From: Barbara D. Hathaway [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 12:34 PM Subject: RE: Another question for CTLS members
1. I'm curious if there is a "best practices" nation-wide for public libraries, and whether it varies by the size of the library or rural vs. suburban vs. urban (which likely correlates to size) as to what they consider "active" patrons-that's my first question. And then second, what is a typical percentage for "active" borrowers? In looking over my own stats for the past 3 years (since we moved to the Galleria and our growth exploded), if I look at people who've checked out an item within the last year, it's 56% of registered borrowers; within past 2 yrs, 77%; within past 3 yrs, 81%. Those numbers (for past 2 and 3 years) seem high to me, so I wondered what an average or typical percent of active borrowers might be nation-wide or state-wide, so I can tell if we're under- or over-performing or somewhere in the range of typical for our size. Any guidance anyone can give me on this is very much appreciated, and please feel free to share my question as widely as you like. 2. We are a relatively new library (opened in late 2005), and I'd like to get a feel for whether we are typical in the percentage of our patrons who are "active", as well as how to define that term. This relates somewhat to yesterday's question about purging inactive borrowers (thanks to all of you who replied, by the way!): a. How do you define "active borrowers" ? If we are supposed to purge inactive borrowers after 3 years, do you consider anyone who has checked something out within the past 3 years an "active" borrower? If not, what do you use-within the past year? Within past 2 years? b. What percentage of your registered borrowers are "active" under whatever definition you use? Thanks for all your help, everyone! Barbara Barbara Hathaway Library Director Bee Cave Public Library 4000 Galleria Parkway Bee Cave, TX 78738-6370 512.767.6620 Library 512.767.6624 Direct Line 512.767.6629 Fax http://pl.beecavetexas.gov [email protected]
