Index include reference transactions as a service output?
Reference transactions do not correlate sufficiently with the four LJ Index output measures to justify inclusion. The decision to exclude reference transactions does not reflect on the value of reference services at all. It is due to questions about the quality of reference statistics, which appear to have both validity and reliability problems. It is not clear that reference data count only the intellectual product of trained librarians, or a wider range of services, such as directional questions. Also, the data are not necessarily counted in the same way by all libraries. While all public library statistics can be questioned on those grounds, concerns are greater for reference because it is very weakly related-consistently so over time-to the four LJ Index indicators.
