LiRN requires quarterly statistics reports from county & district libraries related to library activities. LiRN compiles this data and reports back to our Board of Directors, shareholders and Convocation. Stats are also included in our Annual Impact Reports and our Key Impacts.
Statistics gathered include:
- Circulation of print materials
- Interlibrary loans (books shared between libraries)
- Usage of electronic resource subscriptions that courthouse libraries may have outside of eLiRN
- Now to be Reported Annually – New November 2025
- Research time & services provided by Library staff – Now using the READ scale (as of July 2025)
- Current awareness news circulated (if applicable)
- Library training including vendor training arranged for staff and lawyers (if applicable)
- CPD delivered by Library staff (if applicable)
- Client feedback on your activities & resources – ANECDOTES are very welcome!
- Snaps – Innovations & Achievements accomplished by library staff (new in 2025)
Statistics Forms and Reporting Deadlines
Monthly Statistics Form with Explanatory Notes (updated for 2026)
LiRN requires associations to submit their Library Statistics forms on a quarterly basis: 15 days after the end of each quarter. If that date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, then please submit on the next business day. The due dates for the current year can be found on the Events and Due Dates Calendar.
- Q1 (January, February, March): April 15th
- Q2 (April, May, June): July 15th
- Q3 (July, August, September): October 15th
- Q4 (October, November, December): January 15th
Instructions on How to Complete the Statistics Form
- Please submit to [email protected] in Excel format using this template: Monthly Statistics Form with Explanatory Notes (updated for 2026)
- There should be a separate report for each month. Include your Association Name and the Month/Year at the top of each month’s report.
- Include your association name on the excel file (no The).
- To ensure that your submission is received and included in the compiled reports, please use the following format in your email subject line: Association YEAR QUARTER Stats (for example: Sudbury 2024 Q1 Stats).
Staff are now asked to compile their statistics on a MONTHLY basis and submit them on a Quarterly basis. There should be a separate report for each month.
- Presentation for library staff (slightly revised after June 17 meeting)
- Recording of the Instructions session June 17, 2025
How To Record your Research Time using READ Scale
New in July 2025 – READ Scale for reference work, streamlined sections, non e-LiRN resources now reported annually.
| READ Scale: Reference Effort Assessment Data: | ||||||
| 1: Directional | 2: Quick Reference – Minimal Efforts & Skills | 3: Reference – Some effort skill & time | 4: Reference – Skill and consultation of multiple resources | 5: Research – more substantial effort | 6: Research – In Depth, cannot be answered immediately | |
| Library skills needed | None | Minimal | Some | Some | Substantial | Substantial |
| Subject specialist skills needed | None | None | Minimal | Some | Some | Substantial |
| Depth of instruction to user | None | Minimal | Minimal | Moderate | Complex | Complex |
| Resources consulted | None | Minimal | Some | Many | Many | Many |
| Typical time required* | < 5 min | < 10 minutes | <30 minutes | <30 minutes | 30+ minutes | 30+ minutes |
| Consultation or follow-up with user | None | None | Some | Some | Substantial | Substantial |
| Description | Answers require least amount of effort; no specialized knowledge skills or expertise; no consultation of resources; less than 5 minutes | Answers given which require more effort; require only minimal specific knowledge skills or expertise; answers may need nominal resource consultation | Answers require some effort and time; consultation of ready reference materials needed; minimal instruction of user required; reference knowledge and skills come into play | Answers require consultation of multiple resources; subject specialists may need to be consulted; reference knowledge and skills needed; efforts can be more supportive in nature for user; finite answers difficult to find; exchanges can be more instruction based as staff teach users more in-depth research skills | More substantial effort and time spent; subject specialists need to be consulted; appointments or follow-up with user may be needed; efforts cooperative in nature between user and librarian and colleagues; multiple resources used; research and reference knowledge and skills needed; back-and-forth dialogue between user and librarian | Most effort and time required; requests cannot be answered on the spot; staff providing in-depth research for specific needs of user |
