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THE COMMUNITY ANALYSIS PROCESS
By Roger C. Greer and Martha L. Hale
This article originally appeared as an invited contribution to Public
librarianship: A reader, edited by Jane Robbins-Carter (1982). Littleton, CO:
Libraries Unlimited, pp. 358-366. Permission to post this article to the New Pathways web site was given by Roger Greer, Martha Hale and Jane Robbins.
Community analysis is a systematic process of collecting, organizing and analyzing data about the library and its environment. It is designed to assist the administrator in choosing from among alternative patterns of satisfying residents' information needs and interests. This article will describe the types of information to be collected and explain the influence of these data on library planning. No magic formulas are included with this technique. It is assumed that one's philosophy of librarianship always affects interpretation, but by being explicit about the philosophy it is hoped that the extent of its influence will be more precisely evident. While intuition and professional judgment are also inevitable in any analysis, the systematic and overlapping processes of data collection and organization will force conclusions and recommendations to emerge from data rather than opinion alone.
Community analysis begins and ends with some careful thinking and talking. [See Michael Krasny's
"What is community?" for a variety of perspectives on the definition of community.] The library board and administrative staff should initiate the process by broadly defining the type of library services needed in the community. A crucial rule at this point is that the statement be written in pencil, not cement. The remaining community analysis techniques will provide data
that will enable the board and administrative staff to revise their opinions and support the final document with facts and figures. .
Begin by considering a comparison of libraries and dictionaries. As dictionaries contain the substance and records of language so do libraries contain the substance and records of our society. The grandfather of all English dictionaries, the most comprehensive and authoritative is the Oxford English Dictionarv. This work contains retrospective information
about words employed in the English Language as far back as about 800. It is the court of last resort for retrospective reference. It can be compared to the great research libraries in this country, the Library of Congress, the library of Harvard University, the New York Public Library. Their strength is measured by the comprehensiveness and depth of their holdings rather than their volume of use. The average person does not need to access these collections daily, monthly, or annually, but may on occasion need information only contained in these collections.
The second level of dictionary is the so-called unabridged. This dictionary is
comprehensive in breadth but limited in depth. For example, Webster's 2nd
edition contains words and examples of their uses retrospective to 1500, while
Webster's 3rd edition has omitted words that were already obsolete by 1755, the date of Johnson's dictionary. It is important to have access to these resources when needed, but they are not on the bookshelves in most of our homes. The library comparable to the unabridged dictionary would be the central library of most metropolitan or regional systems. Each region needs to have access to a collection that is comprehensive and retrospective to a limited degree, as everyone should have access to an unabridged dictionary. However, as not every home needs an unabridged dictionary, neither does every person need immediate access to such an extensive resource.
The dictionary that is essential for every home and office is the abridged dictionary. The scope of this dictionary is limited to those words and phrases that are current, topical, and relevant to everyday life. It contains few retrospective and archaic words; it is not comprehensive, nor does its breadth extend beyond the core of the language employed by the average resident. Consequently, it lacks balance and depth and
reflects the distortions characteristic of the language of the day. The comparable library is, of course, the community or branch library. Its primary function is to reflect the current interests and everyday needs of the population served. It should contain the distortions reflected in a community. For example, the collection of a library serving a ranching community should be heavily oriented to the current issues, problems, technologies and economics associated with that occupation. Whether that means USDA pamphlets, extension service personnel and/or current books will depend on what else is available in the area and on the library's financial resources. The library should not spend equal resources on tangential interests such as the manufacturing of steel or the fishing industry.
Libraries and dictionaries are also segmented into specialized areas. College dictionaries, school dictionaries, primary dictionaries, as well as specialized glossaries and technical handbooks are comparable to academic, school, special, and industrial libraries serving specific
clienteles.
To the extent that this analogy is valid, it can serve as a first step in defining a library's role. The next step in refining the draft statement
describing the type of library needed can be achieved by considering the social
functions of a library. Which of the following library functions are relevant to the client population needs, and which level of service is appropriate for
each function?
Figure 1. Library Functions
Functions of
the Library |
Levels of Service |
| Passive |
Reactive |
Assertive |
Educational
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Cultural
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Informational
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Research
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Recreational
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Bibliographic
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The passive level of service consists of a process of choosing, acquiring,
and organizing materials on the library shelves for the user to discover. It
focuses on acquisition and technical service processes. It is a warehouse
level of service, concentrating on collecting and storing material.
