The Wisconsin Library User (and Non-User): Outcomes of a Statewide Survey A Report Prepared for the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium Presented By: Joshua H. Morrill (Morrill Solutions® ) copyright 2003 Wisconsin Public Library Consortium
WHY DO A STATE SURVEY? Old Information Currently Guides Policy Political Action! Funding Potentials Baseline For Future Surveys “Knowledge is Power– BE POWERFUL”
HOW DID WE DO A STATE SURVEY? SCLS Training Room Reference-USA sold us call lists Hired/ Trained 5 Interviewers Called Evenings and Saturdays (Jan 29 th - Feb. 15 th )
SURVEY INFO? 611 people completed the survey Completion Rate: 17.1%
SURVEY RELIABLITY? Sampling Error = +/- 4 percentage points ( OK…What does this MEAN…?) (Is this giving the WHOLE story…?)
The REAL Worry In Surveys… Non-Sampling Error! To examine the extent that this may be a problem in our study…we compared our demographic findings to US census data.
An Example Comparison (Census Region Comparison)
Keep in mind that we only sampled 14+ years old. Comparison II (Age)
Facts About Library Users-And Non-Users I (Region) There were no significant differences of regions predicting library use [t(609)= 1.52, ns].
Facts About Library Users-And Non-Users II (Political Affiliation) There were no significant association between political affiliation and library use (r=.04).
Facts About Library Users-And Non-Users III (Voting Behavior) There was a significant difference between users and non-users in voting behavior---- LIBRARY USERS VOTE!
Perspectives on Library Funding
Patron Views of Their Library What is the relationship between: -Staff HELPFULNESS -Staff FRIENDLINESS -Library HOURS -Library COLLECTION These items were highly associated and formed a reliable scale [alpha =.91]
In Other Words…
IS MY ENEMY--- MY FRIEND? (Bookstores and Libraries) Library Users BUY More Books!!!
New Initiatives I? (NetLibrary Potential) Those who were interested--- Were Younger.
New Initiatives II? (MP3 Players) Again- interest from younger demographics
New Initiatives III? (24/7)
New Initiatives IV? (Delivery) Of Interested Individuals % would pay a fee for this service!
The Library OVERALL Good Job!
Some Remarks on The Remarks Take them for what they are…but do not over generalize from them. Most people offered no feedback….
FEELING POWERFUL YET?? The full report is available at the WPLC web site: