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SAN JUAN ISLAND LIBRARY |
Related pagesSan Juan Island Library Web site Previous columnsAmerican Library Association – the "working conference" San Juan Island Reads - The Human Factor |
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Keep Checking Us Out
This column comes from a patron question I received this week. The patron wanted to know if the rumor was true that we ranked the highest in circulation per capita in Washington State. Off the top of my head I knew were high in the rankings, but was unsure exactly where we fell. To find an official answer I went to the website for the Library Statistics Program from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/. The NCES is the primary federal agency for reporting data related to education and has collected statistics from more than 9,000 public libraries. Alas, based on data from fiscal year 2004, we are not no. 1, but we do hold a very respectable place in the state coming in within the top five:
Before I accepted this I double checked with our State Library and found data from 2005 that was not as exciting [http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/libraries/libDev/publications.aspx]. I discovered our per capita circulation rate dropped to 15.57 taking us out of the top 10 and placing us at No. 11. But this should not be disheartening information as I suspect our per capita circulation dropped in 2005 due the library closure and limited access to the collection during the remodel. FYI, total circulation per capita is calculated by dividing the total circulation by the unduplicated population of the legal service area. Total circulation includes total annual circulation of all library materials of all types including renewals and interlibrary loans checked out to patrons. Unduplicated population is calculated because a legal service area may include people who can receive services from more than one library system. Now I am eager to see our total per capita circulation number for 2006 and see if we are back where we belong in the rankings. And my new goal for 2007 is to see us reach the top three. Maybe even to see the three San Juan County libraries sweep the top three. Let’s all start checking out library materials now!
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