Public librarians, have you seen Library Journal’s new publication, Patron Profiles? It’s chock full of data and analysis on public library users. From the preface: “Patron Profiles focuses on who uses libraries, why they use libraries, and how that use may change. We are interested in their usage of content—especially via the discrete products such as books, videos, and music that libraries buy or lease, lend or distribute.”
Here are some nuggets I found from the January issue (28 pages of data and analysis on mobile devices, mobile content, and library apps):
- Ebook usage continues to increase and patrons who prefer ebooks are, on average, more active library patrons than those who prefer printed books. They are generally more voracious in their media consumption. They visit their libraries more often, read more books, and buy more books.
- There are two factors that are currently reducing ebook borrowing behaviors. In the current survey, 23% of ebook patrons reported being unsuccessful in borrowing ebooks because of technical difficulty, while almost 44% could not do so because of title unavailability.
- Over 74% of ebook patrons want to see more ebooks available at their library. This includes both a greater selection of titles and more copies of popular books. Ebook patrons have a greater sense of immediacy than general patrons. They are less inclined to wait for library copies to become available and more likely to use alternate media versions. However, if a waiting list exists, they are willing to wait for an ebook to become available—at least for now.
LJ will be hosting a free webinar on February 15th to discuss the Power Patron and insights from the patron profiles surveys.
(Via No Shelf Required.)
