Powerpoint presentation on Annual Reports in libraries by LIS 2830 students Nicole Brothers, Amiya Hutson, Kelly Morris, Jason Vey (Spring 2011).

1. LIS 2830Annual Reports Nicole Brothers, Amiya Hutson, Kelly Morris, Jason Vey

2. Annual Reports (AP) - are records of accountability. They present a company's financial standing, image, identity, product, and performance; they give substantial insight into where the company may be headed in the future. Many companies use AP’s as marketing tools by listing accomplishments, achievements, thanking and recognizing donors. Define Annual Reports

3. A LIBRARY’S ANNUAL REPORT SHOULD . . . Capture the Year in Pictures Highlight Programs & Community Outreach Recognize Board Recognize Volunteers such as Friends of Library& Committee Members Recognize Donors Recognize Staff Financial Report Define Annual Reports

4. Key Issues Academic Libraries Report Audience: May Include Faculty, Students, Administration, Alumni, and Others Report Content: Average “16.5 pages long” Tend to be “arranged by introduction, highlights, and statistics Include collection size, circulation statistics, cataloging and technical services, interlibrary loan, information technology information, staff data, financial data, internal benchmarks, and comparisons to other libraries” Increasingly include “strategic credibility” information, which is defined as the criteria “to determine the profitability or success of an industry or service”

5. Report Audience: Principal, Teachers, Students, AdministratorsReport Content: Financial statements of purchases, including books, materials, and equipment Use of the physical space of the library by classes and individuals Links the library program can make to students’ academic achievements Instructional projects with teachers Participation of the librarian in professional development initiatives, curriculum coordination, professional learning community, etc. Circulation statistics Inventory records Budget considerations for the future Progress towards the current year’s goals Goals for the following year (Jensen, 2008) School Libraries Key Issues

6. Public Libraries Report Audience: Public relations oriented reports always keep the public/patrons in mindReport Content: Emphasize the “message” and “corporate identity” of the library Information on “income, circulation, program attendance” Information on “outreach activities” Summaries of “major accomplishments of the year” Reports these days tend to lack information on “behind-the-scenes” operations of the library (i.e. technical services, interlibrary relationships, collections info, etc.) Key Issues

7. What is a Special Library? It is a library that provides focused information to a defined group of users, often under the direction of a parent organization.Report Audience: Usually the CEO and other leaders of the parent organization that operates the library, plus the library patronsReport Content: Details on acquisition, organization, and dissemination of materials Staff information Budget information Updates on the collection and/or facility The mission of the library; how it supports its unique user group and the parent organization Special Libraries Key Issues

8. What is an Archival Library? It is a library that provides a collection of – usually unpublished, unique -documents considered to be of enduring cultural, historical or evidentiary value that have been accumulated over an individual or organizations lifetime.Report Audience: May include Historians, genealogists, demographers, community leaders and the library patronsReport Content: Details on acquisition and organization of gifts/materials to the archival center. Partnership and Outreach activities Budget information donations and expenditures Archival Libraries Key Issues

9. Formal Back & White- little color Few or no images Mostly columns & figures Divergent Viewpoints

10. Dynamic Bold, Colorful Mostly Images Creative & Visually Striking Divergent Viewpoints

11. Digital No printing costs associated Can be e-mailed Can be made available to a wider audience Can be much larger/longer Can be interactive or animated Can be easily changed and updated in case of errors Divergent Viewpoints Printed Provides a physical reminder Cannot be easily modified/tampered with Controlled access-only available to certain people Does not require electronic expertise Does not require a digital space

12. All libraries provide budget information and statistics detailing some aspect of their library whether it is acquisitions, circulation or patronage. Most libraries had a copy of their annual report in an online format and hard copy for friends and donors. A majority of the archival libraries – usually due to funding restraints – had an online version only.Where academic, public, school, special and archival libraries differ is in their view of what important information to share within the annual report: Academic: Patron use statistics Public: Message, identity, and financials School: Use of space, programs, participation Special: Material details Archival: New acquisitions Comparison and contrast

13. Cheney, Kristin A. Is an Annual Report in Your Library's Future? Law Libr. J. 97: 493 (2005)This is a print resource that examines the need for annual reports, and reflects upon the experiences of the author in constructing her first annual report. It discusses the many pitfalls and problems one can encounter when creating your first annual report and looks at the “content, structure, and dissemination of an annual report.” The article focuses on academic libraries, but stresses that the observations therein are equally applicable to other types of libraries, including law libraries and county, state, and federal libraries. Since it was written in 2005, it is a more recent print resource, which makes it a valuable tool for those constructing annual reports. It is available through the Lexis-Nexis database in PittCat. David, Carol. Mythmaking in Annual Reports. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 15: 195 (2001)This article looks at how annual reports in various industries have increasingly used fancy formatting and elaborate graphics and photographs in their text, sometimes in an effort to misrepresent the truth behind the facts presented therein. It talks about how to see past the presentation using semi logical analysis to determine whether an annual report is ethically sound, or is endeavoring to create a cultural myth, building the organization up to be far more than it actually is. This begs the question: how much is too much when it comes to attractive formatting in an annual report? Annual Report as an Advocacy Toolhttp://kasl.typepad.com/kasl/2009/04/annual-report-as-advocacy-tool.htmlThe title of this site is self-explanatory. It is a defense of libraries as an advocacy tool. This site focuses strongly on school libraries, but we could challenge the class to examine the advocacy tactics herein and apply them to other types of libraries. There may be times when we all work in areas outside of our main focus and cross-compatibility and applicability of skills is essential. Finally, since we are in a marketing class it’s important to focus on the advocacy angle of annual reports. They don’t exist just to prove we’re doing something--they exist so that we can use them to market our library and push for more support and better funding. British Library Annual Reports and Accounts.http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/annrep/This website is a link to the annual reports of recent years from the British Library. Starting in 2006-07, the British Library began to change the way that they produced their annual report. Instead of settling for the traditional, boring print document, they created a digital, multimedia report aimed at achieving better viewership by patrons. The report contained some of the traditional text but also included video clips and animated charts. Each of the annual reports since 2006-07 have continued to use Web 2.0 and multimedia technology to present information. The reports are good real world examples on how to create a unique, interesting annual report. Any library, regardless of type, can find ways to emulate these examples. Annotated Bibliography

