Transcript
NICK:
It's important to bear in mind that the data you collect can be both qualitative and quantitative, so collecting views and opinions as well as crunching the numbers. A mix of both is ideal in measuring the effect that your library is having. Quantitative data is really anything you can count, number of books issued, number of library visits, items in stock. You should be able to get lots of useful quantitative data from your library management system, or perhaps by doing something like a head count of students in the library.
There are also a number of ways you can collect qualitative data. You might have a suggestions box in the library. But you can be more proactive discussing the library with a focus group of staff or students, or talking to your library committee, or student council.
Online surveys can be a really good way to gather data. But with questionnaires, it's important to frame questions to make sure that you get the responses you expect. You might think a question is really obvious, but that's not how other people might see it. so it's always worth testing your survey on a few people first before rolling it out more widely to the whole school. Of course, as well as these structured methods, just chance conversations with staff and students can yield really useful information that you can record.
The more active part you play in the school community, the more you will increase your chance of having those useful conversations. So overall, it's worth keeping in mind the school and library development plans, your collection development policy, and the wider aims of the school when you're collecting data. That way, rather than just being something of interest, you can really focus on collecting evidence of the impact that you have and that the library is having supporting the school and the students. And knowing that you've made a difference but also being able to show that is really satisfying.