Page 251 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes science and microeconomics. With its concerns with data, statistics has overlap with information
science and computer science.

Notes The term “mathematical statistics” designates the mathematical theories of
probability and statistical inference, which are used in statistical practice.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. By the 18th century, the term “statistics” designated the systematic collection of
……………….. and economic data by states.
2. ………………. can be regarded as not a field of mathematics but an autonomous
mathematical science.

Caselet Global Library Statistics

hese statistics that represent the total global library universe include data, if available,
for the total number of libraries, librarians, volumes, expenditures, and users for
Tevery country and territory in the world broken down into the major library types:
academic, public, school, special and national. It is important to remember that these
figures do not represent OCLC membership. The statistics also include available data for
languages used, and the number of library schools, publishers, and museums.
The three regions represent those used by the OCLC Global and Regional Councils: the
Americas (North and South America), EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India),
and Asia Pacific (Asia, Australia and Oceania).
The Global Library Statistics were developed from an earlier OCLC Research prototype.

Source: http://www.oclc.org/global-library-statistics.en.html
14.2 Characteristics of Statistics

Statistics is usually not studied for its own sake; rather it is widely employed as a highly
valuable tool in analysis of problem in nature, physical and social sciences. The word statistics
convey a variety of meaning to people, when it is used in different context. Horace Secrist
defines statistics as “aggregates of facts, affected to a mankind extent by multiplicity of causes,
numerically expressed, enumerated or estimated according to reasonable standards of accuracy,
collected in a systematic manner for a predetermined purpose and placed in relation to each
other”.

According to Freund and William as mentioned in “Modern Business Statistics”, “Statistics in
general are nothing but a refinement of everyday thinking. They are especially appropriate for
handling data which are subject to variation that cannot be fully controlled by experimental
method and for which we can have only a fraction of the totality of observation which may
exist”.

246 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY