1999

Public Internet Services More Likely to Boost Than Suppress Public Library Circulation

December 1999

“Our circ. stats. are falling! Our circ. stats. are falling! And it’s because of electronic services.” For the last few years, many in the public library community have been exclaiming, like Chicken Little, that annual circulation statistics are in decline and have blamed this trend on the availability of Internet and other electronic services to […]

Proof of the Power: A First Look at the Results of the Colorado Study and More!

November 1999

The Latest Statewide Studies During 1998 and 1999, three statewide studies of the impact of school library media centers on academic achievement have been conducted. The forthcoming reports on these studies are: Information Empowered: The School Librarian as an Agent of Academic Achievement in Alaska, Measuring Up to Standards: The Role of Library Information Programs […]

Circulation is Up in Colorado Public Libraries

November 1999

Colorado librarians, like their colleagues in the rest of the country, are concerned about competing with super bookstores, the Internet and video stores for patrons. Are people staying at home looking for information on the Internet? Do they prefer to buy books online? Are they staying away from their local library more than ever before? […]

A Salary Comparison of Library Agencies

August 1999

One could say that comparing the salaries of public, academic, school and special librarians is like comparing football with hockey. A full-time school librarian works ten months out of a year. A special librarian can be anyone from a Ph.D. in a Fortune 500 company to a law librarian in a small town firm. In […]

Improved Reporting Identifies 7.4 Million “Unserved” by Public Libraries

May 1999

According to 1997 data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 7.4 million Americans in 30 states live beyond the legal service area of any public library—a population roughly equivalent to that of the Chicago metropolitan area. (By comparison, in 1996, 24 states reported a total of less than 7 million “unserved” residents.) These […]

Librarians, Teachers, & Librarian/Teacher Ratio in U.S. Public Schools: State Variations & Trends, 1989-95

April 1999

A consistent finding inresearch about school libraries is the importance of cooperation and collaboration between “librarians”[note]* In these statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics appears to be using the term “librarian” loosely. Almost certainly, individuals counted for this position were not necessarily educated or credentialed as school library media specialists. Had that been the […]

Planning for Results: How to Find Community Analysis Information on the WWW

March 1999

The Public Library Association (PLA) introduced a new publication recently called Planning for Results. With this how-to manual, library directors and staff encounter a new set of forms and questions to answer. Many library decision makers have little time or resources to address planning and would be discouraged by having to search for answers to […]

Library Districts Are Best-Funded Type of Public Libraries

February 1999

In 1996, there were 8,950 public library jurisdictions in the United States. The five most common types are city, county, non-profit, multi-jurisdictional, and special district (see Table 1 in full report). As library managers and decision-makers struggle to make ends meet as well as fulfill the needs of their customers, many wonder: On the average, […]