Libraries and leisure

• LHA Portfolio Plan 2007/08 : 653KB

National standards

We comply with a number of national standards and guidelines :-

National standards

Examples include Information and Communications Technology and library data standards.

National service guidelines

These include the Library Association’s children and young people guidelines and Guidelines for local studies provision in public libraries. Our chartered librarians comply with the Library Association’s Code of Professional conduct.

Local standards

We have developed a number of local standards to ensure that we achieve a high quality service, based on the principles of equality and accessibility for all so we can be sure to work without unfair discrimination or prejudice :-

Total Collection Management

We aim to ensure that we manage our stock effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of the community within our resources. Our stock in libraries is one complete stock across the whole of Hertfordshire libraries. Stock standards are set to ensure that each library reaches a minimum level.

Quality service standards

These are clear and measurable standards to achieve excellent customer care and the best use of our resources.

Audit programme

We have a programme of stock and quality audits to ensure that the stock and quality service standards are met. Libraries produce action plans to address what needs improving after the audits have taken place.

Key performance indicators for 2004/5

• we issued 6,475,213 (6.5 million) books and 736,389 other items
• we have 1,616,142 (1.6 million) items of stock
• we had over 5.2 million visits (5,289,747)
• we handled over 1.7 million enquiries (1,755,175)
• we handled 102,960 reservations