Comments on: OPL vs. GJ Hagenaars

By: Lori Nash

Lori Nash — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:21:13 +0000

Your right Dave, the information should be more prominent and in more places.
I will check with Library staff to make certain why the annual report comes out about a year after the year ends but I would like to give you an explaination based on what I believe happens. The annual report for 2009 for example would have the audit report prepared for June or July of 2010 to ensure all the invoices expenses and revenue for 2009 is accounted for in the report. Annual reports rely on data collected for all of 2009 including information in December of 2009 which must be recorded, tabulated and verified. These confirmed reports also come in around July or August of 2010.The reports have to be prepared as an anuual report, circulated, approved , translatted and printed before they are made public. The timeline from the end of the calendar year to the production of the annual report can in fact be nine months or a year.

In the case of 2009 , metrics are a particular problem for the Ottawa Public Library because they will be inconsistent and not representative of the norm at the library. The Ottawa Public Library had a number of temporary closures of branches for renovations, the introduction of a new computer system symphony, and the introduction of a six week loan period for items. This is wrecking havoc with the regular metrics for 2009 making them impossible to compare with previous years or with other library systems. They just can not be interpreted.

By: dave0

dave0 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:29:05 +0000

@Lori, Good to know, but why is information like this kept behind a gatekeeper? Shouldn’t the OPL be proactive in making this sort of data available to residents, both because it’s something to crow about (best service with the least funding!) and, well, because you’re a library and you’re supposed to give out information. I mean… the latest “annual” report available on the OPL website is from 2008, and other metrics are nowhere to be found.

By: dave0

dave0 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:20:31 +0000

The “Friends of the Ottawa Public Library” information is available on their site (http://www.ottawapubliclibraryfriends.ca/about_e.html). Not sure if the OPL has any more-useful data available somewhere public — but given that they’re in the information biz, they really should do a better job of making it available.

By: Lori Nash

Lori Nash — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:13:46 +0000

I am past president of the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association and now sit on the board of directors for the Ottawa Public Library Foundation. I have been a volunteer at the library in Cumberland and now the Ottawa Public Library for 15 years and a financial donor to the library. I collect data about the OPL in comparison to other Ontario libraries from the OMBI reports that ranks and compares libraries of similar size in terms of standard library metrics. This data is also available from the OPL research department. As an advocate of the library it is important to me to know how our Ottawa Public Library compares with others. For details call the Ottawa Public Library Administration office and ask for the research department Elaine Condos.

By: Erigami Scholey-Fuller

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:33:49 +0000

@Lori: Those are really interesting numbers, where did you get them?

I’ve found it really difficult to get useful stats about the OPL. There’s some stuff published on the provincial website, but it offers a couple of rows of stats with no contextual information.

By: Lori Nash

Lori Nash — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:24:55 +0000

The Ottawa Public Library does remarkedly well with what it has. In comparison with other Ontario libraries of similar size The Ottawa Public Library has less space per person than any other library , the second lowest cost per use , the second lowest cost per person and still is able to yield the highest annual borrowing of Ontario libraries. Into this mix the OPL has the support of 300 volunteers from the Friends of the Library that operate 15 used bookstores and raise about $320,000 a year and a group of about 350 volunteers who work in the 33 branches. The Ottawa Public Library already uses volunteers to the max. I think the budget has been stretched to the max.

By: Gawp on OPL vs. GJ Hagenaars – Pie Palace

Gawp on OPL vs. GJ Hagenaars – Pie Palace — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:02:46 +0000

[...] reader Gawp offered a fantastic comment on my post about GJ Hagenaars‘ assertion that the city should have exactly one staffer in [...]

By: gawp

gawp — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:05:22 +0000

dave0; agreed, community centre library integration is a good idea. My family tends to use the online catalog to order and then regularly pick up the books from the library rather than browsing; I’m guessing we check out something like 200 books per year from the local library which is close enough to walk to. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a library so close. Pickup locations at community centres sounds like a good idea to make this service more convenient though as always the devil is in the details…

The Ottawa libraries already make extensive use of volunteers and low paid students, etc for shelving, book return, etc. I think GJ Hagenaars is underestimating the amount of work that is required to run a library; particularly if the one librarian is also the volunteer coordinator.

Libraries are a fundamental function of municipalities. It is clearly a public good, who else will do it?

I know, lets use Mr. Hagenaars’ argument for other city services. They make just as much sense!

what we truly need are small, local SNOW REMOVAL, with one SNOW REMOVAL PERSON (making less than six figures) and volunteer staff from the community to keep SNOW REMOVAL going. Let people vote with their SHOVELS if they want SNOW REMOVAL. If there are no volunteers (i.e. not enough interest), one SNOW REMOVAL PERSON is already too much.

By: Blake Batson

Blake Batson — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:08:54 +0000

You know this post and all the related library posts from GJ and David R has created a good debate about libraries and the role they now play. I hope it keeps going. Check out the comments on my posting:

http://www.perspectiveottawa.com/?p=1784

By: Libraries and Services | GJ Hagenaars

Libraries and Services | GJ Hagenaars — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:36:43 +0000

[...] someone starts suggesting I’m a Philistine (apparently, I am too late for that). I want to state that I am big proponent of libraries. I [...]