Keywords
Citation
Ole Pors, N. (2004), "LISU Annual Library Statistics 2003: Featuring Trend Analysis of UK Public and Academic Libraries 1992‐2002", New Library World, Vol. 105 No. 3/4, pp. 157-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800410526785
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
As usual I have great expectations when I receive this statistical yearbook for reviewing. As usual, the expectations are fulfilled. It is a very good collection of library statistics. It is thought‐provoking and it contains many sound and careful analyses in the introductory comments for each section in the book. These comments contextualise the numbers and put them in a very useful perspective.
The coverage of topics in the book is impressive. There is information about economy, stock and staff, lending and acquisition and much more.
The collection of statistics and the comments illustrate clearly that public libraries are losing market share in relation to the traditional services such as lending of books. This is shown both by the decreasing number of books on loan and the possible shift in the user population's age profile. On the other hand, we do see a heavier investment and interest in newer types of media. The statistics document that the service profile of the public libraries are changing rather rapidly.
The problem of interlibrary loans is a very hot topic in Denmark due to the fact that every citizen can access the collective holdings of all Danish libraries and order documents from whichever library they want. People can do it from their home computer and they simply have to send an electronic request and state at which library they want to pick up the documents. This has meant that the number of interlibrary loans has increased dramatically during the last few years. As a matter of fact, the amount the actual number of interlibrary loans in the Danish system is more than five times higher than in the UK public library system. Compared to this, it is interesting that we see a decline in interlibrary loans in the UK public library system correlating very much with the decline in book lending. The reader of the statistics can wonder about the rather small number of interlibrary loans and the not very flattering average delivery time. Is it a consequence of local priorities? Is it due to restrictions? Is it a consequence of a co‐operative system in which processes could be fine‐tuned? It could also be a consequence of the lack of users” knowledge about the opportunities? Or it could be another sign of the decline of interest in the traditional core services?
It is also interesting that the people still using the public library take fewer books with home them than just a few years ago. Official statistics cannot explain this trend but it could be illuminating to have it investigated in relation to the diminishing stock of books in the library system to see if a relationship exists.
Overall, it is a very comprehensive collection of statistics. Personally, I would have liked to see statistics on the number of renewals in all the library sectors. It is an issue when people have the opportunity access the library as remote users. A more detailed statistic on digital services and the use of them would also be a welcome addition.
In the section concerned with libraries related to educational institutions it would be good if there were numbers and figures on the number of downloads. Overall I miss figures giving a more detailed view of the use of the electronic environment.
Compared to many other countries” statistical publication on libraries the strength in this publication is the informed and in many instances research based introductions to each section. They constitute a valuable framework for interpreting the figures in relevant contexts. Another valuable strength is the inclusion of materials and data from the book market, user surveys and economic indicators relating to different types of materials.
This publication is a must for every library manager involved in planning services.