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Libraries Statistics

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address
    Paseo de la Castellana 183 - 28046 Madrid
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    22/11/2022
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    10/12/2019
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    22/11/2022
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    The National Statistics Institute has carried out the Libraries Statistics since 1959. Since 1986, it has been developed biennially.

    
    The statistic provides information both on activity (stock, visitors, loans...) and the libraries' structural characteristics (type of libraries, infrastructure and equipment, staff, financing, form of access,…). The classification variables are the type of library and the Autonomous Community in which it is located.

    This statistic measures the biennial variations in libraries and facilitates international comparability, which is carried out through the completion of questionnaires from international bodies (UNESCO, Eurostat, IFLA).

    
    The research extends to all libraries in Spain, with the exception of school and private libraries that the public cannot use, even in special circumstances.

     

  • 3.2Classification system
    • Clasificaciones utilizadas

      This statistic is prepared on the basis of UNESCO recommendations in relation to the definitions(library , service point, fund, loan, expenditure) and classifications(library type, theme) that appear in the Recommendation concerning the International Standardisation of Library Statistics, approved by the General Conference of UNESCO at its sixteenth session in 1970.

      
      
      

      From 2002, some changes were introduced, such as the use of a new definition of a library based on the standard ISO 2789

  • 3.3Sector coverage

    This operation extends to all kinds of libraries, thus, it covers almost all institutional sectors:

    - Public Sector: National Library, Central Libraries of Autonomous Communities, Public Libraries(public access), Libraries of Public Institutions of Higher Education, or specialised libraries of the Public Sector (such as libraries belonging to the Administration, to public businesses or research and archive centres and museums or public health facilities).

    - Private Sector: Such as Private Institutions of Higher Education, or specialised private sector libraries (such as libraries of commercial businesses or firms, of professional associations or bodies, or of research and archive centres and museums or private health facilities)

    - Private Non-Profit Institution libraries, such as those of religious institutions.

