Communication with

customers: A statistical

of a special library

M S Sridhar
Head, Library & Documentation
ISRO Satellite Centre
Bangalore 560 017
E-mail: sridhar@isac.gov.in
 Statistical miscellany – M S Sridhar, Head, LDD

Frequency of borrowed use of books

25000
No. tim es borrw ed in 3.5 yrs No. of books % Cum ulative %
0 19887 57.12 57.12
19887 1 4477 12.56 69.68
20000 2 4047 11.93 81.61
3 1328 3.81 85.42
No. of books

4 897 2.57 87.99

15 0 0 0 5 726 2.02 90.1
6 557 1.58 91.68
7 447 1.28 92.96
8 348 1 93.96
10 0 0 0
9 286 0.92 94.78
10 290 0.84 95.62
>10 1524 4.38 100
4477 4047
5000

1328 1524
897 726 557 447 348 286 290
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >10

No. of tim es borrow ed

 Statistical miscellany - 1 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (April 16, ’02)

Use of library books

RANK GRP MEM BKS AVERAGE NO. OF BOOKS BORROWED PER YEAR
/PROJ BERS LENT
1 TPD 19 511 26.89 TPD
2 MDG 118 2810 23.81 MDG
3 CIG 49 1156 23.59 CIG
4 PPEG 27 604 22.37
PPEG
5 SMG 50 1098 21.96
SMG
6 CSG 115 2380 20.70
CSG
7 STG 73 1471 20.15
STG
8 CMG 88 1683 19.13
CMG
9 TSG 103 1913 18.57
TSG
10 SRG 137 2528 18.45
SRG
11 AITG 188 3288 17.49
12 DSG 95 1612 16.97 AITG
13 ICG 92 1486 16.15 DSG
14 PSG 113 1719 15.21 ICG
15 IRS 42 622 14.81 PSG
16 INSAT 37 521 14.08 IRS
17 FAC 419 3042 7.26 INSAT
18 DDs,... 18 85 4.72 FACILITY
19 LEOS 110 394 3.58 DDS,ETC.
20 ADMN 296 947 3.20 LEOS
Sub-total 2189 29870 13.65 ADMN
OTHERS 41 345 8.41
LPSC 144 252 1.75
TOTAL 2374 30467 12.83
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Statistical miscellany – 2 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (May 1, 02)

Suggestions for new books

GP/PR 2000-1 01-2 02-03
AITG
AITG 48 22 3
CIG
CIG 37 49 1
CMG
CMG 24 17 3
CSG
CSG 100 59 5
DSG 11 5 0 DSG
ICG 12 6 0 ICG NO. OF BOOKS SUGGESTED
MDG 12 6 0 MDG
PSG 6 6 0 PSG
PPEG 19 15 3 PPEG
SMG 4 4 0 SMG
SRG 115 55 0 SRG
STG 36 31 4 STG
TSG 35 17 3 TSG
TPD 39 40 6 TPD
FACILITY 20 10 1 FACILITY 2000-1
INSAT 0 2 0 INSAT 2001-2
IRS 8 0 0 IRS 2002-3(1stQ)
DDs, etc. 9 20 10 DDs, etc.
LEOS 0 1 0 LEOS
ADMN, etc. 0 22 0 ADMN, etc.
TOTAL 535 387 39
0 40 80 120
20 60 100 140
Statistical miscellany – 3 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD

ISAC authors well cited internationally!

No. of No. of Total
times
cited articles citations • SCI* covered 269 journal articles
89 1 89 of ISAC authors
58 1 58 • 112 ISAC papers have been
38 1 38 cited 644 times in international
36 1 36
journals (Average or Impact
20 1 20
18 1 18
Factor: 2.39)
16 2 32
Authors/ co-authors of ISAC papers
15 2 30
having 15 or more citations :
12 1 12
KASTURIRANGAN K;
10 3 30
MARAR TMK;
SEETHA S;
9 2 18
ASHOKA BN;
8 3 24
JAIN AK;
7 3 21
SHARMA AK
6 5 30
5 9 45
NAGENDRA CL;
4 10 40 THUTUPALLI GKM;
3 11 33 REDDY MR
---------------------------------------------------
2 15 30 * Science Citation Index of Institute for Scientific
1 40 40 Information, USA
Total 112 644 Note: SCI does not cover all journals
Statistical miscellany – 4 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD

