18. Notes, data sets and bibliography

Notes

  1. In the year 2000, Bergen Public Library (internal statistics) counted 1.36 million visitors. Divided by 50 this is 27,200. The average week had, in other words, about 27 thousand visitors. But during the registration weeks in spring and autumn, the visitor counts were about 32,300 and 31,800, respectively. The two weeks had 17-18% more traffic than the absolutely average week.
  2. The reported number of inquiries for Bergen Public Library in 2000 was 181 thousand. If we base the estimate on visits, and compute Q/V separately for spring and autumn, we get:

    Q/V = (3,391/31,848 + 3,599/32,341)/2 = 0,1089
    Q/Y = 0,1089 * 1,361,000 = 148,000

    The difference (between 148 and 181 thousand) is substantial.

Data sets

  1. Ask the library (VRD) January 2000 - May 2002. Ten percent sample = 507 questions. Situation: citizen (240 questions) - pupil (188) - student (45) - work (28) - unknown (6)
  2. Oslo Public Library (main branch). Spring 2002. Sample of 188 questions. Adult services
  3. Fråga biblioteket. Spring 2002. Sample of 99 questions
  4. Fråga barnbibliotekaren. 2000-2002. 209 questions. Complete data set.
  5. Google Answers. July 17-19, 2002. One hundred questions

The data sets consist of the questions we have analyzed, in the original languages: Norwegian, Swedish and English. The material has been categorized and lightly edited. Only a rudimentary effort has been made to standardize grammar and orthography.

Bibliography

  1. ARL Statistics. Interactive edition. http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/arl/index.html
  2. Bergen Public Library. Internal statistics.
  3. Blake, Naomi (1995). Enquiry statistics. An analysis of enquiries asked at selected public and special libraries in the UK. Loughborough: LISU. (= Occasional paper no. 11). - 71 p
  4. (CBS, http://www.ssb.no/emner/07/02/kulturbar/sa44/tab-2001-05-02-09.html)
  5. Daugaard, Vera (2001). BiblioteksVagten - og samarbejdet om dette tilbud. Referencen nr. 2 maj 2001, s. 12-16
  6. Diamond, Wendy (2001) and Barbara Pease. Digital reference: a case study of question types in an academic library. Reference services review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 210-218
  7. Francoeur, Stephen (2001). An analytical survey of chat reference services. Reference services review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 188-203
  8. Grogan, D. (1992). Practical reference work. 2nd ed. London: Library Association.
  9. Hodgkin, Adam (2002). Integrated and Aggregated Reference Services. The Automation of Drudgery. D-Lib Magazine, April 2002, Volume 8 Number 4
  10. Janes, Joseph (2002). What is reference for?
  11. Kibbee, Jo (2002); David Ward and Wei Ma. Reference services review, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 25-36
  12. Lederer, Naomi (2001). E-mail reference: who, when, where, and what is asked. The reference librarian, nr. 74, 2001, p. 55-73
  13. Lipow, Anne G. Point-of-Need Reference Service: No Longer an Afterthought
  14. Novotny, Eric (2001). Evaluating electronic reference services: issues, approaches and criteria. The reference librarian, nr. 74, p. 103-120
  15. Marsterson, W.A.J. (1980). A survey of inquiries received at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic library. Journal of librarianship, 12 (2), 115-136. National Center for Education Statistics. Statistical Analysis Report: Use of Public Library Services by Households in the United States: 1996. NCES, February 1997 (NCES 97-446)
  16. Matylonek, John C. (2001); Carolyn Ottow; Terry Reese. Organizing Ready Reference and Administrative Information with the Reference Desk Manager. D-Lib Magazine, November 2001, Volume 7 Number 11
  17. Monash University. Reference statistics
  18. National Core Library Statistics Program Statistical Report 1996 (PDF), Canada.
  19. Patterson, Rory (2001). Live virtual reference: more work and more opportunity. Reference services review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 204-209
  20. Powell, Carol A. (2001). E-mail reference services. Reference and user services quarterly, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 170-178
  21. Richardson, John V. (2002a). Reference is better than we thought, Library journal, April 15, 2002, p. 41-42
  22. Richardson, John V. (2002b). and Matthew L. Saxton. Understanding reference transactions: Transforming an art into a science. Academic press: 2002.
  23. Richardson, John V. (2002c). Virtual reference transactions: a systematic bibliography
  24. Ross, Catherine Sheldrick (2000) and Kirsti Nilsen. Has the Internet changed anything in reference? Reference and user services quarterly, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 147-155
  25. RUSA guidelines
  26. Ryan, Joe (2002). - library statistics
  27. Stemper, James A. (2001) and John T. Butler. Developing a model to provide digital reference services. Reference services review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 172-188
  28. Sumsion, J. (1993); R. Marriott and H. Pickering. The CIPFA enquiry count. Loughborough: LISU. (Enquiry report 23/12/93)
  29. US.

    http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p20-537.pdf

  30. Van House, N.A. et al. (1987). Output measures for public libraries. A manual of standardized procedures. 2nd ed. Chicago: Americal library association.
  31. Van House, N.A. (1993); B.T. Weil and C.R. McClure. Measuring academic library performance. A practical approach. Chicago: American library association
  32. Warner, Debra G. (2001). A new classification for reference statistics. Reference and user services quarterly, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 51-55
  33. Queensland. Reference enquiries in Queensland 1999-2000
  34. Reference Statistics. Presented March 13, 2000 at
    "On the Front Lines: The Third Annual [Illinois] Statewide Practitioners' Summit" by David Seleb and Glenn Kersten. SLS Reference Service
  35. UCSD Libraries Reference Statistics. Information Services Committee. Adopted by PSAC - January 5, 2000
  36. http://www.lib.sfu.ca/kiosk/efairey/refstats.htm tredelt!!!
  37. http://stauffer.queensu.ca/webisi/refstats.htm - ditto Queens university libraries, Kingston, Canada

 

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