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
    • Access to WiFi
      This is considered WIFI when the users, with their portable devices (pcs, tablets, mobile telephones, etc.) can access the Internet (this includes Wifi or other connections).
    • Accessible online library
      A library is accessible by Internet if the collection catalogue may be viewed online, whether individually or as part of a group catalogue or sets of catalogues (for example, the State Public Libraries, the Public Libraries of Cataluña, etc.) and if all the own collection, or part of it, may be viewed and/or downloaded (whether free-of-charge or not) through its own website (belonging to the network or entity to which it is linked).
    • Acquisition expenses of library collections
      All of the expenditure, during the reference year, towards increasing the library collection. The expenses for constituting the initial Library collection shall not be included
    • Administrative unit
      Any independent library, or group of libraries, under a single management, or under a single administration. Therefore, any library, or group of libraries, that has its own technical and administrative management capacity shall be considered an administrative unit.
    • Adult users registered in a library
      Registered users in a library who, at the end of the reference period, have an adult reader card.
    • Assistant
      Personnel hired according to the academic qualification required of the completion of secondary education, or the equivalent. In the case of the personnel dependent on the Public Administration, this must include those civil servants in groups C and D, as well as the labour personnel at the equivalent levels.
    • Audio documents
      Only audio records in any format (CD, microgroove disks, cassette tapes, etc.) .
    • Audiovisual documents
      Documents in which moving images predominate, whether with or without a soundtrack, regardless of their physical support and register or recording process, such as films, microfilms, cassette tapes, videograms, laserdiscs, CDs, DVDs. Carried out for public dissemination through the radio or television, by means of on-screen projection or by any other means, and to be made available to the public. This excludes videogames and Multimedia CD-Roms.
    • Cartographic documents
      Documents that contain conventional representations, on a reduced scale, of concrete or abstract phenomena that may be located in space and in time. This definition encompasses documents such as two- and three-dimensional maps, world globes, street maps, topographic models, relief maps and aerial representations, all of which may be in any format. It excludes atlases and cartographic documents in book format, as well as in micro form format.
    • Central Libraries of the Autonomous Communities
      These are the libraries that serve a given Autonomous Community and that perform national library functions within their territorial scope. Some of them provide public library services.
    • Child users registered in a library
      Registered users in a library who, at the end of the reference period, have a child reader card.
    • Classification of computers and IT terminals
      Computer and IT terminal use shall be classified:
      - For solely public use, if only the public outside of the library uses them for access to library collections and services.
      - For internal management, if only the library personnel has access to them.
      - Mixed, if they are used both for internal management and for public use.
    • Collection of a library
      This is the set of documents that comprise the library collection.
    • Computers for internal management in libraries
      A computer is for internal management in libraries if only the library personnel has access to it.
    • Computers for solely public use in libraries
      A computer is for solely public use if the public that is external to the library uses it to access the library collection and services.
    • Electronic book
      Digital document, with or without a licence, which may be considered the equivalent of a printed book. These can be lent to users in e-books, or the content can be transferred to a computer for a limited period of time. They include periodical publications in electronic format, so long as the complete text of their articles can be accessed. Free magazines available on the Internet will not be accounted for as electronic periodical publications, nor will the access the summary services, nor the access to databases entailing the recovery of complete text articles as an integrated package.
    • Free access library
      Those libraries that allow any person access to their collections and services, although this access is carried out through the presentation of cards issued by the library to its users.
    • Games
      Recreational elements that serve as entertainment and learning, whether board games (Parcheesi, role games, Monopoly, etc.), electronic games (video games for PCs or consoles), interactive CD-Roms.
    • Graphic documents
      Documents in which the most important characteristics is the graphic representation. It includes artistic prints, artistic originals, artistic reproductions, photographs, posters and technical drawings, in any format, except micro form.
    • Information desks
      Desks available to users for reading or consultation in the library, with or without equipment (audiovisual, IT, etc.) will be accounted for. This excludes those seats located in the halls, auditoriums, function rooms or spaces for special activities.
    • Interlibrary loans
      The process by which a library obtains, from another library, a document, or part of a document, requested by its users, and unavailable in the collection of the library itself. The material requested may be sent as a temporary loan, or may be provided as a copy or replacement via photocopy or microfilm.
    • Investment expenses in libraries
      Expenses on plots and buildings and other investment expenses. Expenditure on plots and buildings includes those expenses on the acquisition of plots for building the library, the enlargement of existing buildings, or repair and rehabilitation work on the same. Other investment expenses include those derived from the acquisition of furniture and office equipment; computer equipment (hardware and software), the replacement of existing goods with similar goods, and foundational bibliographical sets.
    • Libraries for specific groups of users (not specialised)
      These are the libraries that have a general nature, and that offer their services solely to certain categories of users, such as prison inmates, hospital patients, company employees, soldiers, etc.
