Public Library Circulation, Anonymized Patron Access Records, and Budget Information
It is a clone of this request.
| Submitted | Feb. 21, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Bree Norlander
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Colorado Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
1. Total circulation of library materials (broken down by material type) for 2017, 2018, 2019. Please provide these as aggregated monthly totals for 2017, 2018, 2019. If possible please include the following details:
-Total physical item circulation (delineated by first time check-outs versus renewals)
-Total number of circulations of electronic materials
-Total circulation
-Electronic Content Use
-Total Collection Use
2. Lost library items aggregated monthly for 2017, 2018, and 2019.
3. Patron circulation records including material due dates and material return dates for 2017, 2018, and 2019. If possible, please provide these as hashed (de-identified but with unique key per patron).
4. Annual itemized library budget 2017, 2018, and 2019 including any donations made to the library. Please provide a record of donations collected aggregated monthly for these years. Please also provide a description of how donations are solicited.
5. The total revenue of fines and total revenue of fees collected 2017, 2018, and 2019.
6. The current library policy on fines and fees and the date this policy took effect as well as dates of changes to the policy between 2017 and today.
7. The definition (if any) your library uses for "active borrower".
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This request is part of a research project by the Information School at the University of Washington to better understand how removal of library fines affects library circulation, patron visits, and library budgets. We are committed to open access and plan to make our findings broadly available to the public. If fees cannot be waived please inform us in advance.
We ask that, if possible, you please respond via email with data files in machine-readable format (examples include .csv, .txt., .xls/x) or if applicable text documents or clear, high-quality scanned PDFs. If you cannot reply electronically, please mail us the best quality copies you reasonably can. Your efforts help us ensure broad accessibility and equity.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Bree Norlander
From: Bree Norlander
Hello,
Due to the toll that COVID-19 is taking on all aspects of work and life, we are withdrawing this request for public records. We do not want to add an additional burden onto anyone's workload. We wish you and your library the best, and hope at some point in the future to request data (through email) from you regarding our research. For now please consider the request closed.
Take care,
Dr. Nicholas Weber, nmweber@uw.edu
Bree Norlander, norlab@uw.edu
University of Washington Information School
From:
Bree,
Thank you for your request for information. We apologize that our reply was
not completed in a timely manner. The letter was routed to several
departments before reaching the proper department. Please note the
following responses:
1. & 2. Please note the Excel file, shared at the bottom of this message,
with the data we have available. Please note there are two spreadsheets in
the same document.
3. Detailed transactional data with personally identifiable information
de-identified, is not readily available or part of any standard reporting
Denver Public Library utilizes. As such, we estimate that providing this
information for the period requested (3 calendar years) would require
approximately 8 hours of staff time to compile and format. The City and
County of Denver currently charges $33/hour for CORA research, retrieval,
and review
<https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/city-of-denver-home/cora.html>.
If you would like for us to proceed with this request, please send a check
for $264 to:
Denver Public Library
Attention: Erika Martinez
10 W. Fourteenth Ave. Pkwy
Denver, CO 80204
If your request takes less than 8 hours, we will reimburse you for the
remainder. Please be advised that the library is currently closed due to
the COVID-19 until further notice. Mail is currently not being delivered to
any department during the closure, therefore, the delivery of your check
may be delayed. Once a check is issued by you, please send an email to
ermartinez@denverlibrary.org to coordinate during closure.
4. & 5. All requested budget information for Denver Public Library is
available through public record. Denver Public Library is not the owner of
information regarding donations; these are handled separately through
the Denver
Public Library Friends Foundation <http://www.dplfriends.org/>)
2018 - Vol 1
<https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/344/documents/Budget/2018/Document_BudgetBookVolume1_2018.pdf>
2018 - Vol 2
<https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/344/documents/Budget/2018/Document_BudgetBookVolume2_2018.pdf>
6. Our current policy on fines and fees is available on our website
<https://www.denverlibrary.org/library-card-and-borrowing-policy> and took
effect 1/1/2019 <https://www.denverlibrary.org/fine-free>.
7. Per Colorado data collection guidelines, we define "active borrower" as
any registered library user who has used the library in the past three (3)
years.
I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any future CORA
requests or are in need of information such as this in the future, please
contact our Communications Office at mediarelations@denverlibrary.org.
Sincerely,
*Erika R. Martinez*
Director of Communications & Community Engagement
Denver Public Library
Office: 720-865-2048
Mobile: 303-888-0311
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Copy of FOIA Request - 20200221
From: Bree Norlander
Dear Erika,
Thank you so much for the data you provided. We do not have the funds to cover the additional records requests but will use what you have provided. I hope you are well and I really appreciate your help.
Sincerely,
Bree Norlander
Research Analyst & Coordinator
University of Washington Information School
norlab@uw.edu
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Colorado Open Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 21, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Denver Public Libraries
Hi, thank you for your inquiry. The records requested were provided on
March 26, 2020. A response from you on March 30, 2020 stated you did not
want to proceed with the data that would require a payment from your
organization. Can you please clarify what you are referring to?
Thanks.
*Erika R. Martinez*
Director of Communications & Community Engagement
Denver Public Library
Office: 720-865-2048
Mobile: 303-888-0311
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