Alamance County Public Library Strategic Planning Project
Needs Assessment Overview
Needs Assessment Overview
As Phase 1 of Alamance County Public Library’s LSTA funded strategic planning project a comprehensive community needs assessment was conducted over a seven-month period from July 2016 to January 2017. A total of 672 people participated across a wide variety of data collection methods including interviews (n=30), focus groups with the community and staff (n=7, 37 participants), community forums (n=3, 20 participants), one site visit to Hunt Library, and three online surveys (community library priorities n=452, staff n=45, and information and entertainment preferences n=88). Interview participants included the County Manager, a County Commissioner, Mayor of Burlington, City Manager of Burlington, City Manager of Graham, City Manager of Mebane, President of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, Lab Corps, Friends of the Library, Impact Alamance, the Housing Authority, ELON, and many other members of the community.
Alamance County Public Library Trends 2007-2016
The Alamance County Public Library system appears to be overall well supported locally. Funding levels have continued to increase over the past 10 years and exceeds the state average for county library per capita funding. Local funding has increased by 23% or $484,629.00 from 2007 to 2016, which is a per capita local income increase (increase per person) of $1.78 from $15.34 per person in 2007 to $17.12 per person in 2016 (the state average is $16.45 for county libraries). This increase is largely attributable to a significant growth in municipal support which increased their total contributions from $10,000 in 2013 to $229,600.00 (a 2,000% increase) while county support also has continued to remain relatively stable. Since that time, municipal support has continued to increase annually[1].
During that same time, while the percentage of registered users dropped by 33%, from 63% in 2007 to 42% in 2016 overall library usage has dramatically increased in several areas. Total circulation increased by 21% and, while circulation of adult non-fiction has dropped significantly by -34%, adult fiction circulation increased slightly (2%) and Other Print Materials increased by a significant 1,272%. Circulation of juvenile fiction books increased by 27%, periodical circulation increase by 16%, videos by 74%, A-V equipment checkouts by 1,221%, and total non-print increased by 52%, which includes new non-print items for circulation including e-circulation and zoom passes.
Programming and program attendance also saw dramatic and statistically significant increases. Adult programs inside the library increased by 202%, outside the library by 231%, juvenile programs in-library increased by 4% but juvenile programs outside-library increased by 1,150%, and total programs offered increased by 56%. Attendance at library programs also increased significantly – adult in-library attendance increased by 195% and outside-library by 281% while juvenile attendance in-library increased by 28% and outside-library by 3,013%. Total attendance at all programs increased by 22,769 attendees from 2007 to 2016, which is a 97% increase.
Other significant trends include a 47% increase in reference questions and a significant -84% drop in program/events being held at the library by the community and a -67% decrease in community attendance at those events.
In terms of digital access from 2010-2016, total databases have increased by 36%, technology lending (which was first reported in 2013) increased by 51%, and computers made available to both staff and the general public remained static. Computer usage, similar to state and national trends, dropped by 32% and visits to the website dropped by 9%.
An independent big data project examining all North Carolina public library statistics over a 10-year period (2006-2015) conducted by Chow and Tien (2015) found a statistically significant positive relationship between a county’s total circulation per capita and four quality-of-life factors in that county: percent of high school graduates, percent of college graduates, median household income, and total number of jobs[2]. Closer examination of Alamance County’s per capita circulation from 2010-2016 showed drops in circulation per capita and percentage of registered users annually from 2010-2015 but in 2016 circulation, % of registered population, and overall circulation per capita increased. The data suggests that a lower percentage of Alamance County residents are using more library resources and using those resources differently. The implications from the Chow and Tien study suggest that the seminal library output that has real statistically significant impact is circulation of library items per capita and not program attendance or any other identified library output. The other facet that is not measured and remains difficult to quantify is the return-on-investment for seniors and their quality-of-life. While not measured by traditional measures collected by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics it is essential to note that seniors, their voices, and their stories of how important libraries are to them and their quality-of-life, represented a significant amount of input provided by the community through this needs assessment.
Alamance County Mirroring North Carolina Public Library Trends
When examining statewide North Carolina public library statistics over time library usage is changing. Traditional print circulation is down, computer usage is down, and traditional reference is also down. On the other hand, however, public libraries have seen significant increases in e-book and other non-print circulation, children and youth circulation, programs and program attendance, and meeting and meeting attendance. Alamance’s public library trends over time have mirrored these statewide trends except for community meetings and meeting attendance.
Recommendations
Based on the comprehensive community and staff feedback, the following 12 recommendations are suggested:
[1] State Library Statistical Reports for Alamance County (Table 4), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016
[2] Chow, A. & Tien, Q., 2015, unpublished study
As Phase 1 of Alamance County Public Library’s LSTA funded strategic planning project a comprehensive community needs assessment was conducted over a seven-month period from July 2016 to January 2017. A total of 672 people participated across a wide variety of data collection methods including interviews (n=30), focus groups with the community and staff (n=7, 37 participants), community forums (n=3, 20 participants), one site visit to Hunt Library, and three online surveys (community library priorities n=452, staff n=45, and information and entertainment preferences n=88). Interview participants included the County Manager, a County Commissioner, Mayor of Burlington, City Manager of Burlington, City Manager of Graham, City Manager of Mebane, President of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, Lab Corps, Friends of the Library, Impact Alamance, the Housing Authority, ELON, and many other members of the community.
