As communities across America change from majority-white markets to majority-minority (where the majority of the residents belong to a designated minority population such as Asian Pacific, Hispanic, or Black) or multi-culturally diverse markets, serving all the different groups using a single program or methodology is not usually effective. Public libraries are also one of the most important resources for adult lifelong learning in areas having a high concentration of low-income individuals because those individuals have fewer options for education and less access to information resources. Such areas are often coincidental with minority populations. The growth of poverty and joblessness in the U.S. also increases the significance of the public library’s role in adult lifelong learning. Different groups have different socio-economic profiles and educational needs. The public library is vital in diminishing the information gap between the technical elite and the technical poor. While a few studies have been done on serving such diverse users in public libraries, systematic nationwide studies are lacking.

The research that is available indicates that public library services needed in majority-minority and low-income areas differ from traditional library markets. Koontz (1993) found that minorities used reference services and attended library programs more than they checked out books. This is important because book circulation is long the library field’s largest, tried, and true measure of library use. Thus, library user populations that use the library for lifelong education in ways that do not involve checking out books may cause their facility to be underfunded or even closed relative to libraries with higher book circulation!

It is critical to establish new performance measures and use counts for public libraries that include the usage of public libraries as focal points for adult lifelong learning in many communities across America. Due to budgetary constraints, many public library systems today are merging, re-siting, or closing public library branches. Such actions are being performed with little or no study on the possible effects on majority-minority and/or low income library users. Indeed, available evidence indicates that such actions disproportionately reduce access to information resources and adult lifelong learning opportunities for such groups.

The major educational problem this FIS project addresses then is the need for a better assessment of library uses besides checking out books in a nationwide sample of majority-minority and lower income library market areas. The project provided a first nationwide snapshot of library use in markets subsumed by various immigrant groups, those left by ‘white-flight,’ or those serving users one on one on projects such as resume writing and school projects. The refinement of such performance/output measures will help place public libraries serving majority-minority and lower income groups on a more equal footing with those libraries serving more traditional markets, helping ensure the public libraries role as a facility for adult lifelong education.

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Goal #1: The project goal is to research, demonstrate, and validate the use of marketing principles and new information technologies (e.g., portable data collecting instruments, geographic information systems) by public librarians in assisting them to inventory, analyze, and evaluate the adult lifelong learning needs for their particular library market.

This project utilized public libraries whose market areas were majority minority and lower income populations. However, the conclusions and results are generalizable to all libraries.

Under this one overall guiding goal of this project, there were several objectives as listed below.

There were three primary reasons for altering these objectives. First, it became obvious during our visits to the field sites that these GIS objectives were not in line with the objectives of the librarians as well as oftentimes the library directors. For example, many did not readily conceive the relationship between the GIS and the portable data collector technology. The amount of time required to explain the scope of the original overall project and the questions we received, even with an on-site visit, convinced us that the GIS objectives would be extremely difficult to realize without a personal on-site visit to all 100 library jurisdictions, an obviously impossible task. To accomplish this task would require, as a minimum, a better background in marketing research among many of the public librarians we met.

Secondly, perhaps partly as a result of the first reason, the majority of the public library systems were not able to provide some of the most critical local data for analysis in a GIS environment (e.g., address data of library users). This was not true of some of the pre-test sites. Without the availability of such data, our ability to demonstrate the utility of GIS for library management was therefore limited as well as the value of an instructional manual for librarians on using GIS.

Finally, most of the librarians participating in this research project had limited staff. Therefore, just collecting better in-library usage data was already enough of an investment of limited resources in one project. Payback for participating in the GIS aspect of this project was of lesser value.

Based upon these circumstances, the approach to meeting these three objectives was modified. Many of the objections to participation in this portion of the research project were by librarians who were unfamiliar with the value of better understanding the approximate market area being served by a library outlet. It was determined that education of librarians and library directors to the value of marketing was a prerequisite to the completion of some of the original objectives of this US Department of Education grant.

Consequently, in April of 1998, the research team applied to the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a National Leadership Grant, which we have subsequently received. The grant began in December of 1998 and will be completed by December of 2000. The grant will develop and implement a marketing research continuing education course for librarians. The course, which will be pre-tested nationwide, will train librarians on the need for systematic collection and analysis of the more difficult-to-collect library data and how those data can be used to improve library services. The PDC technology developed by this grant proposal as well as GIS technology will be an integral part of this course.

After the development of this course, we intend to make the course available upon request at state library directors’ conferences as well as at regional, national, and international library conferences. Our costs for teaching this course will be minimal in order to ensure wide dissemination and participation in the course. The course materials will also be made available over the Internet at no charge.