    • Libraries from higher education institutions
      Those which offer services to students and to the academic and professional staff of the university and of other higher education institutions. They may also provide service to the public in general.
    • Library
      Organisation, or part of an organisation, whose main purpose is to gather and maintain an organised collection of documents, and to facilitate the use of the information resources, for the purpose of meeting the information, research, educational, cultural or recreational needs of users. In order to compile these statistics, a library is understood to be the administrative unit that may comprise one or more service points.
    • Library applications
      Computer programmes, without recreational content, that are loaned to, or downloaded by, users for their use. This does not include those that are used in the library exclusively (the librarian's word processor, the personnel management programme, etc.).
    • Library databases
      A collection of information that is organised and stored electronically. This does not include the library databases to which users do not have access (personnel database, for example), nor the free-of-charge databases that are accessible via the Internet.
    • Library grant-awardees
      Persons who have been granted a training, research and improvement grant, whose objective is to train specialists in library techniques. The grant-awardee does not have a contract or statuary relationship at all, nor a labour or civil servant link with the body or department awarding the grant.
    • Library with physical access
      The library shall have physical access if there is a physical place where users may access its collection and/or services.
    • Loans of library collections
      Transaction through which the user may take a document outside of the library installations, during an established period of time. This sections assigns the physical units loaned for each material.
    • Manuscripts and documents
      A manuscript is considered to be the paper or book that is handwritten, or an original or a copy of a text intended for printing, even when it is not handwritten. This includes documents, such as letters, reports, etc., in any format; paper (print) or electronic.
    • Microforms
      Photographic documents requiring enlargement to be viewed. They include microfilm rolls and microfiches.
    • Mixed computers in libraries
      A computer is mixed if it used both for internal management and for public use.
    • National Library
      That which fulfils the following criteria:
      - Gathers, catalogues and preserves the bibliographic, print, manuscript and non-library collections collected on any medium, and in the Spanish co-official languages and dialects.
      - Has established by law, the Copyright of the entire national territory, for the purpose of compiling and disseminating the information regarding Spanish bibliographic production, using the entries derived from the copyright.
      - Performs, coordinates and encourages research and development programmes in the areas of its jurisdiction.
    • OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog)
      Service that provides library users with the location of the information from the catalogue, and the performance of complementary functions, such as user reservation requests, collection requests in case of deposits not accessible by the user, etc.
    • Other current expenses
      Expenses derived from rentals of plots, buildings, furniture, etc., during the reference year; repairs, maintenance and preservation of the buildings, furniture, IT equipment; office material, electricity, water, fuel, telephone and postal communications, transport expenses and cleaning, as well as those expenses derived from holding meetings, conferences, courses and cultural activities.
    • Other personnel
      Personnel included in the library staff that carry out tasks for which it is not necessary to have knowledge of library science or another specialisation: subordinates, cleaners, concierges, watchmen, canteen personnel, etc.
    • Ownership of the library
      Individual or company that appears as the pecuniary owner of the library, though at times, this does not coincide with the body that finances or manages the library.
    • Periodical publication
      Print format publication whose volumes or numbers are presented in numerical or chronological order, under a common title and an indefinite number. This section will include those bound columns of print periodical publications.
    • Personnel costs
      Personnel costs means the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, to be paid by an employer to an employee (either fixed, temporary or homeworker) in exchange for a work done by this person during the reference period.
      Staff costs also include taxes and social security contributions of employees retained by the unit, as well as the employer's compulsory and voluntary social contributions.
      Staff costs are composed of:
      -Salaries and salaries
      -Employer costs of social security
      Any remuneration paid during the reference period is included, regardless of whether it is paid on the basis of the working day, the production or the piecework, and whether it is paid periodically or not. Also included are all bonuses, productivity and performance premiums, unpaid payments, extraordinary (and similar) pay, redundancy allowances, accommodation and transportation, cost-of-living premiums and Family allowances, commissions, attendance bonuses, overtime, night work, etc., as well as taxes, social security contributions and other amounts payable by employees and retained at the source by Employers.
      The employer's social security costs are also included. These include the employer's social security contributions aimed at covering retirement, sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, occupational accidents and illnesses, family allowances and other contingencies. These costs are included regardless of whether they are statutory, the subject of a collective agreement, contractual or voluntary
    • Professional librarians
      Personnel hired according to the academic degree or diploma, required to carry out functions of responsibility, such as planning, organisation, administration and evaluation of library and information services and systems. In the case of personnel dependent on the Public Administration, this should include those civil servants of the Special librarian corps, scale A and B (Higher Professionals and Library Assistants), as well as the labour personnel at equivalent levels.
    • Public Libraries
      A library shall be considered public when it met the following criteria:
      