Public libraries in the United States have been predominantly reactive
since World War II. Librarians usually respond enthusiastically to user
requests. The bulk of the material chosen and programs offered is based on
the librarian's best judgement of relevance. Input from the community is
welcomed when it arrives, but it is not collected systematically.
The keys to an assertive level of service are 1) systematic collection of
community data from which needs and interests are inferred, 2) development of
a customized collection, and 3) dissemination of information to meet the inferred and
expressed needs. The central focus of this level of service is the community and its
people. Materials are acquired for known needs of specific people at specific
times.
With a pencil and additional copies of the chart above, tentatively guess how
it would be completed by current users. How would the nonuser majority of
community residents, the city council, and the library staff define the role of the library?
If each group had 100 points, how would it distribute them? It takes more
resources and energies (points) to offer assertive than reactive services; it costs more
to offer reactive than passive services. The passive library is the cheapest and the
least dynamic; it justifies its existence as a possession owned by the community
rather than as a dynamic agency serving a significant function in the day-to-day
interactions of its residents.
The final preliminary activity is to define the geographic area to be studied.
The community analysis techniques described here have been designed for an
analysis of the service area of each branch, station, or bookmobile stop. Locations
for branch libraries and bookmobile stops were originally chosen as outreaches
from a central library, attempts to deliver service to the people where they lived. To
maintain this concept it is important to design collections and services for the
people in those immediate neighborhoods. Studying broad areas such as a city or
a county as a single entity would homogenize the area collections; breaking the
area down, analyzing service area by service area, will lead to customized
services.
Coughlin et al. suggest that a service area be defined by known users; such an
area is where 80% of the users reside [Robert E. Coughlin, F. Taieb, and B. H.
Stevens, Urban Analysis for Branch Library Planning (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Publishing Co., 1972), p. 101]. Cronenberger and Luck reported that,
the standard service area of each branch of the Detroit Public Library was the area
within 1 1/2 mile of each branch library (Robert Cronenberger and Carolyn
Luck, "Analyzing Community Human Information Needs: A Case Study,"
Library Trends, January 1976, p. 517). While this suggestion is obviously of
more use to urban than rural libraries, it is another possibility and reflects library
thinking at the time of the 1956 Public Library Standards. Smaller
towns funded locally have easily defined boundaries. For a community analysis,
then, define "community" as the area surrounding each outpost of service.
Once the service area is defined, the systematic analysis of the community
can begin. The data collection stage is easy, and while it must be supervised by a
project director, it can be done by as many people as are interested, who have the
time and can be coordinated by the director. [A suggested activity for the early phases of data collection is a walk around or drive around of the defined community.
Volunteers, staff members -- from
pages to assistant directors -- and board members should all be involved in this
phase. The purpose of a community analysis is to help the library choose from
among alternatives in allocating resources. If residents are involved in discovering
the needs, it is likely that they will encourage rather than inhibit any necessary
changes. Therefore, we suggest outside consultants should not be employed in this
stage of the process except perhaps to teach techniques of data collection.
An analysis of a library's service area should include an examination of the
data from four perspectives. The previously mentioned article by Cronenberger and
Luck includes an account of a Detroit branch staff that learned through a
demographic study that a group of people from Iraq lived in the area. It was only after
interaction with the people in a local organization that the staff learned why its
attempts to reach the Iraqis by distributing fliers printed in Arabic had failed. These
people were Chaldeans; "their language, religion and culture are different from
those of the Arabs. Furthermore, the recent immigration was largely the result of
Arab oppression of the Chaldean minority in Iraq" (pp. 521-22). Thus, analysis from
only one perspective (e.g. demographic data) may lead to a conclusion that distorts
rather than describes reality. The same community sliced four different ways will
help overcome the bias of examining data from only one viewpoint.
Four Perspectives of a Community Analysis
The study of the aggregate characteristics of the individuals depends
heavily on census material and its local updates. Believe it or not, the total
population figure for the community may be one of the most difficult numbers to
track down. Because it is often a political issue, it is wise to verify the census bureau
figure with the local political leaders and planning commission in order to
determine the locally accepted figure.
Once the total population is determined, a comparison with the total
number of registered library users will provide a very useful piece of
management information regarding the current status of library use. This comparison
is made by dividing the total number of library registrants by the total population
to determine the percentage of residents registered to use the library. This is a base
figure to use for planning for the future.
The registration file is the most important file in the assertive or reactive library.
