The use of statistics by libraries in North America

Abstract

The ultimate use of library data is to help library managers in their decision making activities so that the organization works more effectively and efficiently. Focus on how libraries use statistics at the cross-institutional level. There are a variety of organizations that collect data on libraries in general and academic libraries in particular. Discuss examples of uses of data primarily collected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) with an emphasis on the kind of information that potentially could be useful in the greek academic library environment. Academic libraries in particular face special challenges that need to be addressed with specially designed systematic data gathering activities accompanied by a wide distribution of the findings.