      - Has a collection of a general nature, offering cultural, educational, recreational and social information services that are accessible to all citizens.
      - Offers free and gratis loan and document-consultation services.
      - The collections of public libraries are freely accessed and available for loan. However, when necessary, due to security and preservation reasons, access to part of these collections may be limited.
    • Registered users in a library
      Those persons who have a library card or a card for any of the library services or sections, or who are registered in the user database of the library.
    • Restricted access library
      Those libraries that only allow certain users (for example, hospital patients, inmates, employees of the institution on which they depend, researchers, etc.) access to their collections and services.
    • Service point of a library
      Each one of the libraries, whether they are independent libraries or part of a broader administrative unit, from which services are offered to users. Fixed and mobile service points should be accounted for, understanding a mobile service point to be every one of the vehicles used to provide library services, rather than the number of stops made by said vehicles.
    • Sheet music
      This includes those documents whose content is music, normally represented by notes, whether loose-leaf or as a book, in any format, except micro form.
    • Specialised libraries
      Those which possess a collection concerning a specific discipline or field of knowledge. Specialised libraries are classified according to the institution on which they depend, as:
      
      - Libraries of religious institutions: libraries dependent on cathedral chapters, convents, etc.
      - Libraries of the administration: libraries maintained to service any organisation of the administration, department or parliament, including international, national, regional and local organisations. They may also provide service to the public in general.
      - Libraries of research centres: libraries dependent on an institution dedicated to research, which have a collection that is specialised in the topic or in topics that are the target of research of the institutions on which they depend. The libraries of the Royal Academies and the university-company foundations must be included herein. This group does not include libraries of higher education institutions.
      - Libraries of professional associations and schools: libraries maintained by professional associations, trade unions and other similar associations whose main objective is to offer their services to the members and workers of a certain trade or profession.
      - Libraries of companies or trade firms: libraries maintained by an organisation, to cover the information needs of its workers in the development of their work.
      - Libraries of archives and museums: libraries whose collections are related to the objective of the archive or museum that they serve, and which serve both workers from the Centre and researchers in that area.
      - Libraries of health centres: libraries at the service of health professionals in hospitals or similar institutions. This includes libraries from both the public and the private sectors. (Libraries of pharmaceutical companies are not included here, and should be included in libraries of company or trade firms.)
      - Other specialised libraries: any library not included in the previous categories.
    • Specialised personnel library
      Personnel included in the library staff that is specialised in some area other than library science and documentation, such as accounting, personnel management, administrative tasks, computer science, bookbinding, socio-cultural entertainment, etc.
    • Staff on a full-time equivalent (FTE) dedicated to R&D
      This is all staff (working full-time, plus the sum of the fractions of time of the staff working part-time) employed in R&D activities, without distinguishing their level of responsibility, as well as those who supply services directly linked to R&D work, such as managers, administrators and office staff.
      Since the measurement criterion is in FTE, staff on a full-time equivalent (full-time) plus the sum of plus the sum of the fractions of time of the staff working part-time are taken into account.
    • Titles of electronic periodical publications
      This includes periodical publications the complete text of whose articles in electronic format may be accessed. The section does not include the free magazines available online, access to summary services, nor access to databases that include the recuperation of full-text articles as an integrated package.
    • Titles of periodical publications being received
      Titles of periodical publications both in print format and microfiche, of which numbers or installments have been received throughout the year
    • Titles of periodical publications no longer receiv
      Titles of the periodical publications that are no longer received at the library, or that have ceased publication during the year.
    • Useful built area of the library
      This will include the surface areas a of all of the service points of which the Administrative Unit is comprised.
      - Total useful built area: The whole of the area of which the library is comprised. In the case that the library shares the building with another institution, or with the institution on which it depends, only the total useful built area of the library will be indicated.
      - Useful built area for library use: The useful built area for library use includes space for readers and areas for reading, stacks and storage areas, staff working areas, service spaces for users, counters, exhibition hall, equipment areas, and all those other spaces used for library services and resources.
      It excludes: halls, waiting and rest rooms, staff rest areas, cafeterias, restrooms, lifts, stairways, cloakrooms and occupied spaces for heating or air-conditioning devices.
    • Visitors of a library
      Persons who visit the library to use any of the library services or participate in any of the library activities: study of the books or notes themselves, consultation of the works in the library, consultation of catalogues, loan, information, cultural activities, etc.
    • Volunteers of a library
      Persons who carry out library tasks without receiving wages
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    The Statistical Unit of this operation is the Library, as Administrative Unit.

    To collect the information, each of these is contacted, through a cover letter that includes the website address of a custom application for the completion of the questionnaire, as well as the access codes to this application.

