CERN library stage report Group meeting 5 Oct

CERN library stage report Group meeting – 5 Oct 2004 Giuseppina Vullo – Administrative student (Aug-Nov 2004) Giuseppina. Vullo@cern. ch 1. Library statistics (main project) 2. The Yellow Reports

Library statistics project Why statistics • Most academic and research libraries regularly collect statistical data of their resources and output because it provides a useful basis for performance measurement • Performance= the degree to which a library is achieving its objectives • Performance measurement= the collection and the analysis of statistical data in order to evaluate the performance, i. e. comparing what a library is doing (performance) with what it is meant to do (mission) and what it wants to achieve (goals)

Library statistics project Which data • Library statistics positive • Performance measurement and objective data as additional data, including circulation, users, volumes the negative and the or opening hours data. subjective ones; it relates They don’t ask for the non the data to the goals of the -user, the not-used library collection, the missing volumes, etc. 3

Library statistics project Criteria for a performance indicator 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Appropriate, valid, for what it is supposed to measure Reliable, accurate, devoid of ambiguity Reproducible. It means that the separate steps of the indicator should be exactly described, and the activities, persons or things measured precisely defined Helpful, useful, informative in decision-making Practical, user friendly

Library statistics project The guidelines General • ISO 11620: library performance indicators (1998 and 2004) Specific • IFLA guidelines for performance measurement in academic libraries (1996) • ALA guidelines for academic and research libraries (1990)

Library statistics project The background • Usage statistics for the library Web pages, Web. Lib, ILL, DD, number of requests per month/day • User surveys (2001, 1996) • Evaluations and case studies: Periodicals service (1999) and ILL (1997) • Preprints and reports statistics (2001) URL: http: //library. cern. ch/library_general/statistics/library_statistics_surveys. html

Library statistics project General planning General steps and starting problems • Selecting data: which data to retrieve? OFS/BBS Questionnaire, IFLA/ISO indicators, Aleph Staff Menu • Collecting data: how to find them? Lxplus, Aleph Staff Menu, Weblib • Analyzing and presenting data Excel tables, Web • Reproducing queries: writing some instructions to make them reproducible

Library statistics project What has been done 1. Numbers of bibliographic records related to each field indexed: updated data + new ones, quality control 2. Numbers of items in CERN libraries: inventory check and quality control 3. Circulation statistics with Aleph Staff Menu

Library statistics project What will be done • Selection from ISO/IFLA of some indicators to combine the data retrievable • Presentation of the results in a standardized Excel file • Preparation of a manual with the instruction to reproduce the same searches

The Yellow reports • Before The scanned files were put on the Web as a whole big PDF file, for ex. http: //preprints. cern. ch/cernrep/ 1958/1958 -004. html • Now The scanned files are cut into small PDF files according to each single author/title. Particularly useful for the metadata indexing, it shows scanning mistakes, for ex. http: //preprints. cern. ch/cernrep/ 1981/1981 -009_v 2/1981009_v 2. html 10