In our professional judgement, this alternative course of action has a much better chance for making a long-term difference than trying to adhere to the objectives in the original proposal.

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Issue #1: Library use often differs in low-income, majority minority markets and currently all types of use is not documented.

Available research indicates that the types of public library services actually offered as well as those potentially needed in majority-minority and low-income areas differ from traditional library markets. A traditional library market is comprised of high education and income individuals. Majority-minority areas are neighborhoods where the majority of the residents are classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as belonging to a designated minority population such as, Asian Pacific, Hispanic, or Black.

Koontz (1993) found that minorities, unlike traditional library users, used reference services and attended library programs more often than they checked out books. While circulation in majority minority markets tended to rise when education and income levels rose, the differences between majority-minority markets and traditional markets remained. This project documented many types of library use that is currently not documented in any systematic fashion (e.g., resume writing, literacy programs). Within each public library market, the actual and potential demand for all types of library products and library usage must be known if libraries are to optimally serve as locations for adult lifelong education.

RECOMMENDATION: All public library systems should begin collecting data on all types of library usage at the outlet level. This effort should be coordinated by the Federal - State Cooperative System (FSCS) in order to standardize data collection on a nationwide level. The FSCS is part of the National Center for Educational Statistics, US Department of Education.

Issue #2: Traditional counts of book circulation do not capture the full use made of libraries in low income and majority minority markets.

Book circulation is long the library fields largest and tried and true measure of library use. If a library facility’s circulation counts are low, often it appears overall use is low. Yet populations that use the library in ways that are not currently counted could benefit from such additional counts (such as in-library use of materials) in order to better understand how the library could better serve them and their community. If funders are not aware of the overall use and only have book circulation as a statistic of use, such a facility could be underfunded or closed.

Just as retailers such as McDonald’s, would not think of only counting the hamburgers sold through the drive-through, and eliminate counting the hamburgers eaten in the restaurant in order to tabulate sales figures, neither can the public library only count book circulation, and not count actual in-library use of materials, librarian assistance, and actual user activity in the library.

This project has demonstrated a national award-winning methodology and technology that could easily be modified to collect most types of in-library use data. The methodology has been proven to be adaptable to public library systems of all types and sizes during this project.

RECOMMENDATION: Efforts should begin immediate to adapt and modify, as needed, the technology and methodology demonstrated by this project into a software application capable of collecting the diversity of all types of library usage, including those usages relate to adult lifelong education. The software application could potentially be incorporated into existing library automation products of several vendors.

Issue #3: Library use must be counted at the outlet (branch) level in order to identify how individual neighborhoods and communities use the library.

Another major problem in the public library field is there is usually not a profile of library use data at the outlet level. If it is collected at the outlet level, the use figures are oftentimes merged into a system wide total. This procedure obviates any profile of use at the outlet level, further undermining distinctions between communities and how library use may differ. These distinctions between communities are critical to designing adult lifelong education programs that meet the needs of the local population rather than some non-existent "average user" or population.

For example, among the libraries in which at least 100 questions were asked of librarians by users:

RECOMMENDATION: Library data should be collected and reported at the outlet level. As a minimum, the details of the Public Library Data Service (PLDS) report for library systems should be available for each individual library outlet as well as in the FSCS report, which reports much less library data but the data is often available at the individual outlet level of detail.

Issue #4: Changing socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are parallel to changing information wants and needs.

Further, it is critical to establish new library use counts at the outlet level because neighborhoods across America are increasingly changing from majority-white markets to majority-minority or more multi-cultural diverse markets. Serving different minority groups using a single program is not effective because different groups have disparate socioeconomic profiles which often parallel differing information wants and needs. For public libraries in these changing market, new measures of use are of utmost relevance.

For example, among the libraries in this study:

RECOMMENDATION: As with the previous issue, it is important that library data be collected and reported at the outlet level. This data collection needs to take place in conjunction with a knowledge of the often rapidly-changing socio-economic and demographic environment surrounding the library outlet.

Issue #5: The public library is by default the premiere agency diminishing the information gap between the technical elite and the technical poor as well as between the haves and the have-nots.

While 10 percent of America’s 16,000 public library outlets serve populations of 50,000 or more, nearly half serve fewer than 5,000. The public library facilities in the rural and small densely populated urban neighborhoods are often the only facility truly open to the public, and located within the travel distance of the vulnerable elements of society such as the poor, children, the elderly and other disadvantaged. The constancy of poverty and joblessness in the U.S. also increases the significance of the public library’s role in adult lifelong learning in majority-minority and low-income communities, as well as in diminishing the information gap between the technical elite and the technical poor. The value of these library facilities with trained personnel as the most effective conduit for adult lifelong learning under these situations can not be underestimated.