  • 3.6Statistical population

    This statistical research covers all libraries, regardless of their administrative dependence
    with the exception of:
    private libraries (of individuals or businesses) that the public cannot use even in special circumstances, and school libraries

  • 3.7Reference area

    The research covers the entire Spanish territory

  • 3.8Time coverage

    The research is carried out biennially.
    The latest results refer to 2018.
    The statistic's reference period is the calendar year (2018), although for some factors information is requested on the situation to 31 December of the year in question.

    This statistical operation was stopped by the INE in the year 2018, with the publication of the reference period 2018. Its elaboration from that moment on was assumed by the Ministry of Culture

  • 3.9Base period

    This statistical operation has been carried out since 1959.

    With regards to the previous classifications, from 2012, changes were introduced such as the use of a new definition of library based on the standard ISO 2789, a new classification of the types of libraries was established and research into the implementation of information and communication technology in libraries was carried out in greater depth.

    Since 1990, a series on the number of libraries (as administrative units) has been published, along with the number of service points, available at:

    https://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco42/cultocio/bibli9010_en.xls

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure

    Libraries: administrative unit (includes associated service points)

    Equitment: number of devices

    Funds: volumes / number or units depending on the type of fund

    Expenditure: euros.

• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    The data refer to the calendar year that is the object of the survey, except some of the questions that specifically request data for 31 December of that year.

    The required information is for even-numbered years, and collected in odd-numbered years .

    Data referred to the period: Estadistica de bibliotecas 2018.

• 6Institutional mandate
  • 6.1Legal acts and other agreements

    The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2021-2024, approved by Royal Decree 1110/2020, of 15  December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).

    
    

    .

  • 6.2Data sharing
    The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
    

    For the Libraries Statistics, collaboration agreements have been signed with the Statistical Institutions of some Autonomous Communities:

    - Statistics Institute of Aragon.

    - Statistics Institute of Catalonia.

    - Statistics Institute of Navarra.

    Through these collaboration agreements, these institutes use the INE's own resources to collect information in their respective Autonomous Communities, later carrying out their own statistical studies.

    Furthermore, collaboration agreements have been signed with the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Guard in relation to the libraries in their scope.

    On the other hand, at the time of publication, all Autonomous Communities have access to the information published through the INE archive.

• 7Confidentiality
  • 7.1Confidentiality - policy
    The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society
    
  • 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
    INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
    

    In order to access the custom application for collecting the data for the Libraries Statistics, respondents have user codes and passwords specific to each user.

    This allows for this statistic's questionnaire to be carried out completely securely and confidentially.

    Furthermore, the application itself has an additional security mechanism; when approximately 20 minutes pass without any activity registered, the application is blocked and access to any of its sections is blocked. In order to access it again, the established codes should be used.

    Once the questionnaire is completed and terminated, users will not be able to access it again, unless they explicitly request to do so. In this way, it will not be possible to make unwanted changes.

    Once the questionnaires are reviewed by the collection units (the provincial delegations), the staff at these units will also not have access to make modifications.

• 8Release policy
  • 8.1Release calendar
    The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.
    
  • 8.2Release calendar access
    The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)
    
  • 8.3User access
    The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    Results are published biennially and in odd-numbered years.

• 10Accessibility and clarity
  • 10.1News release
    The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web
    
  • 10.2Publications

    The survey results are released through the INE's webpage.

    The published information includes:

    - the Survey Press Release.

    - Detailed results from the last published year and previous years.

    - the Survey Methodology

    - Issues concerning the response rate

  • 10.3On-line database

    INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.

    
    

    Information on the latest publication of the Libraries Statistics can be found on INEbase/Society/Culture and Leisure section , or through the following INE webpage:

    https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176768&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735573113

  • 10.4Micro-data access
    A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
    

    There is no direct access to this survey's microdata through the INE's website.

    However, users can accessthem,under especial conditions, through custom requests.There is information in the following link:

    https://www.ine.es/ss/Satellite?L=es_ES&c=Page&cid=1254735550786&p=1254735550786&pagename=ProductosYServicios%2FPYSLayout

  • 10.5Other

    Interested users can make requests, through the INE Information Area at:

    https://www.ine.es/ss/Satellite?c=Page&p=1254735638180&pagename=ProductosYServicios%2FPYSLayout&cid=1254735638180&L=1

    , specific uses of custom information that are carried out whilst preserving confidentiality of the data in all cases.

