2. FOPL (& SOLS, OLS-North, OLA)
0 Study member engagement metrics in Ontario from the
point of view the public library “brand”
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 2

3. #1- Census – use of websites
0 Social and e-presence census
• 29 (i.e. 9%) did NOT have a website;
• 2/3 (i.e. 19) of those libraries without a website were
identified as First Nation libraries;
• 3 of the 29 without websites were FOPL members.
0(n = 318)
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 3

4. #1 - Census – Adoption of
Social networking Tool Yes % Notes
Social Networking:
Facebook 144 45% Large urban (including TPL) have adopted
at 100%; Small medium = 85% (55). Of the
non-FOPL libraries, only 24% (29) used FB.
Twitter 106 33% Caucus members with T: 1 FN; 1 Franco;
all the Lg Urban (including TPL); 10 North;
6 Rural; 43 Sm-Med.
Blogs 48 15%
Google+ 2 0.6%
LinkedIn 2 0.6%
MySpace 0
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 4

5. #1 - Census – adoption of
mToeoldia sYehs a%ring andN ootesther
Media Sharing: Uptake of media sharing tools was not as
robust as the social networking tools.
Distribution of uptake was spread across
the library types as defined by the FOPL
caucuses.
YouTube 39 12%
Pinterest 25 8%
Flickr 20 6%
Other:
Good Reads 6 2%
Delicious 4 1%
Reddit 0
Tumblr 0
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 5

6. Wordcloud from ON Public libraries
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 6

7. #3 – Research on public
library impact
0 So Much More: The Economic Impact of the Toronto Public Library
on the City of Toronto. University of Toronto – Martin Prosperity
Institute. Dec 2013.
0 How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities. Pew
Research Center. Dec 2013.
0 Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. OCLC.
2011.
0 How Canadian Libraries Stack Up. OCLC. 2012.
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 7

8. Done
0 Establishing the Context:
 Conduct brand and channel census of public libraries across
Ontario
Review best branding practices in public libraries in North
America
 Synthesize research conducted on the impact of public libraries
 Conduct focus groups across stakeholders ‘in’ libraries
 Performed interviews with municipal funders
NEXT
0 Branding campaign financing and development
0 Test social media strategies
0 Update and improves the FOPL 2003, 2006, 2010 public opinion
polls
Richardson Jalakas & Associates 8

9. Stats and Measurements

10. The Triggers
0 Whisper conversations – the malaise
0 Toronto Public Library Martin Prosperity Institute report
(Dec. 2013)
0 LJ rankings
0 Circulation drop, DVD issue, …
0 Royal Society testimony
0 Grants
0 CLA Stats Task Force
0 Diffused efforts
0 Counting Opinions – client work, PLDS, etc. Collaboration

11. The Issues
0 Innumeracy
0 Maturity of Analytical Skills
0 Value versus Activity
0 Fetishization of Circulation
0 Hybrid use and Complex value proposition

12. The Opportunity
0 Comprehensive Ontario Public Library data collection
0 Open government and open data
0 PDF versus database versus .csv files
0 Usefulness – overwhelming and irrelevant?
0 Dr. Robert Molyneux, MLS, PhD

13. Core Statistics (CLA Draft)
1. Service points and visits
2. Reference questions
3. Circulation (of particular item types)
4. Population served
5. E-resource holdings
6. Children’s membership and services
7. Staffing
8. Internet/PAC/WiFi
9. Programming
10. Total operating expenditures
13

14. Core Measurements (FOPL
Draft)
1. Overall value of a library membership (usage not cardholders)
2. Value of an 'open hour' (new metric unique to MPI TPL study that
aggregates cost + value)
3. Economic impact (vs. ROI) (Households and Population)
4. Per Capita 'Usage" comparison across systems, groups (like small, medium.
large, urban, suburban, rural, remote, FN, etc.), and jurisdictions
(province/state)
5. A 'new' usage algorithm to modernize the old circulation stat and combine
digital and print usage into a standard, comparable metric
6. A metric for technology access tied to the digital/economic divide(s)
7. A standard operational effectiveness metric (Value for Tax Dollars)
8. Average cost per household (taxes are based on household rather than
population and better reflects funding models)
9. A metric for Use of Space (meetings, study, rooms) which was new for the
MPI study and hadn't been done before 14

15. The Insights
0 Measurements versus Stats
0 Social media census (audit)
0 Rankings on data
0 Rankings on measures
0 Longitudinal
0 e.g. member growth versus population growth
0 Effectiveness, efficiency
0 Role of visual and infographics

19. The Action
0 Management tool
0Communication tool
0 Advocacy and influence tools
0 Elections
0 Training tools

20. The Plans
0 Full report
0Wednesday blog
0 Primer
0 Indices primer
0 Summaries of raw data
0 Ranks based on measures
0 Cohorts based on measures
0 FOPL Index of Community Engagement
0 Regional Cohort Analysis (e.g. Waterloo, Niagara)
0 Vibrancy Reports

21. Why Measurements?
With nicely crafted visuals libraries could do the following:
1. Communicate effectively with their trustees to get their advice on
strategy as well as support.
2. Communicate budget 'asks' effectively that place the library in the
community value delivery context.
3. Position budget growth (or at least lessen cuts) for community goal
alignment and strategic impact.
4. Explain why technology and community room spaces are as
valuable (maybe more) than books.
5. Position hybrid collection use properly in ‘circulation’.
6. Justify restoration or extension of library hours.
7. Show that your library either performs as well as or better than
others or justify investments to perform to provincial, national or
sectoral norms.
21

22. I have a dream . . .
0 Standard our sector on impact metrics that lend themselves to
the communication, influence, and financial challenges faced by
public libraries to communicate their value in the 21st Century
context.
0 Build a set of standardized core statistics that build up to these
measurements so we could lead most libraries to start working
with a new program to communicate value (and build on their
strengths in communicating pure 'usage').
0 Ultimately create a tool such as a specially designed spreadsheet
or dynamic website where you input the numbers based on the
standards and advice from some group (us?!) that spits out
decent data, information and visuals easily on the other side.
22

23. Introducing the OLA Personas
Marie Multitasker
0 Marie represents the library workers in small, rural and remote libraries (+FN).
Haley New Professional
0 Haley represents library workers in the early stage of their careers.
Jennifer Passionate Advocate
0 Jennifer represents the people (librarians and, trustees, library supporters) who
advocate for libraries, reading, education, and the role of information in a knowledge
society.
Michael the Talented Specialist
0 Michael represents the library worker who dives deep into a technical or specialized
information discipline.
Emma Educator
0 Emma cares about education at all levels (not just LIS) and its role in society.
Margaret the Leader
0 Margaret represents those director and managerial library staff who specialize in
leading larger institutional and urban settings.
Dewey Learner
0 Dewey represents students in library education of all types.

31. IDEA
0 Do Ontario Public Libraries need an employee climate
audit?
0Where are we now?