Ontario Summary and Comparison

Under 2,500 population

2,501 to  5,000 population

5,001 to 15,000 population

15,001 to 30,000 population

30,001 to 50,000 population

50,001 to 100,000 population

100,001 to 250,000 population

Over 250,000 population

County libraries and county co-operative

Contracting organizations

Sample of a 2000 Typical Week Survey Form

The data for the statistics are taken from the 2000 library survey submitted by Ontario public libraries, and municipalities, local services boards and First Nations that contract with library boards for library service. The validity of this report depends upon the accuracy of the data submitted.

Population and household figures in these reports are extracted from three different sources.

• For Municipalities: This report uses 1997 enumerated population counts. However, these figures were furnished by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for 1999, and taken from the Ontario Municipal Directory population counts for 2000. The 1999 population estimates are lower than the 2000 ones, though they would have been based on the same data. Most of the difference in the percentage of population served calculation, in the Ontario Library Statistics Summary Comparisons report, can be attributed to the difference in these population data sources.
• For Local Services Boards: The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines provides population data for Local Services Boards.
• For First Nations Bands: The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development provides population figures for First Nations libraries.

Provincial operating funding reported for the year 2000 includes pay equity funding and excludes project funding.

2000 Annual Library Statistics Changes

In an effort to standardize statistical measures and increase the accuracy of key ratios, three changes have been made to this year's library statistics:

• In previous years there was no specific standard number of hours used to calculate the number of library staff in Full Time Equivalents. In order to increase consistency of data reported, a standard of 35 hours for a Full Time Equivalent position has been introduced for all personnel calculations.
• In previous years per capita service levels may have been misrepresented for libraries serving residents outside of their geographic jurisdiction (i.e. libraries that provide services to contracting municipalities, local services boards and First Nation Bands). This has now been remedied through the inclusion of contracting population counts in data reported for libraries that provide service to residents of contracting communities.
• In previous years libraries were not required to report the number of 'active' library cardholders. In 2000 active cardholders has been defined as those who have used their library card in the past two years. Sixty-one libraries were unable to count active cardholders using this new definition, and as a result the cardholder count was reduced for the year 2000. All libraries will be required to provide this data next year.