Comparing libraries
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Today, library institutions spend too much effort on repetitive data collection and too little on data analysis. Libraries provide many different services to many different users. But official statistics only reflect certain aspects of library use. The goal of the project is to improve the way we use library statistics.

At the national level, we need a better understanding of the services that libraries provide - or could provide - in knowledge oriented, multicultural and highly complex societies. Within libraries we need better tools for planning and managing services (Høivik, 2003).

The project builds on ideas and data from:

1. Høivik, Tord. Why do you ask? Reference statistics for library planning, Performance measurement and metrics, vol. 4. (2003), no. 1, pp. 28-37. Web version.
2. - . Wide enough for libraries? The library function in a web-based world. Published as: Czy wystarczy miejsca dla bibliotek? Funkcje biblioteki w sieciowym swiecie. In: Kocojowa, Maria (ed.). Professional information on the internet / Profesjonalna informacja w internecie. Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press, 2004, p. 13-25.
3. - . Når statistikk blir politikk. Om KOSTRA og norsk bibliotekstatistikk [When statistics turns into politics: on KOSTRA and Norwegian library statistics]. Bok og bibliotek, no. 3, 2004.

A first paper was presented at the IFLA Satellite meeting in Bergen, Norway, August 9-11, 2005: Comparing libraries: From official statistics to effective strategies. The meeting was devoted to Management, marketing, evaluation and promotion of library services, based on statistics, analyses and evaluation in your own library. The meeting is arranged by IFLA Management & Marketing Section and co-sponsored by the Public Libraries Section and the Library Theory and Research Section.

The full paper, in HTML and in Word (later), runs to about thirty pages. The lecture version (HTML - Word) is about fourteen pages in print. I have also put a small collection of statistical links on the web.

Tord Høivik is an associate professor at the Faculty of Journalism, Library and Information Science, Oslo University College: Contact - CV. See also my IFLA 2005 navigation page.