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Assigning PSTATS

Patron Statistical Classes, referred to as PSTATs, are codes that define a patron's place of residence.   In LINK, there are codes for official municipal divisions in the 7 SCLS counties, as well as codes for patrons not residing within SCLS. Circulation statistics are generated for LINK libraries based on these codes.

How to choose the correct PSTAT:

Determine the exact municipal division the patron lives in

Refer to the list of PSTATs

PSTATs outside of SCLS counties

Always assign the most specific PSTAT available .

Determine what system a county or community is in .

Determine whether the patron's community supports a library .

What to do when you're too busy to do all of the above .

What to do when a patron moves.

Determine the exact municipal division the patron lives in
(this may be a town, village, or city, or in the case of a city, may be a ward, district, or census tract).

• The patron may know, or you may be able to determine by consulting a detailed county map.
  
• Or, use the U. S. Census online tool that can assist you in finding out which municipal division your patron lives in:
  
  • Enter the patron’s street address, city, state, and ZIP code. Click on “Go.”
  • The resulting screen will provide County, County Subdivision, Census Tract, and much more information about that address.
  • Remember to always apply the most specific PSTAT available. For a small community, such as Rock Springs, this will be the Village, which is called the “County Subdivision.”  (See Rock Springs Example, below.)
  • For a large city, such as Madison, for which there are many PSTATs available, it will be a census tract.  (See Madison Example, below.)

  
  

   

   

 

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Refer to the list of PSTATs (Excel) to find the most specific PSTAT for the patron.

How the list of PSTATs is arranged:

• The 7 SCLS counties are listed first, alphabetically by county. Within a county, they are sorted alphabetically by the code.
• These are followed by PSTATs for the rest of the state, alphabetically by library system. (These all begin with the letter “O.”) Within each system, they are sorted by county. Within each county, the “with library” and “no library” PSTATs (see below) appear first, followed by municipalities alphabetically.
• These are followed by three Special PSTATs. (These all begin with the letter “X.”)
  
  

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PSTATs outside of SCLS counties:

• For some system areas there will be only two PSTATs:
  • a “generic” PSTAT for anyone who lives anywhere within the system area, and
  • an “ILL” PSTAT (which will always end in a hyphen and the letter “I.”) NEVER assign an ILL PSTAT to a walkin patron.
  • More information about the ILL PSTAT is on the Automation page.  [Password required.]
    
• For counties adjacent to, but outside, SCLS, there will always be a “with library” and a “no library” PSTAT.

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Always assign the most specific PSTAT available.

EXAMPLES:

• A patron lives in the village of Argyle. Argyle is in Lafayette County, and supports a library. But there is no PSTAT for the village of Argyle. Use the PSTAT for “Lafayette Co With Library” (O-SWLS-LFLI).
• A patron lives in the village of South Wayne. South Wayne is in Lafayette County, and does not support a library. There is no PSTAT for the village of South Wayne. Use the PSTAT for “Lafayette Co, No Library” (O-SWLS-LFNL).
• A patron lives in the village of Muscoda. Muscoda is in Grant County. There are no PSTATs specific to Grant County. Use the generic PSTAT for Southwest Wisconsin Library System (O-SWLS).
• A patron lives in the city of Richland Center, which is in Richland County, and supports a library. Use the PSTAT for “Richland Center, City” (O-SWLS-RCC).

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Determine what system a certain county or community is in:

Try consulting the Library System Map and Contact Information .  You can click on a system to see more information.


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How do you know if a community supports a library?

• The Library System Map and Contact Information described above can help.  Clicking on a system in the map will usually take you to that system's web page, and many have lists of their member libraries. 

• Information about systems and members has also been put into both Word and PDF documents by Madison Public Library.

• PLEASE NOTE: There are about 25 joint libraries in Wisconsin, three of which are in SCLS. In a joint library, more than one municipality supports the library.   These are listed in Joint Libraries in Wisconsin (PDF). 

  EXAMPLE: A patron lives in the town of Hutisford, in Dodge County. The Hutisford library is a joint library of the town and village of Hutisford. There is a PSTAT for the village of Hutisford, but not the town. Use the PSTAT for “Dodge Co With Library” (O-MWFLS-DGLI).

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What to do when you're too busy to do all of the research described above:

It is sometimes very hard to do all of this research while you’re helping patrons at the circulation desk! When that happens:

• At the very least, for patrons living outside the SCLS counties, assign the correct generic out-of-system PSTAT (for example, O-SWLS), and go back and revise it as soon as possible.
• If it not possible to determine even that, use the X-UND (undetermined) PSTAT, and go back and revise it as soon as possible.
• Each library also receives a report of their patrons with X-UND PSTATs every other month, and a report of their patrons with generic out-of-system PSTATs twice per year, and should update these patron records by assigning the most specific PSTATs.

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Any time a patron moves:

• follow the above guidelines to determine if their PSTAT has changed.

For more information about PSTATs, contact Heidi Oliversen by email

For more information about the information on this page, contact Cheryl Becker.

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