| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2008
Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, jmjoseth@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov
National Meetings
on Library Statistics
Washington, DC—On
December 5, the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS) convened the first meeting of the Library Statistics
Working Group. Members of the working group are charged
with advising IMLS on the conduct of national public library
and state library data collections.
At the first meeting, the Working
Group discussed the vision for the IMLS statistics program.
Members of the group identified priorities, policy areas,
and issues for future IMLS data analysis and briefs. They
also discussed new data elements, methods for improving
the usefulness of data, and development of new library
statistics products. The Working Group will meet twice
a year with bi-monthly conference calls. The next meeting
will be held in summer 2009. Members of the group include:
• John C. Bertot, Center for Innovation, University
of Maryland;
• Hulen Bivins, State Data Coordinator, Alabama
Public Library Service;
• Howard Boksenbaum, State Librarian, Rhode Island
Department of Administration;
• Ira Bray, State Data Coordinator, California State
Library;
• Dianne Carty, State Data Coordinator, Massachusetts
Board of Library Commissioners;
• Denise Davis, American Library Association Office
for Research and Statistics;
• Martha Kyrillidou, Association of Research Libraries;
• Suzanne Miller, State Librarian, Minnesota State
Library Services;
• Frank Nelson, State Data Coordinator, Idaho Commission
for Libraries;
• Wayne Onkst, State Librarian, Kentucky Department
for Libraries and Archives;
• Timothy Owens, State Data Coordinator, State Library
of North Carolina;
• Peggy Rudd, State Librarian, Texas State Library
and Archives Commission;
• Carol Tenopir, School of Information Sciences,
University of Tennessee;
• Chris Walker, Local Initiative Support Corporation;
and
• Jan Walsh, State Librarian, Washington State Library
State Data Coordinators Meeting
The inaugural Working Group meeting followed
a two-day conference of state data coordinators with representatives
from 46 states and the District of Columbia. The purpose
of the conference was to train new state data coordinators
and provide a forum to discuss survey data elements and
data quality assurance. The keynote speaker, Kathryn Pettit
of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, spoke
about trends in the use of local data for community change
and provided case examples from the library community
where local data was used for strategic program planning.
Other session topics included
• data analysis seminars with Compare
Public Libraries and Data
Place tool demonstration;
• demonstration of local use of public library data;
• an information session on sampling for the Public
Library Survey;
• discussion and comment session on IMLS library
report plans for 2009;
• discussion of the State Library Agency Survey;
and
• a return-on-investment seminar.
At the conference, IMLS Director Anne-Imelda
M. Radice presented the Keppel Award to states for submitting
prompt, complete, and high-quality public library data.
A total of 36 states received the award this year for
FY 2007 data submissions. The award was presented to eight
new State Data Coordinators and four new Chief Officers.
This is the 18th year for the Keppel award, which is named
after Francis Keppel, a U.S. Commissioner of Education,
who served from 1962 to 1965. He also served as a distinguished
member of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and
Information Science (NCLIS) from 1978 to 1983.
One of IMLS’s highest priorities is
the timely release of data. IMLS is working with the U.S.
Census Bureau to make data available as quickly as possible.
IMLS has released the following data this year:
• The FY
2007 State Library Agencies Survey data released on
October 2, 2008.
• The
FY 2006 PLS data files released on November 18, 2008.
• The FY2007
State Library Agencies report released on November
26, 2008.
The FY 2006 Public Libraries Survey (PLS)
report will be available online later this month, with
the FY 2007 PLS data files to be released in spring 2009.
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