Internal reports produced & archived

288
YEAR-WISE PRODUCTION AITG
265
1
CIG
1 TOTAL:
2 0 02 ( M A R ) 63 24 PRODUCED: 2172
CMG
16
98
ARCHIVED : 1933
CSG
86

20 0 1 44 0 145
DSG
137
40
ICG
37
260
394 MDG
2 00 0 214
137
PSG
136
35
PPEG
23
1 999 32 5
86
SMG
79
372
SRG
342
1 998 27 1 261
STG
238
166
TSG
158

1 997 2 38 7
TPD
7
40
FACILITY
39
115
2 36 INSAT
1 996 97 PRODUCED
78 ARCHIVED
IRS
39
2
LEOS
2
1 995 2 05
17
OTHERS
17

0 1 00 200 300 4 00 5 00 0 100 200 300 400

 Statistical miscellany –5 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD

Holdings of ISRO libraries

140000 CENTRE BOOKS REPORTS BD JLS

129000
ISAC 37550 129000 21750 122000
ISRO HQ 18000 14000 2000
120000
NRSA 12000 3000 7150
SAC 32750 47000 15000
100000
SHAR 26250 16100 12150
VSSC 57000 122000 37000
80000
TOTAL 183550 331100 95050
57000
60000
47000
BOOKS REPORTS BOUND JLS
37550 37000
40000 32750
26250
21750
18000 15000 16100
20000 14000 12000 12150
7150
2000 3000
0
ISAC ISRO HQ NRSA SAC SHAR VSSC
Statistical miscellany –6 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (July 1, 2002)

Subject-wise collection & lent-out use of books

12000 RANK SUBJECT USE/ COLLEC RATIO OF
USE/ YR .
YEAR TION USE TO COLN
1 Computer Science 11141 7314 1.52
C OLLEC T ION 2 Telecommunication 2372 2144 1.11
10000 3 Electronics 3463 3314 1.04
4 Management 1133 1102 1.03
5 Mathematics 1515 1545 0.98
8000 6 Electrical engineering 1917 2233 0.86
7 Medical Sciences 359 504 0.71
8 Materials testing, etc., 682 1048 0.65
9 Physics and Mechanics 1999 3147 0.64
6000 10 Air and space transport engg. 1519 2774 0.55
11 Control theory 462 1038 0.45
12 Astronomy 657 2020 0.33
4000 13 Manufactures, industries, etc., 251 854 0.29
14 Chemistry, Geology, Biology,… 228 915 0.25

2000

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Statistical miscellany – 7 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (July 16, 2002)

Growth of ISAC Library

3000
YR. 1975
2400
2500 2272 YR. 1987
2000 YR. 2000
2000 1800 1800

1420
1500
1140
1000 800
582 493
500 285
23 72 80 80
0
members current jls area in '0 sq. ft.
docs in '00 use in'00

year members documents current jls use area

1975 285 2300 72 800 800
1987 1800 114000 582 142000 8000
2000 2272 200000 493 240000 18000
Statistical miscellany – 8 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (August 1, 2002)

Journals & reports are less used than before (1982)

% of total borrowing increase/ 90

NOW (2002) THEN (1982) decrease 84.3
BOOKS 84.3 80.0 + 4.3 80.0
REPORTS 1.2 5.0 - 3.8 80 Percentage of total lent-out use
JOURNALS 12.3 14.8 - 2.5
STANDARDS 0.6 0.2 + 0.4
NON-BOOK 1.6 0.0 + 1.6 70
MATERIALS
60

2002 50

ST A N D A R
N ON -
40 THEN (1982) NOW (2002)
B OOK
DS
M AT E RI A
0. 6%
LS 30
J OU R N A L 1 . 6%
S 20 14.8
1 2. 3% 12.3
10 5.0
R E P OR T S 1.2 0.2 0.6 0 1.6
1 . 2% B OOK S 0
84. 3% B OOKS R EPOR T S JOU R N A LS ST A N D A R D S N ON - B OOK
M A T ER IA LS
 Statistical miscellany – 9 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (August 16, 2002)

