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2020 Wisconsin Public Library Annual Report:�Virtual Programming

Michael Dennison

Public Library Consultant

December 2020

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

In-person

(synchronous)

Live, Virtual�(synchronous)

Pre-Recorded�(asynchronous)

In order to understand the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on libraries, the Division for Libraries and Technology has added additional format break-outs to the Programming section of the Wisconsin Public Library Annual Report. The motivation for adding these questions is that most buildings nationwide were physically closed to the public, but libraries continued to provide live, virtual (or synchronous) programming and pre-recorded (or asynchronous) content for the public. While the break-out of these programming data elements are not on the Federal Public Libraries Survey yet, live views of virtual programs and in-person attendance at live, on-site programs both count as program attendance on the Federal PLS.

All of the following program information will again be requested on the 2021 Wisconsin Public Library Annual Report. If your library is not currently tracking the information that follows at the level of detail requested, you will be able to indicate so in the annual report and provide programming and attendance details in the traditional format. Also, the library may begin collecting the details of these interactions in January 2021 for the 2021 annual report.

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

	11a. Children (0-11)	11b. Young Adult (12-18)	11c. Other (all ages)	11d. Total
Number of In-person Programs	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row
Total In-person Program Attendance	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row

The number of in-person programs and the total in-person program attendance are values you are all familiar with. This is the traditional metric for counting library programming events and the number of individuals who attended those events. As a reminder, an in-person library program is a planned event which introduces the in-person group attending to any of the broad range of library services or activities or which directly provides information to participants. In-person programs may cover use of the library, library services, or library tours. In-person library programs may also provide cultural, recreational, or educational information, often designed to meet a specific social need. Examples of these types of in-person programs include: film showings; lectures; story hours; literacy, English as a second language, and citizenship classes; and book discussions.

Count all in-person programs held on- or off-site that are sponsored or co-sponsored by the library. For example, a book club offered every two weeks, or 26 weeks a year, should be counted as 26 programs. If in-person programs are offered as a series, count each in-person program in the series.

Exclude in-person programs sponsored by other groups that use library facilities.

If an in-person library program is co-sponsored by another library, the library that is hosting the program should count the program. The attendance may be counted by the host library, the co-sponsor, or divided using a mutually agreed upon method such as evenly, or proportionately by service population so long as the attendance is not double-counted on each library’s annual report. If an in-person library program is co-sponsored by another library and hosted at a neutral location, the libraries involved should determine which library will report the program and attendance without duplicating the number of programs or attendance on the libraries’ annual reports. For example, the libraries may choose to divide the attendance figures evenly between each library’s report or proportionately based on service population, however, only one library may count the program and each attendee should only be counted once.

Children’s program attendance is the count of each attendee or viewer of all children’s programs for which the primary audience is children 11 years and younger. Include adults or other patrons who attended or viewed the children's program, regardless of age. The same goes for young adult programs respectively - count all attendees at programs targeted at young adults (persons aged 12-18) regardless of the age of the attendee. Programs with a targeted group outside of the 0-11 or 12-18 age categories for children and young adults or targeted to a general audience should be recorded as “Other (all ages)” programs and attendees. This age break-out by target audience is applicable to the live, virtual and pre-recorded formats as well, so the reporting format should feel familiar.

Please note: Exclude library activities delivered on a one-to-one basis, rather than to a group, such as one-to-one literacy tutoring, services to homebound, resume writing assistance, homework assistance, and mentoring activities.

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

	12a. Children (0-11)	12b. Young Adult (12-18)	12c. Other (all ages)	12d. Total
Number of Live Virtual Programs	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row
Total Live Virtual Program Attendance	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row
Total Views of Live Programs that were Recorded and Posted for Asynchronous Viewing	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row

A live, virtual library program is any planned library program that is live-streamed virtually and viewed live as it progresses (called “synchronous live-streaming”). Regardless of the number of formats in which a live, virtual program session is offered, each live, virtual program session should only be counted once. Include live, virtual program sessions that are also recorded for asynchronous viewing as a single live, virtual program session. Exclude live, virtual program sessions that also have an in-person component from the “Number of Live Virtual Programs” count; these should be counted as in-person programs and the live attendees should be categorized as “In-person Program Attendees.” Do not duplicate numbers for each branch.

As with in-person programs, a live, virtual program is a planned event which introduces the group attending to any of the broad range of library services or activities or which directly provides information to participants. Co-sponsored programs should be reported using a mutually agreed on method that does not duplicate program or viewer counts. All viewers should be reported in the targeted age of the virtual program. For example, viewers of children’s content would be reported in the live, virtual program attendance regardless of the age of the viewer.

Note: Exclude live, virtual library activities delivered on a one-to-one basis, rather than to a group, such as one-to-one virtual literacy tutoring, virtual services to homebound, virtual resume writing assistance, virtual homework assistance, and virtual mentoring activities.

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

	13a. Children (0-11)	13b. Young Adult (12-18)	13c. Other (all ages)	13d. Total
Number of Pre-recorded Programs	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row
Total Pre-recorded Program Attendance	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	# or ☑ Not Available	Sum of this row

A pre-recorded library program is any planned event that is recorded by the library for later, on-demand viewing (or asynchronous streaming). It is important to note, that this should only be used to count content recorded by your library or a co-sponsor library. Do not count shares of available content or posts of externally-created videos. Only include views of program sessions posted during the reporting period. Regardless of the number of formats in which a pre-recorded program is hosted, each pre-recorded program should only be counted once. Do not duplicate numbers for each branch. Exclude program sessions that also have an in-person component or live, virtual attendance; these should be counted as in-person programs or live, virtual programs respectively.

Co-sponsored programs should be reported using a mutually agreed on method that does not duplicate program or viewer counts. All viewers should be reported in the targeted age of the pre-recorded, virtual program. For example, viewers of children’s content would be reported in the pre-recorded program attendance regardless of the age of the viewer.

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

172 programming values required follow-up (2019)

61% of total values requiring follow-up
Single-largest category requiring one-on-one follow-up

New narrative field

Successes
Collaborations
Lessons
Staffing
Platforms used

Programming values are the single-largest contributor to what are called “edit checks” on the Federal Public Libraries Survey. These edit checks are flagged on the Federal survey as values that are out of alignment with a key ratio or what the expected variation would be from last year to this year. As an example, a response that indicates 10 programs with 100 attendees each might generate an edit check or reporting 300 children’s program attendees last year, but only 45 this year would be flagged as an unexpected variation from year-to-year that requires follow-up. The vast majority of these reported values have legitimate explanations - very few are the result of a mis-typed figure. In order to hear more details about programming successes, operations, platforms used for virtual programming, and to also ease the reporting follow-up for your library and your system, the Division for Libraries and Technology has added a narrative field to each of the the three programming formats. It is our hope you will use these narrative fields to report on collaborations, successes, lessons learned, and changes to programming from the prior year - including staffing changes - that specifically impacted library programming. These details will help us to provide better technical assistance and reduce the number of post-report follow-ups for your library and your system.

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

Annual Report Instructions
Programming and Activities Workbook/Google Sheets
Youth Services Definitions and Examples
WVLS Digital Bytes “Keeping Track and Recording Program Stats in the Wisconsin Public Library Annual Report”
Platform Metrics Guide

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Virtual Programming Data Elements

Annual report scheduled to open January 25, 2021

Updated instructions will post to https://dpi.wi.gov/pld/data-reports/annual-report

Send questions to your regional library system or to LibraryReport@dpi.wi.gov