Librarians have, in general, very little systematic information about activities inside their libraries. CTT is a cheap and simple method to gather such data. It is based on regular and systematic “tours of observation” through the public areas of the library. Data gathering can be carried out by the library’s own staff rather than by consultants or hired observers.

The method – which we have called TTT in Norwegian (Tverrgående TrafikkTelling – transversal traffic counting) – is known as seating sweeps in the English-speaking world. Its systematic use seems to have been initiated by two Canadian researchers, Lisa Given and Gloria Leckie, who used the sweeps method to study user behavior in the Toronto Reference Library and the Vancouver Public Library in 1999.

This page refers to relevant resources in English.

Resources

• Given, Lisa M. and Gloria J. Leckie (2003). “Sweeping” the library: Mapping the social activity space of the public library. Library & Information Science Research. Vol. 25, Issue 4, Winter 2003, pp. 365-385.
• Leckie, G.J. & Hopkins, J. (2002). The public place of central libraries: Findings from Toronto and Vancouver. Library Quarterly, 72, pp. 326-372.

Tord Høivik

• Students gather in Porto. Pliny the Librarian July 15, 2008. Abstract for BOBCATSSS 2009 workshop on students as traffic observers.
• Count the traffic. Paper for IFLA 2008. Preprint published here.
• How much is much? Developing and interpreting national library visitor statistics. Paper for IFLA 2008. Preprint published here.
  • National library web traffic. Spreadsheet with supporting and additional statistics.
• PL 23/07. NTC – What happens inside libraries?. Introduction to TTT for Stellenbosch workshop in August 2007.
• TTT homepage. In Norwegian.