Modelling public library use by library characteristic: a comparative study between Spain and Finland for loans and visits

The purpose of this paper is to model the use of public libraries carrying out a comparative study between Spain and Finland. For the analysis by municipalities, it has been studied the relation between library characteristics (expenditure, staff, collection, etc.) and the use of libraries (loans and library visits). For the analysis by regions, some other socioeconomic factors such as the level of education, incomes and unemployment rate, have been considered. The method used for the modelling is the multiple lineal regression analysis using the stepwise technique. For the analysis by municipalities in Spain, models accounted for 16.8% percent of the variation in loans and 17.7% percent in library visits. For Finland, models accounted for 23% percent and 18% respectively. Thus, in both countries more than 75% percent of the variation for loans and library visits was due to factors external to the models. For the analysis by regions, none of the socioeconomic factors were significant. The lack for data about socioeconomical factors by municipalities is the main limitation. This paper can be considered one of the first studies to model the factors on the use of Spanish public libraries and the first one comparing the results with another country (Finland).