Paul, I've been thinking alot lately about kid's programs that are outside the box of traditional statistics. Take SLP. People record how many kids register - but do they count all the return visits that are so valuable in promoting reading? 1,254 kids registered in our program was actually 3,780 total visits. 450 registered kids in our SLP-like 1000 Books Before kindergarten iniaitive actually results in 940 additional visits. 75 kids in our Free-quent Reader Club results in 150 additional visits and interactions. These non-traditional programs take some front-end planning but then kind of run themselves. And I think more libraries will be going this way as staff and budget cuts continue. These stats are virtually uncounted and unreported . They make up a huge part of our programming though and bring people into the library as much as any storytime, concert, workshop or special event. If we could report what is actually happening in our libraries, program stats would be through the ceiling. Gate counts don't really reflect the magic that happens with what I call "passive programming" for kids.
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Paul, I've been thinking alot lately about kid's programs that are outside the box of traditional statistics. Take SLP. People record how many kids register - but do they count all the return visits that are so valuable in promoting reading? 1,254 kids registered in our program was actually 3,780 total visits. 450 registered kids in our SLP-like 1000 Books Before kindergarten iniaitive actually results in 940 additional visits. 75 kids in our Free-quent Reader Club results in 150 additional visits and interactions. These non-traditional programs take some front-end planning but then kind of run themselves. And I think more libraries will be going this way as staff and budget cuts continue. These stats are virtually uncounted and unreported . They make up a huge part of our programming though and bring people into the library as much as any storytime, concert, workshop or special event. If we could report what is actually happening in our libraries, program stats would be through the ceiling. Gate counts don't really reflect the magic that happens with what I call "passive programming" for kids.
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