Recently, news outlets and blogs have been busy deriding and celebrating the recent ascension of e-readers. The growing popularity of this new format has come with murmurs about the death of paper books and some even surmise that as technology advances libraries will cease to exist!
Taking notice of the chatter, Library Research Service (LRS) has decided to survey librarians on the matter. This new 60-Second Survey asks your opinions on e-readers and how you think they will transform reading. Will e-readers be the demise of the paper book? What will libraries circulate? What is the future of the book? You tell us.
Click here to take the 60-Second Survey
The Library Research Service is proud to announce the release of our most recent Closer Look Report, “U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies.” In the spring of 2008, we visited the websites of nearly 600 public libraries in the United States, including all Colorado public libraries, looking for the presence of web technologies, including those identified as “Web 2.0″. This report details our findings about what public libraries are doing on the web, and the characteristics that “early adopters” share.
Find the report, and a Colorado-specific Fast Facts report, on the report page: http://www.lrs.org/public/webtech
Recently LRS published the preliminary data from the 2008 Public Library Annual Report (PLAR). There are customizable statistics reports and standardized reports, including input/output measures, state totals, averages, and ratios, available.
More information
In April, the Library Research Service (LRS) launched the 60-second survey, “Libraries and the Economic Recession.” This survey was prompted by several news articles discussing the recession’s impact on libraries and librarians.
They wanted to know what folks on the front lines had observed about the economy, and how the recession had impacted their work and their career plans. Nearly 500 people responded.
The results indicate that libraries are indeed seeing increases in use and requests for assistance, and librarians are feeling the squeeze themselves.
View the complete results (PDF)
Visit LRS
Published by
nicolle on
April 24, 2009 in
Academic Libraries, General, Public Libraries, School Libraries and Special Libraries.
Tags: 60-s, 60-Second Survey, Colorado State Library, economic downturn, Library Research Service, LRS, MLIS, recession.
“Libraries & the Economic Recession” is the latest LRS 60-Second Survey. Take a minute—literally—to tell us how the recession has changed what’s happening at your library.
Survey: http://surveys.lrs.org/respond.php?sid=56
If you are so inclined, share this link with colleagues and library listservs. Please!
Read about the results of the first 60-Second Survey “The Value of an MLIS to You” on the LRS blog at: http://www.lrs.org/blog/viewitem.php?post=281.
Thanks!
Published by
nicolle on
April 13, 2009 in
General and Public Libraries.
Tags: Colorado State Library, CSL, Library Research Service, LRS, LRS Blog, LRS.org, Public Libraries, return on investment, ROI, value of libraries.
Thanks to the newest LRS staff member, Lisa Boyd, the ROI Closer Look report is finally published. She was able to gather together all the individual pieces of the study and produce a document with all the ROI study findings in one place. Of course, the individual library reports, calculators, and other ROI information are still available on the ROI webpage. Read more and comment on the LRS blog.
For most of the libraries participating in the study, the return on investment (ROI) was approximately five to one—that is, for every $1.00 spent on public libraries, $5.00 of value was realized by taxpayers.
Thanks to the staff at the eight participating libraries who generously shared their time and expertise to make this study possible.
According to a recent study by the Colorado State Library, Library Research Services, during the last decade, circulation of public library children’s materials and participation in public library programs for children increased significantly in the state.
In Colorado public libraries from 1998 to 2007…
- The number of circulation transactions for children’s materials rose 41 percent from 13.5 to 19.1 million.
- Attendance at children’s programs increased 53 percent, going from some 810,000 to 1.24 million.
- The number of children’s programs showed the highest rate of increase at 58 percent, going from 31,165 to 49,136 programs annually.
- Children’s circulation transactions totaled some 159.1 million and children’s program attendance totaled 10.2 million.
Clearly, public libraries are supporting children’s learning by collecting materials that children wish to read and providing appealing library-sponsored programs.
For more on this study, see http://www.lrs.org/
Published by
Michelle on
September 30, 2008 in
Children's Services, Front Range, General, Instruction, Public Libraries, Western Slope and conferences.
Tags: CLEL, CSL, early literacy, LRS, Public Libraries, workshops, youth services.
Some exciting news for Colorado this month! Robbie Marks and Keith Lance have an article in the September issue of School Library Journal, pp 44 – 47, on the positive correlation between public library services and early reading success. In the sidebar are quotes by Carol Wagstaff (Douglas County Libraries) and Maxine Curley (Mesa County Public Library District). There is also a mention of Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), an early literacy group formed in January 2008.
For more information:
Note: CLEL members will be presenting a session on early literacy at the Youth Services workshops in October. Register now for one of the 5 statewide workshops.
The hot place to look for Colorado library jobs continues to be LibraryJobline! A few months ago, the site surpassed a significant mark, with more than 1,000 jobs posted! The site continues to be phenomenally popular. In July alone, 27 NEW job listings were added on the site.
Since its launch on January 17, 2007, a total of 1,065 jobs have been posted on LibraryJobline, a service provided to the library community by the Colorado State Library. One feature that has proven itself valuable is the RSS feed (see What is RSS?). How better to be notified when the job of your dream becomes available?!
Library Research Service staff members, led by director Nicolle Steffen, are the brains and brawn behind the site. Zeth Lietzau continues to develop and improve the site, and Deb Gettings tirelessly maintains the site and troubleshoots problems for users.
Hats off to these folks for creating and supporting this fine service!
p.s. Did I mention that we have two REALLY cool jobs available at the State Library? Technology and Digital Initiatives Consultant and Instructional Design and Technology Consultant…
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