Alamance County Public Library Trends 2007-2016
The Alamance County Public Library system appears to be overall well supported locally. Funding levels have continued to increase over the past 10 years and exceeds the state average for county library per capita funding. Local funding has increased by 23% or $484,629.00 from 2007 to 2016, which is a per capita local income increase (increase per person) of $1.78 from $15.34 per person in 2007 to $17.12 per person in 2016 (the state average is $16.45 for county libraries). This increase is largely attributable to a significant growth in municipal support which increased their total contributions from $10,000 in 2013 to $229,600.00 (a 2,000% increase) while county support also has continued to remain relatively stable. Since that time, municipal support has continued to increase annually[1].
During that same time, while the percentage of registered users dropped by 33%, from 63% in 2007 to 42% in 2016 overall library usage has dramatically increased in several areas. Total circulation increased by 21% and, while circulation of adult non-fiction has dropped significantly by -34%, adult fiction circulation increased slightly (2%) and Other Print Materials increased by a significant 1,272%. Circulation of juvenile fiction books increased by 27%, periodical circulation increase by 16%, videos by 74%, A-V equipment checkouts by 1,221%, and total non-print increased by 52%, which includes new non-print items for circulation including e-circulation and zoom passes.
Programming and program attendance also saw dramatic and statistically significant increases. Adult programs inside the library increased by 202%, outside the library by 231%, juvenile programs in-library increased by 4% but juvenile programs outside-library increased by 1,150%, and total programs offered increased by 56%. Attendance at library programs also increased significantly – adult in-library attendance increased by 195% and outside-library by 281% while juvenile attendance in-library increased by 28% and outside-library by 3,013%. Total attendance at all programs increased by 22,769 attendees from 2007 to 2016, which is a 97% increase.
Other significant trends include a 47% increase in reference questions and a significant -84% drop in program/events being held at the library by the community and a -67% decrease in community attendance at those events.
In terms of digital access from 2010-2016, total databases have increased by 36%, technology lending (which was first reported in 2013) increased by 51%, and computers made available to both staff and the general public remained static. Computer usage, similar to state and national trends, dropped by 32% and visits to the website dropped by 9%.
An independent big data project examining all North Carolina public library statistics over a 10-year period (2006-2015) conducted by Chow and Tien (2015) found a statistically significant positive relationship between a county’s total circulation per capita and four quality-of-life factors in that county: percent of high school graduates, percent of college graduates, median household income, and total number of jobs[2]. Closer examination of Alamance County’s per capita circulation from 2010-2016 showed drops in circulation per capita and percentage of registered users annually from 2010-2015 but in 2016 circulation, % of registered population, and overall circulation per capita increased. The data suggests that a lower percentage of Alamance County residents are using more library resources and using those resources differently. The implications from the Chow and Tien study suggest that the seminal library output that has real statistically significant impact is circulation of library items per capita and not program attendance or any other identified library output. The other facet that is not measured and remains difficult to quantify is the return-on-investment for seniors and their quality-of-life. While not measured by traditional measures collected by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics it is essential to note that seniors, their voices, and their stories of how important libraries are to them and their quality-of-life, represented a significant amount of input provided by the community through this needs assessment.
Alamance County Mirroring North Carolina Public Library Trends
When examining statewide North Carolina public library statistics over time library usage is changing. Traditional print circulation is down, computer usage is down, and traditional reference is also down. On the other hand, however, public libraries have seen significant increases in e-book and other non-print circulation, children and youth circulation, programs and program attendance, and meeting and meeting attendance. Alamance’s public library trends over time have mirrored these statewide trends except for community meetings and meeting attendance.
Recommendations
Based on the comprehensive community and staff feedback, the following 12 recommendations are suggested:
- Maintain strong print collections in children, young adult, and adult fiction.
- Continue strengthening e-Resources and access to those resources through mobile apps, a more robust website, and digital literacy training and programming.
- Prioritize children and youth resources, services, and programming – design specific strategies for Spanish-speaking youth and families because of this community’s unique needs; emphasize teen spaces and assistance with homework and/or areas to study or for group collaboration.
- Continue offering innovative and relevant programming to the community with an emphasis towards tying programming with library resources that supplement programing (e.g. capitalize on interest by providing additional resources on topic that can be circulated).
- Prioritize staff retention and morale – while salary disparities are being slowly addressed focus also on other key drivers of staff morale such as training, articulation and adherence to consistent internal policies, emphasize quality over quantity to allow staff more time to focus on fewer projects. In addition, open discourse around potential concerns around safety, space issues, staff infighting, etc. that staff have brought up.
- Prioritize economic and workforce development services, resources, programming, and partnerships/collaborations.
- Continue investing in modern technology paying attention to trends that suggest physical computer usage in libraries are decreasing because more people have their own devices, which presents other opportunities for increased access and service to patrons.
- Explore cybrary or technology satellite branches strategically place in rural communities with no broadband access.
- Prioritize marketing and outreach and a “rebranding” campaign focused on educating the community on all that the library has to offer and that it is no longer a dark, dusty place for books with “shushing” librarians. Emphasize access to state-of-the-art technology.
- Explore maker-spaces and maker-kits that focus on early childhood development and literacy, STEM/STEAM, and for innovation and entrepreneurship (e.g. 3D Printer, etc.).
- Focus on the lifelong learning continuum in both educational and entertainment areas. This was the top priority for both patrons and the staff. The Library supports a patron’s quality-of-life across the lifespan and library as space (e.g. Hunt Library, etc.) and as a user experience and third place/destination (e.g. Barnes & Noble, Internet cafes, etc.) continues to be a growing trend in libraries.
- Consider exploring branches in both the southern and western end of the county both of which are currently underserved.
[1] State Library Statistical Reports for Alamance County (Table 4), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016
[2] Chow, A. & Tien, Q., 2015, unpublished study