Made to Measure: developing client-oriented statistics

摘要

Libraries in all sectors, but not least public libraries [and their managers] face challenging times for a variety of reasons. In the prevailing climate of change -technological, social and political - the imperatives to grasp new opportunities, to respond to new [and increasing] demands and to innovate generally are more evident than ever. Managers are confronted by the digital revolution offering spectacularly novel means of communicating ideas and knowledge.They are also challenged by a new awareness of its role as consumer by the user population that knows its own mind and demands quality from services. Society, through government, also seeks the enlargement of access to information and culture and these are embodied in programmes to enhance social inclusion and in initiatives to extend opportunity. Examples include lifelong learning (Department for Education and Employment: 1998) and the development of IT networks (Library and Information Commission: 1997) (People's Network: 2001) (Department for Education and Employment 1997). All of these impinge greatly on library services. However, the challenges that face managers offer, at the same time, exciting opportunities for public libraries to contribute significantly to the cultural life of communities.These opportunities are enumerated in a recent consultative draft from government (Resource: 2001).