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Public libraries pulling rank - statistics on the policy maker's agenda

Public libraries pulling rank -
statistics on the policy
makers' agenda

Kristine Paberza

Public Library Development Project “Third Father’s Son”, State
Agency “Culture Information Systems”
Department of Information and Library Studies, Faculty of Social
Sciences, University of Latvia

Latvia
o The central country of the Baltic States
o In North-eastern Europe, on the east coast
of the Baltic Sea
o In 1991 Latvia became independent
from the Soviet Union
o Democratic, parliamentary republic
o EU memberships since 2004
o Area: 64,589 sq.km or 24,937 sq. miles
o Population: 2,270,700; Riga: 717,000
o Urban: 66%; Rural: 34%
o Ethnic composition:
59.03% Latvian,
28.29% Russian,
3.74% Belorussian,
2.53% Ukrainian,
6.41% other nationalities
o Official language: Latvian

Library system in Latvia
o Latvian National Library;
o Latvian Academic Library;
o 864 public libraries;
o Latvian Library for the
Blind with 7 branches in
regions;
o 45 special libraries;
o 48 libraries belonging to
institutions of higher
education;
0,8% of state budget and 0,9% of
municipalities’ budget go to fund libraries o 1062 school libraries

Public libraries in Latvia
The Riga City Library (Bibliotheca Rigensis) was established in 1524
and it is considered to be one of the first public libraries in Europe!
o Today there is one public library per 2600 residents
o 40% of population use public library services
o 240 library users per one librarian
o 100% connected to Internet and has WiFi access

Third Father’s Son
Tre?ais tēva dēls
Global Libraries initiative in Latvia Third Father’s Son
is a hero from
Through strengthening capacities
of public libraries Latvian folk
to facilitate proactive use of ICT resources legend who
among people in Latvia brought light to an
thus striving to improve the quality of their
lives entire country

The future is here – in the library

Impact Planning and Assessment
for Development
Information Society Development Guidelines
for 2006 – 2013
To create a knowledge-based economy and to improve the
quality of life, to ensure that everybody can and will use
the possibilities offered by ICT and content in order to
achieve this objective

Context of the study
In-depth study:
PAC cost-benefit
analysis, ROI

Interim Final
Baseline impact impact National
study assessment assessment statistics
study study

In-depth study: In-depth study:
Library value, trust and Impact on information
user satisfaction society development

Approach to the study
? Context oriented research approach (Durrance, 2002)

? Information ecology approach (Davenport & Prusak,
1997; Stepp, 1999)

? Theory of use-oriented value of information and
information services (Saracevic & Kantor, 1997)

? Ecological theory of human information behavior
(Williamson, 2005)

Main research questions
1. What is the value of public library in society
in general and at the level of local
community?

2. What is the trust level in public libraries,
librarians and information received through
library?

3. What is the satisfaction with public library
services?

Data collection
instruments
Representative survey of inhabitants
of Latvia (n=1064) including library
users as well as non-users

Information ecology mapping during
FDGs (n=10) covering both urban
as well as rural areas

Information needs
Employment 14% 40%

Health 22% 29%

Transport 20% 23%

Rights & responsibilities 18% 22%

Shopping 15% 25%

Leisure, culture 19% 21%

Politics 12% 26%

Housing 17% 16%

Activities in municipality 16% 17%

Education 11% 20%

Sport 9% 13%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Once Several times

Information sources
Friends 69%
Relatives 63%
Colleagues 46%
Internet 57%
Newspapers 52%
TV 50%
Radio 33%
Health-care institution 34%
State administration 23%
Municiaplity 22%
Reference office 22%
Educational institution 18%
Public library 16%
Private organization 16%

Satisfaction of information needs
personal networks
Didn't receive necessary information
Completely received necessary information

Relatives 3%
49%

Friends 5%
34%

Colleagues 5%
32%

media sources

Newspapers 12%
24%

Internet 5%
44%

TV 9%
27%

Radio 12%
25%

institutional sources

Reference office 5%
66%
Public library 3%
52%
Educational institution 2%
54%
Health-care institution 9%
39%
Municiaplity 11%
39%
State administration 9%
44%
Private organization 14%
36%

Trust in information sources
Do you have to verify received information
Relatives 37% 12% 43% 8%
Friends 19% 21% 52% 9%
Colleagues 11% 23% 54% 12%
Radio 20% 23% 45% 12%
TV 20% 25% 43% 12%
Internet 20% 25% 41% 15%
Newspapers 13% 28% 46% 13%
Reference office 49% 12% 32% 8%
Public library 43% 12% 36% 9%
Educational institution 38% 13% 41% 7%
State administration 27% 21% 40% 12%
Health-care institution 26% 16% 47% 10%
Municiaplity 25% 21% 43% 11%
Private organization 11% 28% 39% 22%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Never Sometimes Often Always

Usage of municipality services
Have used Satisfied

Health care 71% 52%

Housing 9% 21%

Social 31% 33%

Educational 44% 53%

Sport 31% 44%

Cultural & recreational 58% 64%

Public transportation 77% 64%

Environmental 70% 71%

Usage of culture & leisure services
Didn't use Used Satisfied To increase funding To decrease funding

Cultural
centre, 47% 50% 28% 7%
recreational 48%
hall

58% 47% 26% 7%
Public library
39%

Objects of 41%
cultural 46% 21% 8%
heritage 44%

Museums, 46%
42% 13% 11%
galleries 34%

Quality of staff performance
satisfied dissatisfied hard to evaluate
Public facilities service
staff 42% 30% 28%

Municipal policemens 37% 40% 23%

Museum staff 45% 4% 51%

Cultural hall staff 49% 10% 41%

Social workers 42% 19% 39%

Kindergarten staff 46% 4% 50%

Librarians 58% 3% 39%
Municipality
administration 26% 57% 17%

Doctors, medics 57% 35% 8%

Teachers 59% 14% 27%

Quality of staff performance
Public facilities service staff 58% 42%
Municipal policemen 48% 52%

Museum employees 92% 8%

Cultural hall employees 83% 17%

Social workers 69% 31%

Kindergarten employees 91% 9%

Librarians 94% 6%

Municipality deputies, officials 31% 69%

Doctors, medics 62% 38%

Teachers 81% 19%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Satisfied Dissatisfied

Satisfaction with library services
Usage of library services Satisfied Rather satisfied

Cultural events 20% 80% 17%

Training courses 5% 74% 26%
Librarian's consultation
14% 83% 15%
(computer/Internet)
Librarian's assistance
47% 81% 16%
(information)
Library catalogue 17% 74% 19%

Databases 13% 79% 20%

Internet 37% 79% 19%

Computer 25% 84% 14%

Reading room 54% 79% 19%

Book issuance 79% 83% 14%

To speak to librarian (21%); To meet friends
Books used also by relatives
(15%); To engage in NGO related events (6%);
(47%) and friends (6%) Shopping, hairdresser etc. (3%)

Experienced benefits
Reading for leisure 67%

Information for education 63%

Helping children at school 54%

Information on health issues 51%
Information for leisure and recreation 48%

To learn foreign languages 35%

To deal with family issues & children upbringing 30%
To engage in social life 29%

To save or to earn money 28%

To improve at job 24%

To find a job 19%

To do gainful shopping 9%

Potential public library users

Yes No Hard to say/NA

Could any library service raise
your interest in the nearest 36% 43% 22%
future?

Book issuance 56%
Training courses 30%
Internet 30%
Cultural events 23%
Reading room 19%
Computer 18%
Databases 10%
Library web page 8%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

The World – a click away
in your library

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Public libraries pulling rank - statistics on the policy maker's agenda

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