Reduction in journals subscribed and reports added over

the years
1200
Reports Journals

1000 Year (annual intake) (subscribed)

1980 1063 533
1985 936 519
1990 523 444
800
1995 288 416
2000 67 326
2002 29 300
600

400

Reports (annual intake)

200
Journals (subscribed)

0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2002
 Statistical miscellany - 10 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Sep. 1, ’02)

Journals and reports are more used (and cited in

JST) by ISAC authors than others

Documents % Borrowed % Cited •In other words, journals & reports

Books 84.3 33.3 are less borrowed than books but
Reports 1.2 25.7 more cited in JST (Journal of
Spacecraft Technology)
Journals 12.3 35.1
Others 2.2 5.9 •E-version of JST accessible at
Total 100 100 http://www.j-gate.informindia.co.in

% lent out % cited

12.3% 2.2% 5.9% books
reports
1.2% 33.3% journals
35.1% others

84.3% 25.7%
Statistical miscellany-11 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Sep 16, ’02)
Percentage of time spent on print medium remained
same over the years - National Readership Survey
1995(%) 2001(%) PRINT
16.0%
2001
TV 62 72
INTERNET
RADIO 22 11 1.0%
INTERNET 0 1 RADIO
11.0%
PRINT 16 16
80 TV
70
1995(%) 72.0%
2001(%) Note: 2001 survey had 212,000
60 adult respondents; average
urban Indian spends 2 hrs a day
50
on media consumption
40

30

20

10

0
TV INTERNET
RADIO PRINT
 Statistical miscellany-12 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Oct. 1, ’02)

Subject-wise misplacement / loss of books

(for a period of 3 years & 3 months)

Ot her s ubj ec t s 23 Rank Subject No. % Value(Rs %

19
1 Com puter Science 75 41.4 39824 72.1
13
B ui l di ng i nd. , ar t s , et c . 4 2 Electronics & El Engg 21 11.6 3369 6.1
2 3 Phy & Astronom y 16 8.8 1163 2.1
T el ec ommuni c at i on 4 4 Space Science 14 7.7 3439 6.2
8 5 Managem ent 9 5.0 1586 2.9
M edi c al Sc i enc e 5 6 Mech. & Civil Engg. 8 4.4 543 1.0
7 7 Mathem atics 6 3.3 671 1.2
M at hemat i c s 6 8 Medical Science 5 2.8 766 1.4
5 9 Telecom m unication 4 2.2 182 0.3
M ec h. & Ci v i l E ngg. 8
9A Building ind., arts, etc 4 2.2 1322 2.4
16 Other subjects 19 10.5 2345 4.2
M anagement 9
Total 181 100.0 55210 100.0
34
Spac e Sc i enc e 14

12
P hy & A s t r onomy 16

34 V al uei n '00(Rs . )
E l ec t r oni c s & E l E ngg 21
No.
398
Comput er Sc i enc e 75

0 1 00 200 300 400 500

Statistical miscellany –13 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Oct. 16, ’02)

Web Characterisation & use surveys

T ype o f s it e s Effectiveness of sites
clearly
designed
brochure
Pr ovi si onal sites
w are
38% 2%
Publ i c sites
41 % 40%

Pr i vate no sites
21 % found
58%

jo b related % of time spent

3
info rmatio n

chat 10
1. the ‘invisible’ or ‘deep’ web is over
500 times larger than ‘surface’ web
Internet use in India
academic • ½ hr to 2 hrs per day (av: 86.1 min.)
2. 25000 'mega sites' represent 50% 8
contents info rmatio n • 97% for e-mail purpose
3. mean size of a public site is > 130 • top of mind recall : yahoo 22%
pages general
7 hotmail 13%
4. no engine is indexing > 16% 0f info rmatio n
publicly accessible sites
5. over 8000 search engines; >800 m e-mail 38
pages ; >8 m sites