It can be a mailing list for announcing library activities through a direct mailing to
the most likely customers. Furthermore, the city directory or phone book and the
registration file in combination provide the beginnings of a user as well as a
non-user file. Wouldn't it surprise a resident to get a call from a friendly library
volunteer inviting him to use the library, telling her the hours, or announcing the
new programs? One goal for the library can be to increase the number of registrants
(or the number of active library users) by "x" percentage each year, to transfer
x% of the names, or households, from the nonuser to the user file within the
next twelve months. The percentage chosen depends on the realities of each
library situation. Writing explicit objectives, policies, procedures, and strategies will
help to determine if the goals are both realistic and challenging.
Census data is a source of information about the ages of people in the area
(a) -- the potential audience size for the preschool story hours, the number of elementary school children in the area or the number of senior citizens can enable you to set growth goals for the next year. Comparing the percentage of the total population who are teens with the percentage of the total library staff time, space or materials allocated to this age group can be a revealing exercise. But before making changes find out what else is being provided for the young people of the area. If the library concentrates more of its resources on this age group, will it be in needless competition with already successful sports clubs, church groups, school activities? Or, perhaps knowing the excessive number of existing activities for these 13-19 year olds will help to explain why the library hasn't been competing very well. Consider the adults in as many different categories as
Passages (Sheehy, Gail, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life.
New York: Bantam Books, 1977.)
In addition to knowing how many people in each age group populate the
service area, it is important to know the locations of concentrations of such
groups as young families, the elderly, singles, and working women. This will enable
the librarian to know where to target special publicity or where to take
programs. Census material is subdivided into either tract (urban) or enumeration
district (rural) data. These smaller subdivisions should be analyzed individually before
considering the entire service area.
Census data also includes information on the number of households,
children per family, marital status, years of school completed, school
enrollment, employment status, occupations and industries, income, and automobiles.
The 1980 census data will include details on transportation to and from work. (e)
Demographic data plus common sense added to the information
accumulated by studying groups, agencies, and life styles must be matched to the
question, "So what for the library?" for every data element or variable studied. For
example, suppose there are 210 preschool children, and it has been verified that
census data is not correct in reporting that 47% of them are enrolled in nursery school,
because it has now risen to 55%. The reference librarian has discovered that in
most of the schools the children are present all morning, five mornings a week.
Furthermore, many of the schools have waiting lists. The children's librarian hears
this and says, "Of course! That's why story hour attendance has plummeted. It
isn't just because I'm getting old!" The relevant questions for the administration are,
"Shall we change the way we work with preschool children? Shall we work
through the nursery schools?" The answer comes by looking at how else
resources could be spent and by finding out what the preschools are doing to
share literature with children.(b)
The second perspective with which to examine the community is groups. What do
people do when they get together? What do those activities reveal about local
interests? How much does the library's collection include on these topics? Could
the library co-sponsor programs with these groups on topics known to be of
interest to members? In other words, by systematically observing local group
activities library planning can tune into what is already of interest to people living in
the area. After completing the community analysis the data from this phase of the
study can lead to a discussion with group leaders about what the library can do for
groups and what the groups can do for the library.
Another reason for this phase of the study is to ascertain whether the service
area has a sense of community. Is the focus on community life in the
neighborhood? Do people get together in organizations within the service area, or is
their orientation toward a larger perhaps metropolitan community? This gives a clue
as to whether there is a sense of community among the residents that the library
can build on, or whether it is a community only in the geographic sense -- people
living in proximity. Libraries serving these two different types of communities must
approach their tasks in radically different ways.
Start the data collection by creating categories of groups and logical subject
areas.
For example:
Figure 2. Group Matrix
|
Informal
Groups |
Clubs |
Service
Organizations |
| Passive recreation |
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| Active recreation |
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| Education |
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| Religious |
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| Political |
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| Etc. |
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In this portion of the community analysis gather impressions, not detailed data.
Avoid creating a directory of local organizations. There may be a need for such a
list, it may become a recommendation of the community analysis board, but if it is
incorporated into this project, it will substantially extend the time needed for the
analysis.
Read every local item in the newspaper carefully. Do it for a week if it is
a daily or once if it is a weekly. The classified ads and obituaries, editorials
and captions every section of the paper has yielded information. But make
only hashmarks on the group matrix. You are looking for patterns, attempting to
become aware of interests. Often librarians are aware of where interests lie, but until
they begin a community analysis they are not sure of themselves. They have not
allowed themselves to take the time to ask, "So what for the library?" and to use these
data for planning systematically.
The third perspective with which to examine the community is labeled "Agencies."
