Jon Mark Bolthouse, Fond du Lac Public Library Barbara Brattin, Kenosha Public Library Nick Dimassis, Beloit Public Library Kimberly Young, Brown County Library, Green Bay Sara Gold, WiLS Andrea Coffin, WiLS Each year, a number of new reports about public libraries are produced by organizations like Pew, OCLC, Library Journal, The Aspen Institute and others. These reports contain valuable information that can help us plan, develop services and improve existing services, but, unfortunately, few of us have the time to read every one. The goal of this session is to help attendees get an overview of those reports. Each panelist will share a summary of a report they believe is significant and discuss how they have used or will use the information at their library. Attendees will be encouraged to share other reports that have mattered to them, too!

1. Scanning the Horizon
with the Notable Reports Panel
WAPL, May 8th 2015, Wisconsin Rapids
Panelists
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public LIbrary
Kimberly Young, Deputy Director, Brown County Library System
Moderators
Sara Gold, Community Liaison and Service Specialist, WiLS
Andrea Coffin, Community Liaison and Service Specialist, WiLS

2. 2014 State of America’s Libraries Report
ALA
This relatively short and dense snapshot covers the big picture of what
happened in the library world during the previous year.
“As libraries continue to transform in 2014, they deepen engagement
with their communities in many ways, addressing current social,
economic, and environmental issues, often through partnerships with
governments and other organizations.”
Kimberly Young, Deputy Director, Brown County Library System

3. Importance
 Broaden the scope of understanding
 Provide talking points
Kimberly Young, Deputy Director, Brown County Library System

4. Examples
 Fun facts
 Digital reading
 Most challenged books of the previous year
 Major trends
 Social Networking
 Ebook gains
 Job outlook
 Federal issues
 Spending bill
 FCC
Kimberly Young, Deputy Director, Brown County Library System

5. Focus Point
 Community Engagement
“America’s libraries continue to transform themselves, keeping
pace with the changing economic, social, and technological
aspects of American society. Libraries’ deepening engagement
with their communities takes many forms, from technology to
education to social services, and serves many segments of the
population.”
 Boston
 Chattanooga
Kimberly Young, Deputy Director, Brown County Library System

6. Ebook Usage in US Public Libraries
Library Journal
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public LIbrary

7. Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

8. Public libraries that offer eBooks
95%
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

9. Median number of eBooks Library has access to
10,000
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

10. Median eBook circulation for the previous fiscal year
13,500
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

11. Overall percentage change in eBook circulation
110%
25%
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

12. “Our patrons LOVE ebooks.”
“We don’t feel threatened…it adds another dimension to our work.”
“Our enthusiastic ebook readers are also enthusiastic print readers.”
“Ebook use is on the rise…but print is still ‘king.’”
“The teens I interact with seem to prefer print.”
“We seem to have increasing interest in backlist eBook titles”
“The price we spend per eBook is outrageous….exorbitant compared to print.
“Many continue to be unaware that we offer ebooks or e-audiobooks.”
“I only wish we could get more staff fluent with the process”
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

13. Approximately what percent of the eBooks
you have available are fiction titles vs.
nonfiction titles?
Approximately what percent of the print
books you have available are fiction
titles vs. nonfiction titles?
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

14. Adult vs. children’s vs. young adult eBooks
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

15. Top three circulating or most requested fiction eBook categories?

16. Top three circulating or most requested nonfiction eBook categories?

17. How often do patrons say: “I need help downloading ebooks to my device.”

18. What percentage of your Library's materials budget do eBooks represent in the
current year (2014)?
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library
Mean: 8.6%
Median: 7.6%

19. If reallocating budget to purchase eBooks, from what areas
or formats?

20. Yes, Library is part of a consortium license program for its eBook
collection
65%

21. From which vendor(s) does your Library acquire eBooks?

22. Which is your preferred eBook vendor?
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

23. Device(s) your Library users most often use
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

24. Which ereading device(s) does your Library
currently have available?

25. If your policy for loaning devices is different than for other materials,
please specify how

26. Trends
• Acceptance high among public
• Print still healthy
• Parents still read to small children using print books
• Electronic devices can all read eBooks
• Increased desire for streamed content
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

