Long lost blog!

Aaaaah my long lost blog - I had almost forgotten about you. Maybe I'll start posting again...Library statistics. That's a biggie for me right now. Of course, now they're called "library metrics". Why? I'm guessing, to signal a new way of representing library value. This was the topic at the latest QPLA Conference. What did I learn? I learned that the presenters didnt' have a magic bullet for adequately describing library value either (sigh). But with falling lending stats being an international phenomenon, librarians really really have to find some credible measures of value or face irrelevancy/redundancy. One presenter suggested "more participation stories", eg the guy who borrowed a book, and found a bit of information that he turned into a business idea and now he's a multimillionaire. How do you put a measure on, or even tells stories about, pleasure? Or fulfillment? Or insight? Yes, it's a toughie.