An agency is defined as a corporate body located in the library service area for
the purpose of providing a service or a product to local residents. The purposes
for this portion of the study are similar to those for the group study: 1) supply
additional information to amplify the staff's understanding of the community and to
attempt to limit the bias that would come from one vantage point, 2) collect data on
what else is available for community residents that can complement services
offered by the library, and 3) use the data to choose from among
alternative patterns of service. The assumption is made that agencies or corporate
bodies exist in communities because there is a need for their services or products.
Most libraries reach 25-35% of their potential populations by their present
services, which are aimed primarily at individuals. The possibility of increasing
the impact the library has on the quality of life of more residents in the area is even
greater through the addition of services to agencies.(c) By helping agency
personnel do their jobs better the library is indirectly serving all citizens, library
users and non users. Services to agencies obviously overlap with services to
individuals so that there are some people who would experience the impact of the
library on a variety of facets of their lives.
The first step in determining the wisdom of inaugurating services to
agencies is to discover which agencies exist in the service area. In the case
of a suburban area, for example, it is both impossible and impractical to include
all the metropolitan agencies that service area residents patronize, nor is it
possible to eliminate from consideration the use that people from neighboring
suburbs make of agencies that are located in the service area.
In some communities the first body of information can be found in lists or
booklets from the Chamber of Commerce. In addition, every community has a
"yellow pages" section of the telephone directory that provides a wealth of
information; sometimes it is possible to use telephone prefixes instead of
addresses to determine which phone book entries are located in a given service
area.
Again, 1) create categories, 2) collect rough estimates of the number of
agencies in each category, and 3) refine those estimates only when you need
more information to choose from among alternative directions for service. In
order to develop detailed strategies to carry out the chosen avenue of service,
more precise information will have to be accumulated after the community analysis.
It should be acknowledged that one person's cultural agency is another
person's recreational agency, one definition of a fundamentalist Protestant church
may not be agreed to by all. The subjectivity of the categories is obvious and
unavoidable.
It is our experience that a careful examination of the subject categories used in the
telephone directory yellow pages will suggest the logical categories. Not all phone
books are the same, so the following categories will not work in all settings and are set
forth here only as suggestions.
- Governmental
- Federal
- State
- County
- Local
- Health Care
- Umbrella agencies, national agencies
- Physicians
- Health related industries
- Religious
- Predominant
- Minority
- Support agencies
- Businesses
- Related to home
- children
- leisure
- personal
- transportation
- Headings with more than 20 entries
- Cultural
- Professional
- Amateur
- Educational
- various age groupings
- public/private
- Informational
- Who can the public library cooperate with?
It may be helpful to those collecting the data and to the professional analyzing
the data to have in mind some of the following possible assertive services to
agencies. A selective dissemination of information services has been a part of the
special library world for many years. The basic idea of such a service is to deliver
information to people before they ask for it, based on what you know of their interests
and needs.
Suggesting that a library offer customized assertive services to local agencies is,
in a sense, suggesting that the public library become a special library. The concept of
a selective dissemination of information (SDI) service is now often offered to
individuals as a staff member remembers to suggest to the frequent library visitor
that a new book by her favorite author has arrived. Systematically delivering such a
service to more than the well-known users demands that a system of profiling
interests and needs be developed. This can be done during an expanded
registration interview, a time when the librarian can teach the user what the library
has to offer and can also gather information about the interests of the individual.
By including questions about the groups that the person belongs to or agencies
he or she uses, it is possible to collect data to supplement these
two phases of the community analysis.
Interests and needs of groups and agencies are more easily
discernible than those of individuals because agencies and groups of
people are single-purpose entities. The needs of an agency remain reasonably
constant in terms of subjects and levels, whereas an individual's need for
information on a recreational activity such as skiing is at best seasonal.
Organizational bylaws, constitutions, publicity, brochures, and organization
charts are readily available for preliminary analysis.(d) [Focused conversation is a data gathering method that may help you idenitify the interests of the people in your community. See Carter McNamara's "Basics of Conducting Focus Groups." for an introduction.]
Once the subject category data for agencies have been analyzed, it is wise to consider the functions that cross subject lines. For example, the public relations people for local banks, restaurant chains, the parks and recreation department, and the library all need to know where to target publicity; people who own a small business, whether a beauty parlor or antique shop, often need accounting, hiring, or zoning information; hospital, library, and school groups often share volunteer program challenges. Knowing
what other groups and agencies exist in the community may permit the library
to act as an information exchange system, a catalyst for sharing ideas,
for instigating new developments.
Perhaps a more obvious service that can develop from a systematic
look at which agencies exist is the selection of materials relevant to their needs.
