Original Question, SDC Responses, and IMLS Response

Original Question (9/22/10):

Lynn F. Shurden, MS SDC

Yesterday I did a workshop for the public libraries regarding the 2009/10 submission of data.  The new element of number of weeks the branch library is open was discussed.  In the definition, it reads:

Extensive weeks closed to the public due to natural disasters or other events should be excluded from the count. 

The question arose as to whether one would count "weeks closed" if it was for moving a library collection or inventory of a collection?  What about all a/c being out for 2 months in the summer in Mississippi and the branch was closed???  What say ye??

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SDC Responses:

Genny Carter, TN SDC

We have a number of libraries that were closed for renovation or moving, so I am anticipating questions as well as I begin workshops - tomorrow - by webinar for the first time. (I'm admittedly rather nervous about conducting this training by webinar with PowerPoint and screen shots - but it's saving the state some money not to have me travel to our 12 regional libraries.)

My understanding is that our renovation/moving closures and Lynn's examples are the types of "other events" that the new element is designed to capture - with the goal of determining how many weeks the public had access to the library. Since the library was closed for that "event," then those weeks are not counted - "excluded from the count" - just as they would be if the library closed due to the destruction of a natural disaster.  The library was closed. It had no patron visits, programs or circulation (most likely), and the new element will help capture the reason for the decline in their counts. 

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Rob Geiszler,  VT SDC

Both of those circumstances ought to qualify as weeks not open. 

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Peter Haxton, KS SDC

Genny hit the nail on the head.  Part of the intent of the data element was to even the playing field to explain variations in library use that are caused by closures.  I would say that any time a library is closed during its normal business hours for more than a couple days, we the weeks open element should account for that closure.

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Maria Hazapis, NY SDC

New York has asked the following question for over 10 years (we added this question during my first 'round' as SDC).  The responses have helped us understand any events that impact the library's statistics.

"For the reporting year, has the library experienced any unusual circumstance(s) that affected the statistics reported (e.g., natural disaster, fire, closed for renovations, massive weeding of collection, etc.)? If yes, please annotate explaining the circumstance(s) and the impact on the library using the State note.

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Bruce Pomerantz, MN SDC

I thought the original intent, by excluding the natural disasters and other events, was to determine how many libraries were being closed for weeks at a time exclusively due to financial pressures. 

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Susan Mark, WY SDC

I must have missed something. It was my understanding that natural disasters were one of the reasons we wanted to track this. Eg. Hurricane Katrina – libraries closed months on end, stats (obviously) take a dive. Feeling was that it wasn’t a valid comparison to look at library A open all year vs. library B forced to close half the year. I’m not sure when natural disasters got excluded.

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Katina Jones, MO SDC

It makes me nervous that we all are focusing on different parts of the definition…  I thought the last couple of sentences made it pretty clear:

Round to the nearest whole number of weeks. If the library was open half or more of its scheduled hours in a given week, round up to the next week. If the library was open less than half of its scheduled hours, round down.

Based on that part of the definition, I set my questions up like this:

I then plan to subtract the figure provided in 2.28b from 52 to come up with the number of weeks the outlet was open during the reporting year. Thoughts??

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Stacey Malek, TX SDC

I didn’t think it mattered why the library was closed, based on the definition.  I think how you set it up will work.  I simply quoted the definition in our instructions and asked how many weeks the outlet was open.  Depending on responses this year, I may change it to something similar to yours next year.

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IMLS Response:

The data element in question focuses on the number of weeks a library is open for business.  The definition does not suggest that natural disasters should not be counted.  Rather it says that extensive weeks closed should be excluded from the weeks open count.  In other words, if a library is closed due to a natural disaster or some other reason, the corresponding number of weeks it is closed should not count towards calculating the number of weeks it was open that year.

As for the interpretation of the variable, we will not be able to distinguish from this variable alone whether or not the closure was due to a natural disaster, financial hardship, renovation, failure of a building’s heating/cooling system or some other reason.  However, this information will allow us to qualify the other statistics provided in a way that is reflective of the actual amount of time that an outlet was open.   

I guess the word “excluded” may be throwing some people off, but here we mean that extensive time closed to the public due to natural disasters or other events should not be counted – they should be “excluded from the count” of weeks open.

Hopefully, this clears up any confusion, but let us know if further clarification is needed.  Thanks for all of your thoughtful responses.