IFLA Satellite Conference

IFLA Satellite Conference Library Statistics for 21st Century World, Montreal August 18-19, 2008 - Concordia University Experience seeking statistical data in libraries of Argentina Silvia Texidor Romina De Lorenzo Dirección General de Estadística y Censos (Buenos Aires)

State of the situation in Argentina Argentina is a federal republic which is geographically very disparate; it’s formed by 23 provinces and 1 autonomous city. Besides, many municipalities have Statistics offices at the local level. There is no library data at a national level, but there is fragmented data at the provincial level and further minor data at the town level, but data collection is not systematic or widespread.

Library statistics in Argentina Difficulty in finding comprehensive data, particularly at the country level, taking into account, above all, the aforementioned highly decentralized government that exists in Argentina.This heterogeneous and chaotic situation, coupled with the lack of a coordinating agency for library statistics with a methodology for collecting and coordinating the system, impedes thereliable consistency of the data collected.

Entities producing statistics at the national level INDEC:is the public body, which unifies the guidance and exercises the management of all official statistical activities taking place in the territory of the Republic of Argentina. CONABIP: is the state agency under the Ministry of Culture of the Presidency of the Nation. Since 1870, it has supported and promoted the development of popular libraries throughout the Republic of Argentina. SPU: is the body responsible for organizing a system of permanent monitoring of indicators about the Argentine university system.

Library Statistics of the City of Buenos Aires DGEyC: official body for the production and dissemination of statistics on the city.Since 1887 library statistics have been published continuously. Due to the vicissitudes of political life in the city and country, there are ups and downs in the production and dissemination of the librarystatistical series which, over the years, have had to take a greater or lesser number of variables (readers, works consulted, subject to consultation) into account, depending on the time and local authorities.

The statistics that were placed in the questionnaire were taken from the Statistical Yearbook of Buenos Aires 2006 and through consultation with the libraries of the city. The work methodology consisted of: - Consultation of Web pages of libraries or the mailing databases of DGEYC to locate the responsables (name and phone).- Analysis of the questionnaire of Unesco and adaptation of the questions to make them more comprehensible.- Telephone interviews with each of the responsables for responding to the questionnaire adapted.- Consultation of the Database Bank and the DGEyC Series statistics.- Collection of data processing and analysis to dump in the questionnaire of Unesco.

Also consulted: Web pages of the Provincial Directorate of Statistics, and mails were sent to libraries and documentation centres of these institutions. These consultations were unsuccessful and we could not locate data that would allow complete the questionnaire Unesco. These consultations were unsuccessful and we could not locate data that would allow to complete the Unesco questionnaire. Regarding of the university libraries statistics, the methodology used was similar: in this case the consultations were not successful and the items relating to university libraries were not filled in the questionnaire.

Remarks on the questionnaire on library statistics of Unesco

Block on identification of peopleMinistry or government agency Observations: • The National Libraries and national statistical agencies are also from the government.It would be desirable to define other terms.

Block on Libraries and access to facilities1.1 Number of libraries Observations: • Itshouldinclude data onpopulationserved (actual and potentialusers), delineatedbygender as itisstipulatedforstaff. • Coulddiscriminatebetweenstate and privatelibraries in the case of University Libraries. • Incorporatequestionsaboutfacilities and equipment.

Block on Libraries and access to facilities1.4. Electronic services by type Observations: • Move to another block the questions about services. • It would be desirable to have a block on services

2. Block onCollections2.1. Number of printedvolumes Observations: • It would also be desirable to have the number of titles

2. Block onCollections2.2 Number of electronicvolumes Observations: It would be desirable to have data for both formats (electronic and printed); in Argentina, almost no popular libraries havesubscriptions to electronic publications and databases.

2. Block on Collections2.2 Electronic series publications (subscriptions) Observations: • Also request data on titles of current periodical publications. 2.2 Acquired Databases with license Observations: Not applicable to Popular Libraries

4. Uses and Users Block4.1. Total number of registered users Observations: • It leaves out the patron uses the library, but is not a member of it. • In the layout of the questionnaire, it was not possible to group users by age. • Differentiate by gender as is stipulated for the staff.

4. Uses and Users Block4.2 Total loans (excluding renewals and interlibrary loans) Observations: • It should include interlibrary loan as a separate item, because it shows the relationships between institutions and the usage of thedocumentaries in a country with a low budget for

4. Uses and Users Block4.4 Total number of units of downloadable content from e-Collections Observations: • Itisnotclearwhodownloadsthe e-Collections- thelibrarian, thepatron? Orfromwhichcollectionsthe material isdownloaded. .

4. Uses and Users Block4.2. Total of visits Observations: • It would be desirable to place this point in 4.1 because it mentions the user and the documents and / or transactions in 4.2

5. Library staff Block5.1 Number of employees5.2 Number of full-time employees Observations: • It should include some questions about staff training

6. Budget Block Observations: • It is difficult to differentiate spending in the public library because: • Staff costs are included in the overall budget of the organization at local / municipal levels • There is no direct purchase by the library. Generally books and magazines are received by centralized purchasing

Annex. Definitions Observations: It defines concepts which are not included in the questionnaire, for example: • printed books • point 4, downloaded content and content units (it is not clear)

Annex. Definitions Observations: • Public Library "This definition includes the services that a public library provides to schools…" Is it a synonym for school library? (it is not clear)

Conclusions • We welcome the existence of the pilot project that allows us to draw several conclusions as respondents, including positive achievements and pending improvements. • The draft reiterates the concern of Unesco to rely on reliable library statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean

Suggestions • Improve data collection instrument for the items of the questionnaire that correspond to the Latin American reality. • It is desirable that representatives of Latin America and the Caribbean who have a more realistic vision of the region could participate in drawing up the final statistical instrument.

Suggestions • Reviewing the definitions of the questionnaire to ensure that linguistic diversity is represented for Latin America and the Caribbean, which has a Spanish speaking majority. • Focus on training people how to quantify the data (measure) before installing the Unesco questionnaire in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is because existing data may be measured in a different way.

Suggestions • Translate the questionnaire into Portuguese to facilitate data collection in Brazil because it is the most populated country and there are more libraries in this region. • Divide the questionnaire into two questionnaires; one for public libraries and the other for university libraries.

Suggestions • Emphasize the approach towards the printed collections giving them the same importance as electronic collections, especially in public libraries. • To encourage compliance with the recommendations of Unesco thirty-seven years ago on the bodies responsible for collecting and reporting statistics relating to libraries in each member country.

Suggestions • Foster, through agreements or commitments, to coordinate the receipt and transmission of data at country level in qualified entities that commit themselves formally to such activity, one for public libraries and other for university libraries. • To determine the collection of library statistics on an annual basis. This is based on the need to avoid loss of data and forcing organization’s collectors to maintain systematic behavior.

Muchas Gracias.Thank YouMerci texidor.silvia@gmail.com rominadelorenzo@gmail.com

IFLA Satellite Conference