14. Library Grits Blog: Importance of Creating an Annual Reporthttp://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2009/06/importance-of-creating-annual-report.htmlThis blog presents a breakdown of a school librarian’s first annual report, how it was deemed so useful by the school administration that it was forwarded to parents, and what the librarian believes are the tangible benefits of doing such a report. The ten reasons for doing an annual report for your library are points that every librarian should consider, no matter what type of library he or she runs, and are applicable across the board. At the end of the blog she includes a link to her annual report, as well as a link to a Google docs spreadsheet (public) for adding links to other annual reports. This blog, and its included report and spreadsheet link, can be viewed below. Spreadsheet of Library Annual Reportshttp://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rzw8hacvB7jFRUNB6L2S29Q#gid=0This is the above-referenced spreadsheet, a great resource for people that are unsure how to get started in creating an annual report. Comparison and contrast of other, pre-existing reports is always a good launch pad for getting your own project up and running. Jensen, Amy. “Presenting the Evidence: Librarian’s Annual Report to the Principal.” KnowledgeQuest vol. 37, no. 2: 28-32 (Nov.-Dec. 2008)This article discusses the need for school librarians to present an annual report to the principal of their school. It also suggests other potential audiences of the report, such as teachers, students, and administrators, among others. The article emphasizes the importance of creating a powerful report, noting that the end of the year (when a report is typically issued) tends to be a busy time for a principal who might be inclined to ignore or merely skim a document from the library. To achieve the goal of writing a good report, the article provides a list of content that should be included. Lear, Bernadette A. "'Tis Better to Be Brief than Tedious"? The Evolution of the American Public Library Annual Report, 1876-2004. Libraries & the Cultural Record 41:4, 462-486 (Fall, 2006)This article tracks the history of annual report writing in public libraries from the year 1876 to 2004 and charts the gradual changes in style and content that occurred over the years. The second half of the article is most relevant to annual report writing of today. The article provides examples of content that is common in today’s annual reports, such as mission statements, descriptions of outreach activities, publicity material, budget information, circulation statistics, program attendance statistics, and goals met during the past year. Notable and, in the views of the author, unfortunate exclusions from public library annual reports of today are information on behind-the-scenes operations (collections, technical services, interlibrary relationships), information on individual branch activity (as opposed to main branch activity), and information of historical or cultural importance that give a picture of the library’s history and connections to society. Annotated Bibliography

15. The Use of Annual Reports in Law Libraries: an Annotated Bibliography - http://www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/toolkit/annualreportsbib.pdfThis three-page annotated bibliography is somewhat mistitled, as it presents resources for creating and utilizing annual reports in all types of libraries. Resources covered range from 1980 through 2003, so it runs the gamut of earlier research through more current. The resources are wide and varied and range from the titular law libraries through annual report writing in school library media centers, to writing annual reports for solo librarians. It could, however, suffer a bit from not having anything from the past eight years, since the digital age has taken off. Taylor, Caroline. Publishing the Nonprofit Annual Report: Tips, Traps, and Tricks of the Trade. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.Author Caroline Taylor offers tips on how to create an impressive, high-quality annual report. The book begins with a chapter that explains why annual reports are necessary and how they “fit into an organization’s overall communications strategy,” asserting that good annual reports “always promote.” Annual reports serve an important function as stand-alone communications that have a focused message. All major players at an organization should have some input into a final report, including the CEO (or equivalent) and any “content experts” in the organization. After defining the report and who writes it, the books delves into planning tips, the importance of making and meeting deadlines, how to write effective and interesting prose, design and layout advice, and how to go about handling printing and mailing services. Last is a chapter on how to evaluate the success of the report writing project after it has been completed. Writing an annual report is a time-consuming task, but it need not be an expensive nightmare. By carefully working through the steps offered in this book, a report writer can ensure success even when working with a limited budget. Annotated Bibliography

16. PLEASE COMPLETE ALL THREE ACTIVITIES AND POST YOUR RESPONSES TO THE DISCUSSION BOARD Read the blog entry on one librarian's experience doing her first annual report, and discuss. What did she do right? What could she have done better? What is to be learned from her experience? Resource: Library Grits Blog: Importance of Creating an Annual Reporthttp://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2009/06/importance-of-creating-annual-report.html Using the spreadsheet of library annual reports, choose three different reports from three different kinds of libraries. Compare and contrast these as shown earlier in the PowerPoint presentation. Resource: Spreadsheet of Library Annual Reportshttp://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rzw8hacvB7jFRUNB6L2S29Q#gid=0 Read the article "Mythmaking in Annual Reports," available through a PittCat database search. Discuss. How much attractive formatting is too much? Should an annual report be attractive, or bare-bones? In big business, annual reports are often prepared for upper management to justify a department's existence. In libraries, annual reports are not only presented to the board, but often to the world at large. They not only justify the library's service, they are sometimes used as advocacy tools for the library. How can a library's annual report strike a balance between statistics for the board and state funding, and accessibility to the community at large? Resource: David, Carol. Mythmaking in Annual Reports. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 15: 195 (2001) Engaging Activity