27. Closer to Home…
Wisconsin Public Library Consortium
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

28. 30K
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library
WPLC eBooks Collection
2010 Present

29. 55K
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library
Patrons with Checkouts
5K
2010 Present

30. 225K
30K
55K
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library
2010 Present
Circulation
Circulation, Collection, Patrons

31. Overview of Results of WPLC Digital Collections Patron Survey
(March 2015)
General
● Patron participation
● Most use—9.4% do not (“didn’t know it existed” 44%)
● Most respondents ranked
 eBooks as most important format
 Audiobooks
 Streaming video
 Digital magazines
 Streaming music
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

32. Overview of Results of WPLC Digital Collections Patron Survey
(March 2015)
Ebooks
● 45% checked out fewer than 5 from their physical Library in the last six
months.
● 71% have purchased fewer than 5 books in last six months.
● Most popular genres:
 Bestselling Fiction (1410 respondents)
 Mystery/Thriller (1117)
 Romance (659)
● Least popular:
 Travel (139)
 Business (97)
 Information Technology (59)
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

33. Overview of Results of WPLC Digital Collections Patron Survey
(March 2015)
● 61% were either satisfied or very satisfied with full series availability
● 51% were either satisfied or very satisfied with holds/wait time for checkout
● 31% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
● 41% felt there were too few Bestselling Fiction titles in the collection
● “Too few” Fiction (80), Mystery (73), and Action/Adventure (71)
● “Too many” Romance (41), Erotic Literature (33), and Christian Fiction (33)
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

34. Overview of Results of WPLC Digital Collections Library
Survey (March 2015)
 Library Staff participation
 “Too few” Bestselling Fiction (53%), Bestselling Nonfiction (44%), Young Adult
(36%), and Children’s (28%).
 “Too many” Erotica (21%), Romance (15%), Christian Fiction (9%), and
Cooking (8%).
 47% rated their interest in Spanish language titles at 2 or higher (78% would
add Bestsellers, 68% would add Children’s titles, and 62% would add ESL)
 37% felt that local authors were somewhere or very valuable to patrons.
Conference Name, Date, and Location

35. Overview of Results of WPLC Digital Collections Library Survey
(March 2015)
 Allocated to the $1 million buying pool an average of:
 45% eBooks
 audiobooks (26%)
 Interactive Ebooks (8%)
 Video (8%)
 Magazines (7%)
 Music (6%)
 54% would like all patron-driven titles purchased
 46% felt there should be additional considerations in purchasing
recommended titles, e.g.:
 $70 cap on cost of title
 No pre-2000 publications
 Exclude genres such as Erotica
Nick Dimassis, Director, Beloit Public Library

36. Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning
Public Libraries
Aspen Institute
As the knowledge and creativity economy grows, the public library stands
to be the hub for communities, providing access to education, learning
opportunities, technology and social connections, driving the economic
growth and prosperity for all members of the community.
“An intelligent community, not large circulation numbers, is the primary
library goal”
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

37. Three key assets build the library’s value
proposition in the community
People
Place
Platform
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

38. People - Librarian as navigator, not
gatekeeper (or expert of all)
 Continuous extension of the definition of “librarian” is not sustainable
 Leverage the library’s infrastructure to allow for domain expertise to
be shared outward, to draw from the expertise in the community
 Curators for the community
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

39. Place – The Physical Library building
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library
 Establishes personal connections
 “Starbucks without the coffee” (Maybe!)
 Provides an anchor
 ...for economic development
 ..for neighborhood revitalization

40. Place – The Physical Library building
 Provides a safe and trusted location
 health clinics
 emergency response centers
 small business incubators
 workforce development centers
 immigrant resource centers
 Creates connecting places
 New locations: shopping malls, airports, big box stores
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