Substantive evidence from this study that supports the use of the public library by low income groups for adult lifelong education and for obtaining access to resources they may not have at home include:

A recent article by Jue, et. al. (1999) discussed the ability of public libraries nationwide to provide technology access to individuals in poverty. The article included a list of several research and policy issues that needed further investigation if public libraries are to truly become on-ramps to the information highway for individuals in poverty.

RECOMMENDATION: Everyone agrees that public libraries have a major, if not primary, role to play in

providing technological access to individuals that may not have the financial resources to obtain that access at home. What is less certain is the best way to provide that access. How should the federal government help ensure such access? The article by Jue, et. al. (1999) provides a baseline assessment and discussion on the best public library funding and development policies to help individuals residing in poverty areas. Local, state, and federal agencies need to seriously address the public library and poverty issues raised in that article to ensure that funds are being spent efficiently and equitably in providing technology access to individuals living in poverty areas.

Issue # 6: Access is not really equitable at this time for all people to public libraries as the distance different people will or can actually travel to a facility is different.

While this issue may seem peripheral, it is actually central. Research indicates (and is corroborated by the experience of the librarians in the field) that certain groups such as juveniles, the elderly, disabled, and perhaps on one level more inclusively--those who do not have the reading or library habit--will not travel far for library service. If library branches are closed that are in lower income, or majority-minority markets, certain segments of these existing library user population may not use other libraries because those branches are not within ‘stumbling’ distance. Careful considerations must be made when closing library facilities because of this. Closure can actually mean no further library use to some groups and individuals, no matter how many new facilities are built, and no matter how much circulation goes up in the new library outlets.

RECOMMENDATION: Additional research is needed on factors that affect the actual market area size for individual library outlets given varying combinations of socio-economic and demographic factors. Such research will help determine the optimal placement of library outlets in any given real-world situation.

Issue #7: Internet access is becoming essential in today’s technological society. The public library plays a vital role in ensuring equitable Internet access to the public and, in turn, the Internet is dramatically affecting public library use.

Federal and private initiatives are promoting public libraries as locations for providing equitable Internet access by funding software and hardware in areas of the nation that serve large portions of residents living in poverty. That public libraries are at least partially fulfilling that role is evidenced by some of this project’s findings listed under Issue 5.

But the rise of the Internet is also impacting libraries themselves. Libraries are finding that the ubiquitous materials circulation count is going down but library visits (and in-library use of computers) when counted are going up. Library professionals are struggling to resolve how to count electronic use within the library and assess demand for electronic access. As library use is changing, it is becoming more important than ever to count all uses of the library by its many users.

RECOMMENDATION: It is becoming even more imperative to develop an easy-to-measure but meaningful method of measuring electronic usage, including Internet usage, in public libraries. Within the next few years, electronic usage in some libraries may well surpass the physical checking out of library materials. There are already several national and international groups trying to coordinate some aspects of the development of a standardized electronic usage measure within libraries. Such efforts should be applauded, encouraged, and supported by all librarians.

Issue #8: Lack of outlet level data of all use can cause vulnerable libraries to close, disproportionately reducing information access.

Due to budgetary constraints, many public library systems today are merging, re-siting or closing public library branches. Such actions are being performed with little or no study on their possible effects on majority-minority and low-income groups. Indeed the evidence indicates that these actions disproportionately reduce access to public libraries for these groups.

Conversations with participating librarians verify this. The commitment of these librarians to participate was largely based upon a perceived urgency to substantiate the vitality of the branch in the community, i.e., a more precise profile of the use and users.

RECOMMENDATION: The collection of more detailed and comprehensive library usage statistics as described in this study will help solve the problems raised by this issue. Until such an approach to library usage statistics is adopted, Koontz (1997) has developed a list of library relocation and re-siting questions that library managers should consider before taking any such actions.

Issue # 9: Librarians often lack training in use of new data collection methodologies and technologies.

While librarians at present are not well trained in data collection methodologies or technologies, they are quick to learn, when they see the benefits. The enthusiasm and alacrity with which the librarians embraced the technologies in this project certainly underscored this. With the continued growth of public library data collection agencies such as Federal State Cooperative System, and the Public Library Association’s Public Library Data Statistical Report, and the summaries of gathered data being made available annually --the benefits of data collection will also grow.

RECOMMENDATION: Continuing education courses should be developed for public librarians that are practical and that focus on data collection methodologies and techniques and how to utilize such data to better serve library users and make better library management decisions.