     

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    Methodology:

    A detailed description of the methodology can be found at:

    https://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco42/cultocio/metobibli2012_en.pdf (*)

    The questionnaire that was used to request information from the respondent units can be found at:

    https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176768&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735573113

    At the end of the questionnaire, all the concepts used are explained, with examples that aid completion of the questionnaire.

    The questionnaire is translated into all of the State's co-official languages, to facilitate comprehension and to improve user satisfaction in the Autonomous Communities in which they are spoken.

    User Manual of the custom application: To facilitate the completion of the questionnaire through the application, users of the application have a user manual at their disposal, which is translated into all of the State's co-official languages. The aforementioned manual can be found at:

    https://www.ine.es/colencine/colencine_otrasenc_bibli.htm

     

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    Sections 10.6 to 17 of this document constitute the user-oriented quality report of this operation.

• 11Quality management
  • 11.1Quality assurance

    Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.

    
    

    The territorial units of the INE (Provincial Delegations) are involved in the collection of information, along with the Statistics Institutes with which INE has an agreement, which allow a greater proximity to the respondent units (libraries). With this, an improved coverage control is guaranteed.

    To facilitate the completion of the questionnaire by respondents, a custom application for collecting data for this operation has been designed, developed and introduced. The fact that respondents have this tool at their disposal has mainly positively influenced two aspects with regards to previous years.

    - the quality of data has improved

    - the response rate has improved

    Once the questionnaire has been answered, validation controls and controls for the detection of inconsistencies are established, which are incorporated into the completion application. This means that in the first stage alone, the user themselves can detect and/or clarify those errors in the application itself. If these errors have been overlooked and/or they have not been satisfactorily explained, once they are detected by the collection units these may contact the respondent units to definitively clarify them.

    Once the information is validated, the filtering and imputation process is carried out by the INE Central Services.

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    The information collection application has enabled both a quantitative improvement (higher response rates) and a qualitative improvement in the data collected in this statistic.

    This application was implemented in 2009 for the collection of information referring to 2008.

    The fact that this application includes validation controls and controls for the detection of inconsistencies, as well as having the close attention of the collection units, makes it possible for the accuracy and reliability of the data to be quite high.

    The fact that the questionnaires are adapted to the norms of international bodies (UNESCO, Eurostat, IFLA) guarantees international coherence and comparability of the survey's information.

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    Users of the Libraries Statistics include:

    - Autonomous Communities

    - Users that make custom information requests

  • 12.2User satisfaction

    The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...

    On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click  next link)

     

    
    

    In the user satisfaction surveys carried out to date, the Society sector is valued, which includes the areas: Education, Culture, Health and Justice, in which this statistical operation is framed. The value of the user satisfaction index for this sector according to the ESU 2016 is 3.74 out of 5.

     

  • 12.3Completeness

    The information collected in this investigation allows for all established objectives to be fulfilled:

    - All the information required by the NSP is collected

    - The statistic enables the measuring of changes occurring in all dimensions (general data, equipment, stock, staff, etc.) of the libraries over a period of two years.

    IndicatorR1=100%

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    The correct adaptation of MARCO means that the difference between the libraries toward which the investigation is aimed and those libraries toward which the investigation should be aimed is minimal.

    As detailed in point 12 of this quality management report, the information collection, error detection and validation procedures of the questionnaires allow for the production of a statistic with a high level of reliability.

  • 13.2Sampling error

    This statistical operation is exhaustive, therefore there are no sampling errors.

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    With regards to non-sampling errors, it is indicated that, as mentioned previously, as there is a well-formed framework coverage errors are rare.

    To have this quality framework available, and to avoid those errors, a filtering process is carried out on the directory, as well as of the type of library of each one of the registers in the framework.

    As has also been explained, this statistic has a high response rate. In fact, for the 2016 Libraries Statistics, the non-response rate was A4=2,8% .

