Reform of library statistics: unified data structure and data visualization

Abstract

Since 1995, the Hungarian Library Institute (HLI) and its predecessor, the Centre for Library Science and Methodology have been managing the library statistics data service, that covers organizing the collection and publishing of data. A complete overhaul of the data reporting interface took place in 2020. In 2021, the staff of the Research and Analysis Department of HLI carried out a comprehensive data clean-up back to 2015, and developed a unified data structure that made data for the years 2015 to 2020 easily comparable. As a result of this work, data sets are now available for detailed professional and scientific analysis, and can be easily managed in Excel and SPSS. In order to make the data easily and quickly accessible, the changes in the number, operation, services and use of library service points in Hungary will be provided on a web interface using state-of-the-art data visualization tools. In addition, the staff of the Research and Analysis Department have launched a new, electronic series of publications under the title Library Trend Reports, twelve issues till now, presenting the main changes in the Hungarian library system in recent years.