In the technology-dominated society of the 21st century, there are many tools to report on and keep track of both physical and digital resources that are borrowed for reading. Library information systems can generate reports containing a wide range of information for a variety of purposes, such as the frequency of a resource’s use or a resource’s average loan time. With the accessibility to this data, these reports have become integral for library operations, including justifying how budgets are allocated to purchase resources (Goertzen, 2017). However, data is only a quantitative measure and a representation of reality, and inferences can be made from generated reports that do not match the actual needs of the readers. While readers may check out items frequently or for long periods of time, there is no mechanism to determine whether an item has been read or whether a reader has found usefulness of value in the resource, which can artificially inflate data in reports. Employing methods such as asking students to write summaries of their thoughts on borrowed items or using tracking tools to see attentiveness for digital items detracts from the purpose of reading for pleasure (Thomas et al., 2020). At this stage, I do not have an answer, but I believe encouragement and support for students learning through early intervention is key. While output measures can provide a strong basis to inform library budgets, it is important to consider the context of data and determine whether books borrowed by students are meeting their needs.

References:

Goertzen, M. J. (2017). Introduction to quantitative research and data. Library Technology Reports, 53(4), 12-18. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/6325/8274

Thomas, N. P., Crow, S. R., Henning, J. A., & Donham, J. (2020). Information literacy and information skills instruction: New directions for school libraries. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=TlHEEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Information+literacy+and+information+skills+instruction:+New+directions+for+school+libraries.+Bloomsbury+Publishing+USA