Using transaction records stored in the integrated library system for a statistical analysis of library use. Lessons from the analysis carried out in the Méliusz Juhász Péter Library, Debrecen, Hungary

Abstract

There is an increasing demand from society, and especially from maintaining bodies, to demonstrate the usefulness of public money spent on libraries. Society views libraries as an essential part of the welfare system, and considers their role in the preservation and provision of knowledge as essential. However, today the library as an organization and librarians as a social group must demonstrate that the importance of libraries in the modern age is uninterrupted, and public money spent on libraries, their operation and on enriching their collections will continue to pay off in the future as well.
All this needs to be substantiated by data, and the most important sources of these data may be in the future transactional records, logged in integrated library systems, and often retained for decades. In addition, the library community itself wants to give a more detailed picture of the use of the collection it manages. In particular, the managers of institutions are increasingly asking: How much and what kind of information should be used from previous data rows on borrowing in forming the policy of acquisions and weeding? One of the most obvious ways to use the mass of data stored in integrated library systems is to produce library usage statistics. In addition to statistics transmitted to the bodies and professional leaders, they may serve as a basis for reading-sociological research.