MILS Statistics • Maine InfoNet

This page contains statistics run by InfoNet staff for the MILS system and directions on how to capture your own.

Statistics Gathered by Maine InfoNet Staff

Patron Circulation & InterLibrary Loan

These are the numbers for the Annual Survey circulation questions in section 6 and questions 4.16 and 4.17 Circulation for each library, separated by adult, child, and “other” materials (adult/child only pre 2023). Patron Circulation numbers already contain incoming ILL. See downloaded sheets for more details.

MILS Patron Circulation and ILL 2023 July-Dec
MILS Patron Circulation and ILL 2023 Jan-June
MILS Patron Circulation and ILL 2022 [2022 stats are all in one workbook, separated by sheets for each 6-month period and circulation vs ill. They are a combination of various sierra and polaris reports because of our transition. ]

Prior to 2022, these data were compiled from the Sierra Web Reports, running a cross tab report comparing item location and patron home library.

Collection and Patron Count

Annual Survey questions 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, and 5.7 ask about Item/Material count, while questions 7.1 and 7.2 address patrons.

Item Materials and Patrons counts are run regularly. You can find results here: https://mils.polarislibrary.com/reports/browse/Polaris/Custom/MILS%20TOP%20HITS on the Polaris Reports Manager under MILS TOP HITS. Look in the Item Counts and Patron Counts folders and use the 2023 sheets to combine your locations or patron types to match what the survey requires.

Prior to 2023, these were obtained from MILS Sierra, either the statistics snapshots or by running lists/review files. In MILS Polaris, they can be found by using the directions below under “Reporting Tools To Gather Your Own #s”, linked as “Collecting your statistics“. Specifically, the section on Leap counting is what you need.

2022 special: Since Sierra is no longer available, here are relevant parts from the snapshot July 1 2022, which should help with those numbers from this year, if necessary. MILS Item Location and Patron ptype Snapshots 2022-07

Interlibrary Loan

These are the numbers for the Annual Survey questions 4.16 and 4.17. It counts the number of transactions where the item and patron are from different locations. Therefore, it does count walk-in borrowing of patrons from other libraries.

MILS Patron Circulation and ILL 2022 [2022 stats are all in one workbook, separated by sheets for each 6-month period and circulation vs ill. They are a combination of various sierra and polaris reports because of our transition. ]

Prior to 2022, these data are compiled from the Sierra Web Management Reports Owning/Home report. or the Decision Center Owning Library by Patron Home Library reports.

Reporting Tools To Gather Your Own #s

MIL’s statistical reporting tools are powerful, but sometimes confusing. As a result, some background information is needed to understand which tool to use and how to use it for various purposes.