0 10 20 30 40
Statistical miscellany – 14 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Nov. 1, ’02}
Test reports are maximum among types of internal
reports generated
INTERNAL REPORTS Internal repo rts pro duced (30 Sep. '02)

SL. NO. TYPE NO. CENTRE

A. CENTRE REPORTS 31%

1 GR 60
2 TR 602 PROJECTS
69%
3 ST 83
SUB TOTAL 745
B. PROJECT REPORTS P r oj e c t r e p 326
T y pe of r e por t s pr oduc e d
4 RR 269 A na l y s i s r e p 254

T est r ep 772
5 TE 772
Revi ew r ep 269
6 AR 254
St a nda r ds 83
7 PR 326
T e c hni c a l r e p 602
SUB TOTAL 1621
Ge ne r a l r e p. 60
TOTAL 2366 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 6 0 0 8 0 0 1 0 0 0
Statistical miscellany – 15 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD ( Nov. 18, ’02)

Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) of ISRO

libraries put together have 7 lakh records
CENTRE OPAC
OPACs of ISRO Libraries ISAC 200000
ISRO HQ 35000
V SSC ISA C NRSA 25000
32% 29%
SAC 145000
SHAR 62000
VSSC 230000
TOTAL 697000
ISR O
HQ
5%
SHA R
9%
SA C N R SA
21% 4%
Statistical miscellany – 16 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Dec. 1, ’02)

Biggest Libraries of the World (Volumes in millions)

RANK NAME PLACE VOLS IN M
Nat i onal l i br ar y of I ndi a 3 1 Llibrary of congress Wash, DC 23
2 N.L. of China Beijing 16
3 N.L. of Canada Ottawa 14.5
Y al e Uni vi ver si t y Li br ar y 9. 5
4 Deutsch bibliotek Frankfurt 14.4
5 British Library London 13.0
New Y or k P ubl i c Li br ar y 1 0. 5 6 Harvard University Cambridge 2.9
7 Russian State Library Moscow 11.8
11.3 8 Nat.Diet Library Tokyo 11.3
Nat i onal Di et Li br ar y ( Japan) 9 New York Pub. Lib. New York 10.5
10 Yale Univ. Library New Heron 9.5
Russi an St at e Li br ar y 11.8 Note: Indian National library claims to
have several million items
including 3 m books
Har var d Uni ver si t y Li br ar y 1 2. 9

Br i t i sh Li br ar y 13

Deut sch bi bl i ot ek ( Ger many) 1 4. 4

Nat i onal Li br ar y of Canada 1 4. 5

Nat i onal Li br ar y of Chi na 16

Li br ar y of Congr ess 23

0 5 10 15 20 25
Statistical miscellany – 17 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Dec16, ’02)

Citing habits of ISAC authors

No references With references *Checked 10 % systematic
Internal reports* 119 99 random sample; @ Checked
all 114 papers in 13 issues
Papers in JST@ 18 96 from 91-97

INTERNAL REPORTS* PAPERS IN JST@

No
references
(15.8%)

(655 references
In 119 reports) No
references
(59.4%)
(844 references
In 96 ppers)

N OT HA V IN G R EF ER EN C ES
HA V IN G O N E O R M OR E R EF ER EN C ES
 Statistical miscellany –18 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Jan 1, ’03)
Reservations for books
OT HE R S Rank Gr./ Pr. Res./yr. Mem bers Average
ADMN, e t c . 1 DSG 518 95 5.5
LE OS
2 CIG 253 49 5.2
DDs , e t c . Over one 3 CSG 440 115 3.8
OT HE R P r .
IR S
year 4 PPEG 102 27 3.8
5 SMG 183 50 3.7
INSAT
FAC ILIT Y
6 TPD 67 19 3.5
TPD 7 SRG 442 137 3.2
T SG 8 AITG 495 188 2.6
ST G 9 STG 181 73 2.5
SR G 10 MDG 279 118 2.4
SMG 11 PSG 262 113 2.3
PPEG 12 CMG 188 88 2.1
P SG 13 ICG 174 92 1.9
MDG
14 INSAT 62 37 1.7
IC G 15 IRS 62 42 1.5
DSG 16 TSG 141 103 1.4
C SG 17 DDs 17 18 0.9
C MG
18 Facility 306 419 0.7
C IG
19 Others 108 185 0.6
AIT G
20 ADMN 93 296 0.3
0 200 400 600 21 LEOS 26 110 0.2
Total 4399 2374 1.9
 Statistical miscellany –19 M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Feb 6, ’05)
Visit to Library Homepage during August 2004
1351