Summary

This study is the first nationwide snapshot of library use in non-traditional markets, providing data at the lowest non-aggregated level, a view of one room if you will, and not the whole house. This project provides a first nationwide snapshot of library use in markets subsumed by various immigrant groups. The refinement of performance/output measures will help place public libraries serving majority-minority and lower income groups on a more equal footing with those libraries serving more traditional ‘high-circulation’ markets. The study also emphasizes the importance of outlet level data over aggregated systemwide data, in order to more precisely identify the information wants and needs of the individual neighborhood or community served.

"Integrating GIS (Geographic Information System Software) into Marketing: Some practical Suggestions." 19th Annual ESRI GIS User Conference, San Diego, CA., July 1999.

"New Performance Measures for Public Libraries." Black Caucus of the American Library Association 4th Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV., July, 1999.

"In-Library Usage in Libraries Serving Asian Americans." Chinese American Library Association, American Library Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 1999.

"Market-Based Performance Measures for Public Libraries Serving Lower Income and Majority Minority Markets." Second Annual Diversity Fair, American Library Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 1999.

"Where Minorities are the Majority: Utilizing GIS and New Technologies to Improve Performance Measures in Majority Minority Library Markets." American Library Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 1999.

"Library Use and Poverty: Que Pasa?" Library Services to Youth of Hispanic Heritage. The Fourth National Institute for Hispanic Library Education, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, March 12 - 14, 1999.

"Market-Based Adult Lifelong Learning Performance Measures for Public Libraries Serving Majority-Minority Markets: Phase Two." International Federation of Library Associations Conference '98, Amsterdam, NL, August 14-22,1998.

"GIS and Marketing in the Public Library Environment." Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), 18^th Annual User Conference, San Diego, CA., July 27-31, 1998.

"Where Minorities are the Majority." American Library Association Conference ‘98. Washington, DC, June 26-July 1, 1998.

"Market -Based Performance Measures for Public Libraries Serving Lower Income and Majority-Minority Markets." American Association of Geographers, ‘98. Boston, MA., March 25-29, 1998.

"What do Public Librarians Need to Know About...Public Library Service to Minority Markets," Libraries for the Florida’s Future: Technology and Access for All. October 13, 1997, State Library of Florida, Tallahassee, FL.

"Market-Based Adult Lifelong Learning Performance Measures for Public Libraries Serving Lower Income and Majority-Minority Markets." International Federation of Libraries Association '97. Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2-3, 1997.

"Hot Topic - Market-Based Adult Lifelong Learning Performance Measures for Public Libraries Serving Lower Income and Majority-Minority Markets." LITA-LAMA National Conference 1996. Pittsburgh, Pa. October 15, 1996.
 

"Four Case Studies Re: Effects of Race Minority Status on Library Use within Majority-Minority Library Markets Based Upon Two National Studies." Three-member panel, "Research Results for Improved Practice. Multiculturalism and the Public Libraries": Sponsored by Public Library Research and Statistics Committee. American Library Association Annual Conference 1995, Chicago, Illinois

"Utilizing Geographic Information Systems to Assess Public Library Service to Majority-Minority Markets." Carroll Baber Research Award 1991-92 Results. Library Research Round Table. American Library Association 1994 Conference. Miami.

2) The principal investigators have discussed this methodology at several library conferences over the past three years with other librarians, including special and academic librarians. The librarians were enthusiastic about adopting a similar methodology in their own libraries to better measure their library services to their users. XX% of libraries in the study believe they will continue collecting after this year. The methodology will be implemented in special and academic libraries in the year 2000.

3) The Automatic ID News, a trade journal for bar code scanning users, wrote up the US Department of Education/Florida State University project in the June 1999 issue as being the first of its kind to adapt industrial and commercial application technology in a manner to better serve the general public. This puts the methodology in a successful light with other vendors to induce more competitive pricing for librarians adopting such technology.

4) Dean K. Jue, the co-principal investigator for this project, was awarded the Frederick G. Kilgour Award by the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) during the American Library Association conference in June of 1999 for his design of this "achievement[s] in developing new technological applications to improve public library service." Dr. Kilgour was the founder of the OCLC, Inc., one of the premier library automation vendor.

2) A mid western library system became involved in the study in order to better understand the differences in branch use patterns. The collection of in-library use of materials as well as the circulation offered a much more precise picture of branch use, noting with surprise that one branch, "...had both high circulation and high in-library use." This library will continue to collect the in-library use because, "...of the ongoing insights they will provide us."

3) A small rural system is utilizing the data collected to persuade state funders that "libraries are increasingly becoming training grounds for retooling America with computer skills just as technical schools and community colleges have been." The regional library director is asking for continued analysis for continuing this campaign. Data talks!

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