An Exploratory Study to Develop an Alternative Model of Public Library Management Using the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Public Library Statistics

• Published in: The Library quarterly (Chicago) 2011-10, Vol.81 (4), p.359-382
• Main Authors: Kim, Giyeong, Yu, So Young
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Change Strategies; Critical Incidents Method; Descriptive statistics; Effect Size; Exact sciences and technology; Income; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Leadership Styles; Libraries; Library Administration; Library and information science. General aspects; Library management; Library operations; Library Research; Library Services; Museums; Organizational Change; Organizational Theories; Population dynamics; Predictor Variables; Public Libraries; Regression (Statistics); Regression analysis; Revenue; Sciences and techniques of general use; Socioeconomics; Statistical Analysis; Statistical Data; Statistical Surveys; Statistical variance; Statistics; Sustainability; Total revenue; Use and user studies. Information needs
• ISSN: 0024-2519; 1549-652X
• DOI: 10.1086/661656

In this explorative study, we first investigate current use of public library statistics in public library management to identify a governing framework and then carefully suggest an alternative framework with income as a goal for sustainability. The meaning of income in terms of management is also discussed. Within this framework, we conduct a series of statistical analyses with public library statistics data for 2002–7. We first attempt to identify and control outside effects, such as service population and socioeconomic factors. After data screening and transformation, we conduct several statistical analyses, including factor and regression analyses. The significant results from regression analysis between income as a dependent variable and eleven independent variables provide evidence for the validity of the framework, with small effect size (14 percent). We discuss issues such as a linearity assumption, small effect size, and a unit period and offer suggestions for future studies to develop an alternative model.