| Examples | directional; library/service hours; rudimentary machine/computer assistance; using printer | call number inquiry; item location; general library/policy information; minor to more complex machine/computer equipment assistance such as saving a file or launching an application | require specific reference resources such as dictionary or database; basic instruction on searching catalogue/database; how to scan/save images; increasingly complex technical problems such as remote use instruction | how to use complex search techniques in database; cross-reference resources and track related supporting materials; assist user if focusing or broadening searches to redefine or clarify topic | false leads; question evolution; expanding searches beyond locally available; interdisciplinary research; access issues to be investigated | creating bibliographies; relaying specific answers and supplying supporting materials; working with outside vendors; collaboration and on-going research |
| If a research question takes over 30 minutes to complete, we are now asking people to break the question up into reasonable chunks and record it as multiple questions. Perhaps you had to go back and ask more questions of the requestor, perhaps you had to do several searches on different databases, consult more texts, etc. We are asking people to use their judgement about how to break the time up but we want to reflect that more & more of your time is spent on doing research for lawyers which requires more skill, etc. | ||||||
How to complete the other sections of LiRN’s Statistics Form
Collection Use
| LiRN Statistics Form | ` | Explanation | ||||
| Association Name: | Month/Year: | Please fill in the name of your Association (no The) and the Month that you are submitting. Although you are doing this Monthly, you only need to submit it Quarterly. | ||||
| NOTE: | You can print out the document (fits on legal size paper) and “tally” items as they occur. However, we only need the total. Please use a numeral—not the number spelled out—in this column. (And if your handwriting is neat enough, scanning and emailing the handwritten form is fine). | |||||
| Collection Use | Tally (optional) | Total | Explanation | |||
| Items Signed Out | These stats demonstrate the use of the print collection of your library and are an important element in demonstrating the value of the collection. | |||||
| Items ReShelved | ||||||
| Interlibrary Loans (Print or Electronic) | Tally (optional) | Total | Explanation | |||
| Sent to another county or district library | Interlibrary loans (ILLs) are when you borrow or loan books to other libraries. Borrowing and lending within the network helps illustrate that courthouse libraries are thoughtful in their collection development and sharing resources where possible to serve library users while keeping costs under control. Borrowing and lending externally shows that courthouse libraries use all resources at their disposal to help lawyers with their legal research and may illustrate gaps in the collection. ILLs can be print or electronic. The Great Library (GL) offers a service to photocopy documents from the collection, such as pages from a text, cases, legislation, ETC. Please use their Document Delivery Service Form for these requests. | |||||
| Borrowed from another county or district library | ||||||
| Sent to an external organization | ||||||
| Borrowed from an external organization | ||||||
| Using the Great Library Document delivery service | ||||||
Current Awareness
| Current Awareness | Tally (optional) | Total | Explanation | |||
| Library staff-generated | Library staff-generated current awareness may include newsletters, blog-posts, social media posts, new title lists, etc. that includes library content that you may have created / written. Include each post (not reposts). This can include if you copy & paste to create a larger email, etc. | |||||
| Forwarded (vendors, government information etc.) | Forwarded current awareness may include vendor-created e-mails, posts, flyers, training opportunities, government notices, will requests, Practice Directions, etc. This is content created / written / posted by others that you may have forwarded or re-posted to your audience. | |||||
Library Training
| Library Training | Tally (optional) | Total | Explanation | |||
| Ad hoc training | These are training sessions that you do on an ad hoc basis. It could be showing someone how to use the printer or photocopier, or how to use a database. It demonstrates the importance of this value-added service by library staff. They can be short or long depending upon the circumstances. | |||||
| Formal Sessions – (i.e. orientations, workshops, CPD events developed by library staff) Can be CPD accredited | Formal sessions are when you develop a session and invite lawyers to attend on a scheduled date. These include Board Members / Summer Student / Articling Student Orientation Sessions and /or training on a resource, etc. This may also include CPD events that you have been involved in creating / developing. | |||||
