Internet Library Conference Statistics

I wrote to the Internet Library Conference to inquire about statistical representation amongst libraries in terms of attendees and speakers/presenters. The reply follows:

OO/Gwen

Internet Librarian, as you know, is designed for all types of librarians. The approximate percentages of types of library attendees are as follows:

30% University
20% corporate
20% Public
10% government
10% medical
5% K-12

Obviously public library attendees, at around 20% are very well represented. As you know, at Internet Librarian 2005, we also had a full days track devoted to public libraries, called Top Tech Trends in Public Libraries.

While we do not keep a demographic of the speakers, it looks like about 20-25% were from public libraries.

To answer the subject of library vendors being involved in the presentations, we take pride in the fact that our events are among the most well-planned learning opportunities in the library field. Unlike some library association events, our very existence relies on the fact that our attendees find value in the presentations and continue to want to attend year after year. Our presenters are picked based on the value those presentations can bring to the attendee. While some vendors do speak, it is because of some ground-breaking new product or initiative of special interest to the library community. Vendors speakers might make up 5% of the total number of presenters.

We feel that Internet Librarian has become a place where librarians of all types can gather to discuss the future trends and practical applications of the Internet and technology in libraries. It is not geared towards one specific library segment, because libraries of all types face similar issues with respect to technology. Public libraries are obviously well represented in both the programming and attendance figures, and we continue to hope that more and more of your public library colleagues realize the value of this conference and decide to join us in future years.