Finnish Local Government 2004: Libraries 1996

The survey focused on public libraries in Finnish municipalities, concentrating on their management, services and development. Other similar surveys were carried out in 1999 and 2002. First, the respondents were asked a number of questions relating to staff qualifications and numbers, library facilities, and expenditure. Services were investigated with detailed questions about opening hours, types of services on offer, library use, stock, acquisitions and loans, loan periods, fines and charges, and whether there were other services (e.g. a museum, health centre, banks) in the immediate vicinity of the library. Use of and satisfaction with contracted-out services were surveyed. One theme covered influence and decision-making. The respondents were asked which issues they themselves could decide in the role of the person in charge. They also assessed how much influence library users, staff, the municipal council, local businesses, etc. have on the decision-making concerning library matters. One set of questions pertained to members of the municipal committee responsible for library matters, asking about their level of activity, knowledge of libraries, etc. Use of performance measures in evaluation was charted, as well as respondent opinion on whether certain factors promoted or hindered the use of these performance indicators. The respondents were also asked how useful the indicators would be in operational planning, reallocation of resources, etc. One topic pertained to developmental policy. The respondents assessed the state of services in their library in terms of accessibility, sufficiency of stock, premises, etc. They were asked what kind of changes had been implemented in the services, organisation, financing, etc. in the past four years, and what areas in their library they thought were in need of increased resources. They were also asked whether certain areas for development (e.g. image promotion and marketing, increasing the influence of users or staff, introducing new services, increasing staff numbers, contracting out services) would be important for the library in the coming years. An additional questionnaire was used to collect basic information from small service units like mobile libraries and institution libraries. Background variables included library type, and the respondent's gender, mother tongue, year of birth, job title or position, education, previous work experience, responsibility areas at work, and elected positions of trust.

该调查集中于芬兰市镇的公共图书馆，聚焦于其管理、服务与发展。此前，于1999年和2002年亦开展了若干相似的调查。首先，受访者被问及一系列涉及员工资质与数量、图书馆设施及支出的相关问题。服务方面，通过细致的提问探究了开放时间、提供的服务类型、图书馆使用情况、馆藏、采购与借阅、借阅期限、罚款与费用，以及图书馆周边是否存在其他服务（例如博物馆、健康中心、银行）。对外包服务的使用与满意度亦进行了调查。其中一主题涉及影响与决策。受访者被问及在负责人角色中，他们自身能够决定哪些问题。他们还评估了图书馆用户、员工、市议会、当地企业等对图书馆事务决策的影响程度。一组问题针对负责图书馆事务的市镇委员会成员，询问了他们的活跃程度、对图书馆的了解等。评价中性能指标的使用情况被绘制成图表，以及受访者对某些因素是否促进或阻碍了这些绩效指标应用的看法。受访者还被问及这些指标在运营规划、资源重新分配等方面的实用性。一个议题涉及发展政策。受访者从可达性、馆藏充足性、设施等角度评估了他们图书馆服务现状。他们被问及在过去四年中，在服务、组织、融资等方面实施了何种变更，以及他们认为图书馆哪些领域需要增加资源。他们还被问及某些发展领域（例如形象推广与市场营销、提升用户或员工的影响力、引入新服务、增加员工数量、外包服务）在未来几年对图书馆是否重要。此外，一份附加问卷被用于收集来自小型服务单位，如流动图书馆和机构图书馆的基本信息。背景变量包括图书馆类型、受访者的性别、母语、出生年份、职业头衔或职位、教育背景、以往工作经验、工作责任领域以及选举的信任职位。