| Vendor Training Sessions (or other outside resource) | Please include training sessions that you help facilitate that are conducted by Vendors, or another outside resource. | |||||
Library Training Materials
| Library Training Materials (print or electronic) | Explanation | |||||
| List the title or short description of the material | Please tell us the title of any in-house training materials that you create. If it doesn’t have a title, include a short description. Examples of library training materials: hand-out with instructions on how to use the photocopier, how to access e-LiRN resources, a guide for articling students, creating a LibGuide, or other instructional aid. This is a good opportunity to show how varied and important your services are to users. | |||||
CPD. LSO or other Vendor Replays
| CPD, LSO or Other Vendor Replays | Group Registrations | Total # of Sessions | Attendees | Explanation | ||
| Do you participate in group registrations? Yes or No? | CPD | |||||
| Please record the number of sessions and attendees outside of group registrations: | Many law associations provide CPD programming and may consider it either library or association related work (see the Additional Library Services and Responsibilities Policy for more info). LiRN includes stats on CPD as part of its reporting showing the value of library and association services. (Excluding OCLA’s group registrations; we will be getting the registration numbers directly from OCLA so here we are only asking if you participate or not in group registrations.) We have moved reporting of originally developed CPDs to the Library Training section as a “Formal Session”. It takes many of the same skills; the main difference is the type of content. Here, we are tracking the replays you arrange. We are no longer asking for the names of the training sessions as the benefit of having them does not outweigh the effort of collecting them. | |||||
Client Feedback
Client feedback is an important part of the Statistics Form. If someone provides you with some feedback about your services or resources, please include this comment(s) in the Form. We use this information to showcase to our funder how important your services are.
Snaps – Library Innovations / Staff Achievements
Please share with library staff achievements (aka “Snaps”)! You can include accomplishments like staff passing their Library Technician course, an event you created, installation of digital signage, zoom booths, quiet zones, ETC! We are very interested to learn about you and your library achievements and may share these in our regular LiRN Updates (staff/association boards only), our external LiRN Newsletter and the Annual Impacts Report to Shareholders. New in June 2025.
Don’t be shy—brag on yourself and your colleagues.
How do I account for the work on arranging an ILL?
LiRN was recently asked about an ILL situation involving five items borrowed from one library. We appreciate the question and would like to clarify how these should be counted.
Sections 1 & 2: Collection Use and Interlibrary Loans
These sections capture how your physical collection is used, including items you borrow from other libraries.
If you borrow five items, record five borrowed items, regardless of how many libraries supplied them. These represent materials not in your collection. LiRN covers courier costs to support equitable access across the network.
Section 3: READ Scale
The READ Scale measures the effort involved in your ILL work—identifying, locating, and securing the right resources.
For an ILL, this includes time spent:
- determining which library to borrow from,
- confirming availability,
- arranging delivery, and
- providing the item to the requesting lawyers
This effort should be recorded in the READ Scale in addition to counting the physical items borrowed.
Time Tracking Aids / Calendar Aids
Many staff recommend free time tracking software to keep track of their statistics to make it easier to submit. They have found these tools are worth the time invested to set them up since they can use them to quickly generate their Statistics to be report to LiRN as well as regularly inform their Board of their activities and provide valuable metrics showing what’s happening in the library.
Megan Strain (TLA) shared a live demo of Gimlet, their reference tracking software and how they use tags, time tracking for multiple staff members, resources, reports. etc.
-Toronto Law Association
Betty Dykstra (York) presentation for Toggl, their time tracking database (not Big Brother) Free up to 5 users.
Jackie Hassefrass (Frontenac) uses Clockify. Jackie said it has proved very helpful to demonstrate the amount of work that goes into running the library, providing reference services and her board activities as well.
Please note that information on financial reporting can be found here: Financial Information for Associations – LiRN