reading and lifelong learning rated first for offering satisfaction with their jobs. Working with young people and […]

Measuring the Impact of Libraries

June 2013

In the June 2013 issue of Computers in Libraries, Moe Hosseini-Ara and Rebecca Jones have an article, “Overcoming Our Habits and Learning to Measure Impact.” They highlight 5 issues that libraries struggle with when measuring impact: 1. Libraries do not set targets for their measures. 2. There’s not enough understanding of stakeholders’ value measures. 3. […]

The Weekly Number: 425,000+ Coloradans increased their digital literacy skills through the BTOP project

May 2013

The BTOP buzz continues! Recently wrapped, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) awarded more than $4 billion to 233 projects nationwide. ALA’s “U.S. Public Libraries and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program” report highlights state and local library BTOP projects across the country, which served about 20 percent of all U.S. public libraries. Nationally, programs funded by […]