Library statistics 2021

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Dear Dorset Council,

FAO The Library Service.

Hello, I have two freedom of information (FOI) queries that should be quick. This is being sent to all UK library services so be assured you aren't being singled out! If the operating of the library service has been outsourced to a separate organisation then please fulfil this request by retrieving the response from that body.

1. Does the library service complete annual library statistics to be sent to CIPFA? And specifically, have these been completed for the financial year 2020/2021?

2. If the answer to the above is Yes, please include a copy of your 2020/2021 CIPFA library statistics return in your response. This should be sent in the same format as was sent to CIPFA (e.g. an Excel spreadsheet).

It is important that this should be an exact copy of the data sent to CIPFA. I am not requesting any data that is owned by CIPFA, such as their own aggregated reports. As the data is compiled by the library service it is public library data, and subject to Freedom of Information.

To try and cover any concerns about the second part of this request, I have answered a number of potential worries below. Please have a quick look through these before responding!

- Data Format. The data should be sent as structured data in spreadsheet format. Guidelines from the Information Commissioner's Office specify that it is reasonable to request data in a re-usable and "Machine-readable" formats. For example, if the data were exported to a PDF file then that would not be acceptable, as that is a document rather than structured data.

- FOI exemption: accessible by other means. Occasionally, requesters in the past have been told that this data could be exempt from FOI as it accessible from CIPFA when it is published. However this fails the test of being 'reasonably' accessible due to the high cost for a member of the public. This exemption would certainly be overturned on appeal.

- FOI exemption: commercial interest. Commercial interest exemptions do exist in FOI legislation but this would not apply to a single third party (e.g. CIPFA) who use public data. Their commercial interests are in the value they provide in reporting on that data.

Thank you in advance!

Yours faithfully,

Dave Rowe

Freedom of Information, Dorset Council

Thank you for your information request.

If you have submitted a request for non-personal recorded information, it
will be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). The EIR is broadly the
same as the FOIA but covers requests about the environment and
environmental matters.

You will receive a response within 20 working days in line with the
FOIA/EIR.  If the request will take any longer to process (e.g., if we
need to consult third parties or seek clarification from you) we will let
you know.

More details about FOIA/EIR requests can be found at

[1]www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/foi

You may wish to know that you can submit requests online through our
e-form which is available via the link above.

If you wish to request information that is your own (or someone else’s)
personal data, it will be dealt with as a Subject Access Request (SAR) and
will be answered within one month. More details about SAR requests can be
found at

[2]www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/dataprotection

For information on how we process your personal data please see our
information requests [3]privacy notice.

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Freedom of Information, Dorset Council

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Dear Dave,

 

Information Request – reference no. DC3923

 

Thank you for your information request dated 15.09.2021, which has been
dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

 

Our response to your request is attached.

 

You may wish to know that you can submit requests to Dorset Council via
our e-form at
[1]https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/your-co....

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask
for an internal review. Please email [2][Dorset Council request email] or
write to Information Compliance Team, County Hall, Colliton Park,
Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XJ if you wish to request a review. If you are
not content with the outcome of the internal review, you then have the
right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF.

For information on how we process your personal data please see our
information requests [3]privacy notice.

 

Most of the information we provide is subject to copyright protection. You
are free to use the information for your own non-commercial research or
private study. Unless we have indicated otherwise, you may also use
information created by Dorset Council for certain other purposes under the
terms of the Open Government Licence [4]here. For information not created
by Dorset Council, other uses will require the copyright owner’s
permission. 

 

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Nash
Information Compliance Officer
Assurance [5][IMG]
Dorset Council
[6]dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

[7][IMG] [8][IMG] [9][IMG]

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Dear Freedom of Information,

Thanks for this, please pass in my thanks and regards to the service.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Rowe