AGENDA #5f
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager Director
SUBJECT: Chapel Hill Public Library’s National and State Statistics Comparisons
DATE: February 28, 2000
The attached report includes information on the recently published Hemmon’s American Public Libraries Rating (HAPLR) Index. The index, which compares public library indicators for excellence, ranked North Carolina 36th in the nation and the Chapel Hill Public Library first in the state, with a rating of 808 out of 1000. (Please see Attachment A.)
BACKGROUND
Nationwide public library statistics are collected and disseminated annually through the Federal-State Cooperative System for public library data (FSCS). Statistics are collected from nearly 9,000 public libraries. The FSCS web site is located at:
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/public.html#contents
Using this data, the Hemmon’s American Public Libraries Rating (HAPLR) Index has developed measures to calculate public library performance measures nationwide. The first edition of the HAPLR Index was based on 1996 data. The second and newest edition was released by the U.S. Department of Education in September 1999 and is based on 1997 data.
The HAPLR Index measures ranked the Chapel Hill Public Library at 808, the highest in North Carolina, followed by Henderson County Library (702) and Southern Pines (686). All North Carolina public library rankings are included in Attachment A.
What the HAPLR Index Measures: The HAPLR Index includes fifteen (six input; nine output) factors. The HAPLR Index weights and scores each factor. The scores for each library, within a population category, are then added to develop a weighted score.
The HAPLR Index focuses on circulation, staffing, materials, reference
service, and funding levels. This
means that it measures fairly traditional data for print services, reference
service, funding, staffing, and book checkouts. Approximately 40% of the HAPLR Index is sensitive to materials
circulation.
Presently, the Index does not include data on other items
that could have been calculated from the federally gathered data, such as data
on audio and video collections or interlibrary loan activity. It also does not measure electronic use or
Internet service, because federal data on these services are not available for
comparison at this time.
It is likely that in the future, additional measures will be
added to evaluate other library services such as Internet use, electronic
services, and non-print services.
National and North Carolina Rankings: The
top 100 national libraries had rankings
that were in the high 800’s. (Please
see Attachment B.) The only North
Carolina library to achieve a ranking in the 800s was the Chapel Hill Public
Library (808). Overall, North
Carolina’s public libraries ranked 36th among the states, with an
average ranking of 446.
Usefulness of the Available Data: Ten population categories are included in the second edition of
the Index. This population breakdown
will allow libraries to compare themselves to same-sized libraries in similar
communities.
HAPLR Index information will allow us to more efficiently
compare Chapel Hill’s library services with other public libraries that are
also located in academic communities.
This should prove especially helpful to the Library Board, staff and
consultant as we begin to study the report recently submitted by the Library
Needs Assessment Task Force. Staff is
currently preparing an RFP for a consultant for this study.
Limitations of the Data: Because the Index does not measure all library services, such as electronic use, some feel that it cannot be used as a general measure of excellence for public libraries. However, federal data have only been collected on a consistent national basis since 1981. Since then the data have been refined to be more consistent and to include more information. We believe that trend is likely to accelerate, making the additional service comparisons possible within five years.