41. Platform
 Library As “Third Place”
 Interactive entity facilitating people operating individually or in groups
 Coexisting with geographical area (canopy or “cloud”)
 Objective and trusted platform
 Library as a Service (LaaS)
 abundant Wi-Fi
 devices for borrowing
 Content from own collection or anywhere in the cloud
 Challenges ahead
 decentralized model
 Traditional Catalog as Platform model
 No scalability
 Competition of platforms (Amazon / Netflix)
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

42. Strategies for Success
 Align Library services in support of community goals
 Develop community relationships
 less autonomy, more collaboration
 Provide access to content in all formats
 broadband access
 National Digital platform
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

43. Strategies for Success
 Ensure the long-term sustainability of public libraries
 Funding models
 alternative governance structures
 outcomes rather than outputs
 Cultivate leadership
 vision (for the library and community)
 communication with community leaders
 go beyond the walls of the library
 Libraries as connection between CBOs and citizens
Jon Mark Bolthouse, Library Director, Fond du Lac Public Library

44. The Next Library and the People Who Will Use It
PEW Internet Research
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

45. Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

46. PEW REPORTS LIBRARIES.PEWINTERNET.ORG
Library User Quiz: Community Version
June 30, 2014
How does your community’s library engagement compare with the
rest of the country?
June 30, 2014
How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities
December 11, 2013
Parents, Children, Libraries, and Reading
May 01, 2013
“Libraries of the future”
April 04, 2013
Should libraries shush?
February 06, 2013
Innovative library services “in the wild”
January 29, 2013

47. The Next Library and the People Who Will Use It
How the Concept of the Library Can Change to Meet
New Realities

48. New Library
built around 5 insights
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

49. Insight #1
Where we stand in the public eye
90% say libraries are important to their
communities
EVEN THOUGH
31% said they know not much or
nothing at all of what their
libraries offer
80% say the book is still very important
98% of visitors say their experience is
pleasant
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

50. Insight #2
Who Patrons Are and What They Want

51. Insight #2
Who Patrons Are and What They Want
30% of population are High Engagement YET ONLY
9% of the population are Print Traditionalists CONTRASTED WITH
80% who think books are important; 8% have used a library Ebook
4% Ebooks readers ONLY
People under 65 LEAST likely to use the library
64% of users are interested in personalized reading
recommendations
14% no personal library use
only 4% aren’t interested at all
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

54. Insight #3
How technology is changing flows of information
Broadband+social networks+mobile
technologies =
“Networked Individualism”
Society organized around individuals, not
institutions
crowdfunding
pocket activism
Libraries-
exclusion is VERY problematic (digital divide)
less need for “intermediaries.”
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

55. Insight #4
Where new needs are surfacing in communities
Market and Cultural Shortcomings
● Skills training in new literacies
● Preschool/ after school
● ESL
● Lifelong learning
● Credentialing
● Small business/ nonprofit support
● Community and civic information curators
● Agents of serendipitous discovery
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

56. Insight #5
How the concept of library should change to meet new realities
People: Serve and Learn
● Master teachers of tech
● Visionaries for the knowledge
economy
● Content in context
● Curators of the “quality” information
● Models of lifelong learning
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

57. Insight #5
How the concept of library should change to meet new realities
Place: Reconfigured and Repurposed
● Different and Sensored space
(interactives)
● Testbeds
● “Maker masters”
● Stewards of local information
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

58. Insight #5
How the concept of library should change to meet new realities
Platform: Community Resource
● Trusted- Privacy Watchdog
● Advocates for “free and open”
● Closing digital divide
● Entrepreneur enablers
● Civic specialists
● “Gap Fillers” (credentialing???)
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library

59. What Kenosha Hears
1. Keep buying lots of new books; weed the
old and create learning spaces
2. Manage the message: workforce
development and education
3. Automate returns more than checkout
4. Invest in Outreach (65+)
5. Incorporate Readers Advisory into
checkout experience
6. Relax about eBooks
Barbara Brattin, Director, Kenosha Public Library bbrattin@mykpl.info