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August 18, 2008
Confessions of a librarian
On Lis Pub Libs it is confession time for library management
"At meetings I attend in (XXX), libraries discussed how to inflate and massage usage statistics
One practice to attract lapsed borrowers back to the library, was to print leaflets which were posted off to the lapsed borrowers. The leaflets had barcodes and were added to the library management system. Prior to posting each one out, the leaflet (which didn't have a due date) was checked out to each of the lapsed borrowers. The result? The library no longer had any lapsed borrowers and several hundred more active borrowers, and the leaflets were counted in the borrowing stats! "
Not that much different to photocopying ten pound notes really.
Posted by Perkins at August 18, 2008 1:39 PM
Comments
-- THE CLAPHAM MIRACLE --
Library membership here miraculously doubled in just one year, to mid-2004. Whichever angel blessed it worried not about book issues or computer usage. For these statistics flat-lined, as if the six thousand “new members” were just spirits, above the need to actually use their earthly library cards.
On the strength of this reflected “success”, the then Head of Libraries ascended beyond merely administrating libraries into the ever-changing cloud of stratospheric council administration, without which our streets would remain unlit, our town centres unregenerated, and our library shelves full of the books our parents read. But before his elevation, he took the trouble to abolish that most tiresome of management statistics: the number of ACTIVE members.
Would you want an Audit Commission that actually audited away such inconsistencies to destroy both the aura of librarians and the reputation of statistics?
Posted by: No Brain at August 20, 2008 6:18 PM