CIVICTechnologies Releases 'Core Customer Intelligence' Report

The report cover show a map
of  customer segmentation.

At the Public Library Association Conference (PLA, www.placonference.org), CIVICTechnologies released a new in-depth report called "Core Customer Intelligence: Public Library Reach, Relevance and Resilience." It's all about using one of today's hot tools, "big data." The vendor, which helps librarians use their data to map out where various client segments exist, wanted to obtain information and insights that would help librarians retain these core users and also gain new customers like them, so this is a powerful tool for customer retention and recruitment. 

The report's website explains: "In partnership with the Las Vegas–Clark County Library District and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), CIVICTechnologies completed the first big data study in the library world." 

Here's what happened: CIVICTechnologies investigated the "core customers" of 10 large U.S. public library systems. These the customers were most active in borrowing physical materials (books, DVDs, and CDs). Those 10 libraries serve a total of 7.8 million people, and the study analyzed data from 4 million customers and 67.4 million checkouts. So it's a very large sample.

As the website says, "Ultimately, this study raises as many important questions as it answers: How can libraries use the core customer information uncovered in this study to attract new library customers and to increase existing customer use? Will libraries be able to retain these core customers as formats shift from physical to virtual? Who are other groups of library customers that are active and loyal? How will libraries accelerate the adoption and use of this kind of customer data to stay relevant, nimble and valuable to the public?"

Page 2 of the Executive Summary explains the three main findings, which pertain to Reach, Relevance, and Resilience.

If you want to understand how to bring in, then keep, more public library users, download the report for free here so you can digest the big data.