Library Research Service

Library Research Service (LRS) is a nonprofit governmental research organization located in Denver, Colorado. LRS is a part of the Colorado State Library and was established in 1987 by then Colorado State Librarian, Nancy Bolt. The purpose of LRS is to provide public services related to the research and statistics of [public libraries], [school libraries] and [academic libraries]. LRS is the third-oldest established center of library research in the nation after the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. It is the only library research center based in a state library agency and the only one west of the Mississippi River.

Research

Funding

LRS is funded by grants from a number of nonprofit agencies including, but are not limited to, the U.S. Department of Education, the State of Colorado, and the Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR). Grants are used by LRS to fund the design and implementation of research studies which examine a variety topics and issues important to library professionals working in school, public, or academic libraries. Research studies conducted by LRS provide information via original data sets, with intent of further analysis to be completed by the user, or provide analysis of previously collected data sets by LRS or by other nonprofit organizations.

School Libraries

Provided on the LRS website is access to annual statistics for Colorado school libraries. Additionally, users can get national school library statistics as provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The LRS website also provides links to state libraries that provide statistics about school libraries including: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Vermont.

School Impact Studies

In 1990, LRS received its first major grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Library Programs, which is a precursor of today's Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The 1990 grant funded what is known as the Colorado study and was published in 1993 as, The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement.

In 2000, a second Colorado study, How School Librarians help Kids Achieve Standards: the Second Colorado Study was published. This study lead to a total of more than 15 replications of similar studies by as many states and employed ten different teams of researchers. The states which have conducted a school library impact study since the 2000 Colorado study include: Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Colorado School Library Research Tools

Users of the LRS website can find interactive statistics, survey statistics, library profiles, salaries, and a list of challenged materials in Colorado school libraries by going to the website. Interactive Colorado school library statistics are available for 2005 and 2006. Colorado school library survey statistics are available as taken from the annual Colorado School Library Survey in an excel format and cover the school years of 1998/1999 through 2006/2007. Colorado school library profiles are also available through a comparison tool that can be used to compare input and output data for specific school libraries with state averages. The school years presented in the profiles are 2002/2003 through 2006/2007. Users of LRS data can also access information about salaries for school libraries and library assistants for the years of 2000 through 2004. Access to reports from the Colorado Association of Libraries Intellectual Freedom Committee about challenged materials in school libraries in Colorado is also available on the LRS website.

Public Libraries

Provided on the LRS website is access to annual statistics for Colorado public libraries. There is also a link to reports that came from the Counting on Results (CoR) study which was a nationwide examination of the impact of public library services on individual patrons. A number of volunteer libraries from around the country participated in the CoR study. There is also access to the Public Library Data Service Statistical Report from the American Library Association (ALA). Additionally, users can get NCES public library statistics covering the years of 1992 to 2004.

Academic Libraries

Statistics from the federal Academic Library Survey (ALS) are also provided on the LRS website. Academic library statistics from the ALS are provided on a bi-yearly basis starting in 1994 through 2004. The ALS is conducted on a bi-annual basis and studies libraries from public, private and for-profit institutions of higher education in Colorado community colleges, colleges and universities. Users of the LRS website can also find various bi-annual statistics from the NCES starting in 1988 through 2004.

2005 Colorado Academic Library Impact Study

During the Spring of 2005, the Library Research Service, in association with the Colorado Academic Library Consortium, conducted a study about academic library usage and outcomes in order to gain a greater understanding of how these facilities help students learn, and to assess how libraries help instructors with their teaching activities and objectives. Over 3,200 undergraduate students and nearly 400 faculty members from nine Colorado colleges and universities responded to the study. The report and a number of quotable facts are available on the LRS website.

Website: LRS.org

Since 1998

Since 1998, LRS has provided access to library research and statistics through the main LRS website and are offered to users at no cost. From the website, users can find Colorado statistics and national statistics for academic, public, and school libraries. The website also provides interactive tools for users that allows them to locate and access a wide variety of statistics based on the year, location, name, input, or output measure they wish to find.

Three series of reports

The LRS website offers access to three series of reports which include Fast Facts, Closer Look reports, and Quotable Facts. Fast Facts is a series of publications which briefly highlight selected statistics on popular importance to Colorado librarians and library patrons. Fast Facts publications have been published since 1996 and are written predominately by LRS employees and research fellows. Closer Look reports go into greater detail than the Fast Facts publications and reports on major LRS research projects. Quotable Facts are pocket-sized mini-brochures provided to library advocates to assist with fast and easy access to simple and important facts.

Links to Resources

The LRS website also provides links to research and statistics on library technology and other selected topics. There are also a number of dynamic tools that facilitate access to data that may be useful for library managers, trustees, Library and Information Science (LIS) faculty and students, the media, and other organizations that conduct LIS research or collection library-related statistics.

Website Awards

The LRS.org website has won many awards since its initial inception. These awards include the 2003 “Helen M. Eckard Award” for Exemplary Use of “FSCS” and Public Library Data from the “National Center for Education Statistics” and the “National Commission on Libraries and Information Science”. LRS.org also won the AG&H Education Site Award in January, 2004, and the Wise Owl Site of the Month award in March, 2004.