March 20th, 2015 Brian Herzog
From the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners comes this infographic. I'm not sure that the number of people who use Massachusetts libraries are strictly tourists, but still it's a nice-looking way to illustrate that libraries have not been killed off by the internet.
Take that, Niagara Falls! Incidentally, here's Travel+Leisure's full list of visit statistics.
Tags: activity, attractions, infographic, libraries, Library, Marketing, massachusetts, public, statistics, tourist, visit, visits
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February 5th, 2015 Brian Herzog
I saw a post on LISNews today about a new Measure the Future initiative to build hardware sensors to better track how people use libraries. They say,
Imagine having a Google-Analytics-style dashboard for your library building: number of visits, what patrons browsed, what parts of the library were busy during which parts of the day, and more. Measure the Future is going to make that happen by using simple and inexpensive sensors that can collect data about building usage that is now invisible. Making these invisible occurrences explicit will allow librarians to make strategic decisions that create more efficient and effective experiences for their patrons.
On the one hand, I love this idea, because actual data can reveal amazing things. However at the same time, the idea of sensors all over the building tracking patrons sets off my privacy alarms. I'm sure it'll all be anonymous data, but Big Brother (even when it's Big Library) will still be in the back of my mind.
I didn't see too much technical detail on what the sensors will look like or how they will be integrated in libraries. But I think this is a great idea, and am looking forward to seeing their progress.
Tags: activity, building, data, libraries, Library, measure the future, patron, public, sensors, Technology, track, tracking, usage
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