Circ Stats by Patron Postal Code

["Eeva Stierwalt" <eeva.stierwalt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

We are attempting to gather ongoing and past statistics for the purpose of planning the building location of a library branch.  Here in Canada, we have Postal Codes (similar to the Zip Code in the U.S.) which identify within 10 houses or so where in the city a person lives.  Prior to purchasing Millenium, we had a system that allowed us access to the raw data and we were able to extract the circulation transactions and postal codes of the patrons to create a quarterly statistic that showed:

 

Patron Home Library

# of Circ transactions

In which library branch the transactions occured

 

This allowed us to then illustrate the geographic dispersement of patrons throughout the city and their use of branch libraries.  When mapped, it became very clear whether the branch was strategically placed according to it's patrons.

 

In MILLENIUM, the only way we have been able to come close to this statistic is to create a list every day of Patrons with new checkouts and list out via FTS their Ptype, Current Checkouts, Address (which contains the Postal Code), Home Library, and Out Location from the Item record to show where they borrowed the item.  Unfortunately, this is a very tedious process — every morning!

 

Do other libraries gather such a statistic and how have you gone about it in Millenium or INNOPAC?  We're hoping to streamline this process!

 

Thank you for your suggestions and advice.

 

Eeva Stierwalt

Information Systems Specialist

Automated Collections Management

London Public Library

251 Dundas St.

London, ON Canada  N6A 6H9

e eeva.stierwalt@xxxxxxxxxx