HomeMy WebLinkAboutSTAFF REPORT - Sample Statistical Comparison of Newport Beach Public Library and Regional Peer Libraries 2016-17 ~ revisedTO: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
FROM:
Library Services Department
Tim Hetherton, Library Services Director
949-717-3819, thetherton@newportbeachca.gov
PREPARED BY: Tim Hetherton, Library Services Director
TITLE: Sample Statistical Comparison of Newport Beach Public Library and Regional
Peer Libraries, 2016/17
The Newport Beach Public Library prides itself for its excellent service and resources. Through data derived from
budgetary information and statistics, staff is able to provide a detailed look at how Newport Beach Public Library fares in
comparison to peer public libraries in similar communities in terms of population, income levels, and funding.
The following statistics are from 2016/17 (most current):
LIBRARY SERVICE
POPULATION
STAFF
(FTE) BUDGET COLLECTION
EXPENDITURES
COLLECTION
EXPENDITURES
PER CAPITA
PRINT
MATERIALS
PROGRAM
ATTENDANCE VISITS
CARLSBAD 113,725 102.28 $12,169,635 $858,950 $7.55 $336,784 65,398 720,205
CERRITOS 50,039 43.00 $5,336,520 $465,380 $9.30 $291,500 18,298 2,645,399
HUNTINGTON
BEACH 197,574 45.65 $4,721,245 $530,910 $2.69 $312,625 109,358 824,849
MISSION VIEJO 96,718 34.32 $3,168,156 $301,799 $3.12 $186,529 14,120 812,068
MOUNTAIN
VIEW 79,278 42.00 $5,242,507 $606,915 $7.65 $306,592 57,267 633,920
NEWPORT
BEACH 84,915 59.50 $8,288,214 $824,846 $9.17 $320,840 65,643 1,102,106
PALO ALTO 68,691 63.77 $8,953,401 $768,497 $11.18 $317,476 74,299 1,031,054
SANTA MONICA 93,834 112.50 $12,486,902 $1,133,324 $12.01 $538,877 74,143 1,257,746
SOURCE: The California State Library (http://www.library.ca.gov/)
DATA FILES: http://www.countingopinions.com/pireports/report.php?afef65a51d2ca854156e903e7ee251f9&live
OBSERVATIONS:
Newport Beach Public Library fares well in comparison with its peer libraries in terms of overall budget,
collection expenditures, and collection expenditures per capita. Support from the Friends and the Foundation
augment the solid funding for collections that we receive from the General Fund.
The total amount of full time staff remains high in comparison to our peer group.
Newport Beach continues to spend a significant portion of its material budget (39%) on print materials.
Library visits remain high despite the size of our service population. This reflects the high number of library
users who live outside our service population area.
Program attendance is competitive with our peers. Four of our peers maintain auditorium facilities that share a
site with the main library. The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts is adjacent to the Mountain View
Public Library. While both are municipal facilities, the Center for Performing Arts is under the purview of the
city’s Community Services department. The Mountain View Public Library hosts its programs in the Library
Community Room. This Community Room is very similar in layout and function to the Newport Beach Public
Library Friends Room. Both Carlsbad and Huntington Beach have buildings designed as auditorium facilities that
accommodate lectures and performances. These facilities are contiguous with the library in both cities. Santa
Monica also has an auditorium but with a smaller capacity that Carlsbad and Huntington Beach.
FACILITY/LIBRARY CAPACITY CONTIGUOUS
WITH LIBRARY SLOPED FLOOR STAGE
Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium (Carlsbad) 215 yes yes yes
Skyline Room and Terrace (Cerritos) 216 yes no no
Library Theater (Huntington Beach) 319 yes yes yes
Norman P. Murray Community and Senior
Center (Mission Viejo)
500 for
theater
style
seating
I mile from MVPL no no
Thomas R. Potocki Conference Center
(Mission Viejo)
Largest
room holds
64
.5 miles from MVPL no no
MainStage (Mountain View Center for the
Performing Arts)
600 Yes, but not a library facility yes yes
SecondStage (Mountain View Center for
the Performing Arts) 200 Yes, but not a library facility yes yes
Friends Room (Newport Beach) 187 yes no no
Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium (Santa
Monica) 146 yes yes yes
COMPARISON WITH PEER LJ STAR LIBRARIES, 2017:
CATEGORY STARS LIBRARY
CIRC
PER
CAPITA
eCIRC PER
CAPITA
VISITS
PER
CAPITA
PROGRAM
ATTENDANCE
PER CAPITA
PUBLIC
INTERNET
USE PER CAPITA
$5M-$9.9M **** CERRITOS 11.2 0.3 31.9 0.4 4.2
$5M-$9.9M *** NEWPORT
BEACH
18.5
(2)
1.2
(2)
14.4
(2)
0.7
(2)
1.3
(4)
$5M-$9.9M **** PALO ALTO 22.4 1.8 12.1 0.7 1.6
$10M-
$29.9M ***** SANTA
MONICA
17.1 0.8 13.5 0.8 2
SOURCE: https://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/12/managing-libraries/lj-index/class-of-2017/all-the-stars-2017-state-by-state/#_
The LJ Index of Public Library Service is an index of public library service output and places equal weight on five related
per capita output indicators: visits, circulation, e-circulation, program attendance, and public Internet computer use.
Libraries are scored in relation to other peer libraries based on total operating expenditures.
A comparative look at the service output statistics by our peers who have also attained Library Journal star status shows
that NBPL ranks 2nd highest in 4 categories and ranks last in one category, “Public Internet Use Per Capita”.
According to the Library Journal, “There are at least two dramatically different strategies for pursuing a higher LJ Index
score. One is to excel as much as possible at all five types of service output; another is to focus on one or two specific
types of output and excel exceptionally at those. The LJ Index design makes no assumptions about the intended output
of a library. It does not assume that a library must excel across the board. It allows a library to excel on one service
output—even if at the expense of others—if that is the course that library’s decision-makers chart.
As a result, each of the five per capita statistics used to calculate an LJ Index score is given equal weight. Total circulation
is not assumed to be any more important than program attendance. Library visits are not assumed to be any more
crucial than uses of public Internet computers. Because the LJ Index formula uses standard scores, a library gets full
credit for reporting an exceptionally high figure on a single statistic.
Sometimes, though, excelling on a single statistic does not suffice to earn a library Star status. In such cases, it may be
useful to examine the per capita statistics for your library’s expenditure category peers. Perhaps your library reported
the highest value for one of the per capita statistics without achieving Star status. Or perhaps your library reported the
highest value on a statistic for some subset of libraries in its expenditure category.”
NOTICING:
This agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the Board
of Library Trustees considers the item).