Open AccessYou keep using that word: Slaying the dragon of reference desk statistics
Author(s) -
Celia Rabinowitz
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
college and research libraries news
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.281
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 2150-6698
pISSN - 0099-0086
DOI - 10.5860/crln.82.5.223
Subject(s) - desk , circulation (fluid dynamics) , value (mathematics) , ask price , word (group theory) , reference desk , history , statistics , library science , political science , computer science , business , law , linguistics , mathematics , engineering , finance , aerospace engineering , philosophy
It’s that time of the year again. You know, that time when we are chasing down our IPEDS/ACRL numbers for the dreaded annual reports. Even with some helpful changes over the past few years, I continue to have questions about the value of at least some of the information we are all asked to provide. Some important trends can be clearly tracked. Circulation of print/physical materials has been declining steadily overall and continues to do so. Why? Ask a roomful of librarians and you will undoubtedly get many different explanations, and the reasons are a combination of many of those. Expenditures on those print/physical items is also declining in many academic libraries.