Many librarians do this as a part of the traditional intuitive approach to collection development. The recommendation here is that it is done as a
consequence of a systematic analysis rather than dependent on a staff
member's wisdom, intuition, or tenure with the library.
A less dramatic service to agencies is to encourage them to use the
library to disseminate their own messages. It may not be enough to
announce the existence of a
meeting room which anyone in the area is welcome to use. Citizens in
every community have to fill out income tax forms, many may have questions
and yet may not want to hire a tax attorney or H & R Block. The IRS is a
federal agency mandated to help people with tax problems as well as collect
our money. Are there some areas of the county that are far enough from the
IRS Satellite Office that the library could help the taxpayer and the tax
collector by arranging to have a tax advisor in residence from time to
time? Many libraries provide space for brochures, forms, and information from
agencies.
In this day of increasing complexity libraries can provide "survival
information" to help people cope with modern community life. It is time for
libraries to exploit their function as disseminators of information for some
communities. This function is at least equal to and of greater importance in
some communities than the role of an educational agency or an archival
warehouse. Community analysis is a systematic process for the potential
roles of a library in a specific community.
The fourth perspective is reflected in the general category of "Life Styles." What
does the history of the community tell about why it is as it is today. What topographical
features influence the use or non-use of the library in its present location?
Do traffic patterns lead people toward or away from the library? At what times
of the day are people likely to be going by the library? Is the library open at
those times? What are the primary concerns and values of the community
residents? How do people place the library in their hierarchy of values? Is
it merely a nice monument, a town possession to point to with pride, and a
nice place for the kids? What is the political structure of the city? Are the local
people apt to be politically active enough to become advocates for the library? How do
people spend their leisure time? What activities are you competing with for their
discretionary time? How is the economic health of the area? Is there a feeling of
optimism, expectation and growth? Or, is the general atmosphere one of such fear
and uncertainty that any attempt to seek increased expenditures for the library is
doomed? What are the informal and formal communication patterns that can help
the library get its message across to the public?
If these questions cannot be answered from existing data it is time to visit the
experts and discuss these topics. Talk to the newspaper editors and reporters,
the religious and political leaders, the political party committee people, the bankers
and business leaders, the police chief and town historian. Talk to anyone you
consider to know a lot about the community. Ask the people you talk to who else
you should consult. Take people out to lunch or invite them to your office (so they can
see the library), oblige them by going to their offices. Make appointments and know
what you want to talk about. Gather information as a sleuth or a good reference
librarian would.
Finally, it is important to study other documents about the service area located
on the shelves of the local public library. What can you learn about the community
from existing studies by outside consultants and other departments performed for
other purposes?
The process of community analysis can be a learning tool for those who
contribute to it. The raw data can be used as tools for budget hearings or bond
issues or as a reference resource. But, a written report will complete the process. It
will create a new image for the library (and the staff), be a piece of publicity of a new
kind, a reference tool for the entire community to use (and many people will find it very
useful), and be a source of pride for the staff, a sign of a completed project.
But before you can do that you have to go back to the beginning. You have
studied the community. Ask yourself again what type of library the community
needs, what functions need to be emphasized, which levels of service are
appropriate? Compare that to what you wrote in pencil at the beginning of the project.
There was no magic in the questions asked, there are no formulas for finding the
answers, but now you can support the role statement by facts and figures about the
community instead of only intuition and professional judgment. Now you are ready
to develop goals and objectives, policies, procedures and strategies for becoming
and maintaining a library customized to your own community.
End Notes
a The authors have written two workbooks, Community Census Data for Library Planning and County Census Data for Library Planning, which will be
updated for 1980 census data. Click here to go back to text.
b. Note should be made of the excellent work being done along this line by the Orlando (Florida) Public Library. Click here to go back to text.
c. See also American Library Association, Public Library Service: A Guide to Evaluation with Minimum Standards (Chicago: ALA, 1956), pp. 4, 25;
subsequent all PLA standards and guidelines. Click here to go back to text.
d. The authors are aware of the potential dangers of oversimplification from using only written documents. [See Daniel Katz and R. L. Kahn, 'Organizations and the System Concept,' in Katz and Kahn, Social Psychology of Organizations
(New York: Wiley, 1966), p. 14.] For this reason, we suggest that this is preliminary
material. If the decision is reached to offer services to groups and agencies this
data must be verified via interview. Click here to go back to text.
e. The article and related worksheets will be updated to take advantage of new features or information that may be included in the databases created by Census 2000. Click here to go back to text.
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