INFORUM 2011

Numbers Storytelling or Library Activities from Statistical Point of View

Author

Jana Ilavská, Comenius University in Bratislava - Academic Library and Faculty of Philosophy - Department of Library and Information Science, Slovakia

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Abstract

Different statistical indicators are used for evaluation of library performance. Activities of Slovak academic libraries are considered on the basis of official statistical reports of Ministry of education, science, research and sport of the Slovak Republic as well as on the basis of different reviews, outlines or summaries, which are component parts of annual reports of universities. Numerous colleges or universities ask their libraries for additional details, which are used for internal evaluation of faculties, departments, individual persons. The article will bring overview of different kinds of statistics (publication activities, library activities, usage of electronic information resources, etc.) which Academic Library of Comenius University used to prepare, draw attention to obstacles of input data collection and problems related to their processing. Interpretation of just the same results does not need to be always the same. Frequently it depends on the point of view and on the aim for which the data are requested.

Author's professional CV

Jana Ilavska is a PhD student of the Department of Library and Information Science at Faculty of Philosophy of Comenius University in Bratislava. She is interested especially in information systems, bibliometrics and scientometrics. At the same time the author works as system administrator and system librarian at Academic Library of Comenius University in Bratislava.