39
33
41
68 43
61 206
19 19
76 25
14 57
74 22

30
101
67 54
62

148
 Monthly visit to homepage & web OPAC
M ain page
2500 Web OPAC
2354

2144
2041 2040

2000
1755 1743
1694 1660 1683
1568 1550
1493
15 0 0 1382 1351
1316

1170 1204
1139 1163
1064
1001
10 0 0
800
698

500 359

0
S e p' 0 3 Oc t Nov Dec 03 J a n' 0 4 Fe b Mar A pr May I un J ul A ug- 0 4
M ont h
 References
1. References
Anderson, T W and Sclove, Stanley L. An introduction to the statistical analysis of data. Boston : Houghton
Miffin Company, 1978.
2. Best, Joel. Damned lies and statistics. California: University of California Press, 2001.
3. Best, Joel. More damned lies and statistics; how numbers confuse public issues. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2004
4. Koosis, Donald J. Baseness statistics. New York: John Wiley,1972.
5. Miller, Jane E. The Chicago guide to writing about numbers. Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 2004.
6. Rodger, Leslie W. Statistics for marketing. London: Mc-Graw Hill, 1984.
7. Salvatoe, Dominick. Theory and problems of statistics and econometrics (Schaum’s outline series). New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1982.
8. Simpson, I.S. How to interpret statistical data: a guide for librarians and information scientists. London: Library
Association, 1990.
9. Sridhar, M S. "User participation in collection building in a special library : a case study." IASLIC Bulletin 28 (3)
September 1983: 117-122.
10. Sridhar, M S. "Book procurement delay : a de-motivator to user participation in collection development". In :
Building Library Collections and National Policy for Library and Information Services : Seminar
Papers presented in XXX All India Library Conference, Rajasthan University, Jaipur, 28-31 January
1985. ed. by P.B.Mangala. Delhi: ILA, 1985. 329-334.
11. Sridhar, M S. "Library-use index and library-interaction index as measures of effectiveness of a special
library : a case study." In : Proceedings of XXXIV All India Library Conference on Library and Information
Services : Assessment and Effectiveness. Calcutta : ILA, 1988 : 449-465.
12. Sridhar, M S. "Library use and user research: with twenty case studies". New Delhi: Concept Publishing
Company, 2002.
13. Sridhar, M S. “OPAC vs. card catalogue : a comparative study of user behaviour” , The Electronic Library, 22 (2)
April 2004, p 175 - 183.
14. Sridhar, M S. “Subject searching in the OPAC of a special library: problems and issues”, OCLC Systems and
Services: International Digital Library Perspectives, 20 (4) Winter 2004, p 183 - 191.
About the Author

Dr. M.S.Sridhar is a post graduate in mathematics and business management

and a doctorate in library and information science. He is in the profession for last
35 years. Since 1978 he is heading the Library and Documentation Division of
ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. Earlier he has worked in the libraries of
National Aeronautical Laboratory (Bangalore), Indian Institute of Management
(Bangalore) and University of Mysore. Dr. Sridhar has published four books (‘User
research: a review of information-behaviour studies in science and technology’,
‘Problems of collection development in special libraries’, ‘Information behaviour of
scientists and engineers’ and ‘Use and user research with twenty case studies’) and
74 research papers, written 19 course material for BLIS and MLIS, presented over 22
papers in conferences and seminars, and contributed 5 chapters to books. E-mail:
sridharmirle@yahoo.com, mirlesridhar@gmail.com, sridhar@isac.gov.in ; Phone:
91-80-25084451; Fax: 91-80-25084475.