Posted on December 19, 2016 at 3:52 PM by Lianne Flax
All Kansas Public Library Directors:
The annual KS Public Library Survey/State Report will be open from January 1 through February 10, 2017.
To receive State Aid your library must complete the KS Public Library Survey/State Report on or before the February 10, 2017 deadline AND your municipal budget must be eligible, based on maintenance of effort. For State Aid eligibility status and Survey completed updates visit this State Aid Status page. This is updated multiple times a days.
If your library is ineligible based on lack of maintenance of effort after reviewing your municipal budget, you will be contacted via email. I will work with you on possible solutions. Your status will read “No” within the “Budget Eligible” column of the State Aid Status spreadsheet. Please contact me immediately if you show this status and did not receive my email.
Completion of the Kansas Public Library Survey/State Report (regardless of State Aid eligibility) is necessary to be eligible for LSTA subgrants or inclusion in any SLK pilot projects.
Overview
- Survey runs from January 1, 2017 through February 10, 2017
- Statistics are to cover calendar year 2016
- Workbook/Instructions/Survey Questions can be located HERE
- Communications, reminders, etc. for the KS Public Library Survey/State Report and also State Aid is mainly handled through email.
- Many answers will be prepopulated for your library within the online survey. Please be aware that since the data covers the entire 2016 calendar year and the survey opens the first day of the new year, some fields many not have your answer yet. These should all be completed and in your survey by Jan 6. The data used is either a statistic which was already submitted by your library to the State Library or a Regional Library System or within reports ran at the State Library or Regional Library System on your behalf.
Changes/Additions
- There are no major changes to the survey this year. The workbook/instructions/survey questions document does look different but is only a formatting change to mirror the online survey.
- A few questions within the online survey look different also but hopefully will be easier to read, in particular within the programming section.
- There is a new question which deals with “Successful Retrieval of Electronic Resources”. Many people asked last year where to put Hoopla or Zinio statistics, this is the place to add the usage (may be being prepopulated by your Regional). This is also the place to add any usage of databases which may be unique to your library and not part of the statewide databases. If you have any questions on how to count this for other databases, please let me know. This is a new data element and some kinks are still being worked out, as this is a national question.
Assistance/Training
- Two identical webinars will be held covering how to input the data online, a State Aid overview and any changes/additions. These will be recorded and available for those unable to attend.
- Feel free to email Megan Schulz or call 785-296-2008 with any questions you may have or to talk through the process.
Misc.
- The Public Library Data Service (PLDS) Statistical Report is a voluntary annual survey conducted by the Public Library Association (PLA) and may be open again at the same time as our state survey. The State Library does not run this survey but your responses to the questions on the KS Public Library Survey/State Report which overlap with the PLDS will be used to prepopulate answers after Feb 10. It is my understanding that the deadline for the PLDS would be after the Kansas survey closes.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or needs.
Megan Schulz