PL 22/08: Really big libraries

Toronto Public Library has collected a valuable data set on big urban libraries on behalf of the Metropolitan Libraries Section of IFLA.

The data are published as a single, large table in the Statistics and Evaluation Section Newsletter, July 2008. To make them easier to interpret, I have started to make a series of smaller statistical tables – available through Google Docs – covering particular aspects of library operations.

The first subset covers the thirteen libraries serving populations of more then 1 million inhabitants – and the following variables:

• Users
• Visits
• Virtual visits
• Loans
• Information requests
• In house use