    However, an imputation in units with a non-response is carried out, to be able to adjust results better, and to avoid errors that could cause this non-response.

    For more information, see:

    https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176768&menu=metodologia&idp=1254735573113

     

• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    The survey data are generally published at the end of the year following the reference year of the information, in other words, within TP2=12 months.

  • 14.2Punctuality

    Data is released according to INE's structural statistics availability calendar, which INE prepares and publishes for each year.

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    A common collection, filtering and validation process throughout the national geographic scope, including in the Autonomous Communities whose own Statistics Institute carried out these processes, guarantees the comparability of the results between the different Autonomous Cities and Communities and between provinces.

    On the other hand, as the statistic is adapted to the norms of international bodies, it is also prepared for international comparability.

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    The inclusion of new concepts to satisfy the need for information in regards to the inclusion of new technologies and new realities of libraries has not created a series break. Thus, this research can be compared to previous years' series.

    Although this statistic has been carried out since 1959, the tabulated results have been available on the website since 2000.

    There is also a series on the number of libraries and number of service points carried out by Autonomous Communities and Cities since 1990. The length of the series in December 2019 is CC2=15 elements.

     

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    The Libraries Statistics is coherent with publications that are developed by the Ministry of Culture and Sport.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    Coherence between variables is compared at all stages of the statistical process. There are internal validation rules between them that ensure total coherence.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    Although the burden on the respondent has not been reduced, the fact that there is a custom application for the statistic reduces the amount of time needed to complete the questionnaire, as well as producing a positive effect in terms of the respondent's perception of the ease of completing the survey.

    The estimated budgetary appropriation needed to finance this statistic, as provided for the the 2018 and 2019 Annual Programmes, is a total of 78.32 thousand Euros.

     

• 17Data revision
  • 17.1Data revision - policy

    The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).

    This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow:  routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.

    
    

    There is no review of published data.

  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    Not applicable

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    For the implementation of the Libraries Statistics, a collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Culture and Sport is maintained, which allows this Ministry to provide the directory of all libraries that exist on national territory to the Culture and Leisure area of INE's Sub-directorate General for Sectoral Social Statistics.

    In the Autonomous Communities with which INE has a collaboration agreement, the corresponding statistics institutes are responsible for preparing an appropriate framework in collaboration with the relevant regional culture councils.

  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    Information is collected every odd year, referencing the previous year.

    In the year in which collection takes place, it is limited to a period of three months, usually between March and June.

  • 18.3Data collection

    Information is mainly collected through the application designed for this purpose.

    To obtain the information, each respondent unit is contacted through a cover letter that includes the website address of the custom application for completing the questionnaires, as well as the access codes to this application.

    If there are respondents who do not have an internet connection, or who prefer to use traditional collection methods, a paper questionnaire is sent to them that, once completed, they then send to their predetermined collection unit, where it is recorded using the application.

    Moreover, there are agreements with the Statistics Institute of Catalonia, the Statistics Institute of Aragon ,the Statistics Institute of Navarra,  and the Ministry of Defence that enable these bodies to collect data relating to libraries established in Catalonia, public libraries in Aragon and those dependent on the Ministry of Defence, respectively. When the data are properly validated, they are provided to INE in a file that is incorporated into the application.

  • 18.4Data validation

    In the first stage, data is validated in the information collection units (INE's Provincial Delegations or Autonomous Communities' Statistics Institutes with which there is a collaboration agreement).

    Once this process is complete, the Promoter Unit carries out a new filtering of errors that have passed the first filtering.

  • 18.5Data compilation

    Once the data have been validated,imputation processes are carried out if necessary.

    Once this stage is completed, the definitive file with which the results can be prepared is made available.

    Data are tabulated with the SAS programmes specifically designed for this purpose. The results obtained are presented in two types of tables, according to the classification variable considered: type of library and Autonomous Community.

    Finally, the results tables are exhaustively reviewed as a preliminary step to their release.

  • 18.6Adjustment

    Adjustments are not made

• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment