IC Template for Community Education Project Librarian and Patron Interviews

Request for Approval under the “GENERIC CLEARANCE FOR QUALITATIVE
CONSUMER EDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT, AND EXPERIENCE INFORMATION
COLLECTIONS” (OMB Control Number: 3170-0036)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Community Education Project Librarian and
Patron Interviews
PURPOSE: The purpose of this data collection is to find out the best approaches to providing
free, unbiased financial education programs and information in public library settings. Public
libraries serve nearly every community and provide convening space, free online access, and
collections of materials to their patrons. Libraries are also a trusted source of information and a
reference source most Americans know. However, libraries must deliver services under several
difficult constraints, such as shrinking budgets and staff. Nevertheless, surveys by the Institute
for Museum and Library Services i, a federal grant-making agency, shows that participation in
library programs continue to grow and that library use across the country remains strong. In
order to develop a financial education approach that works for libraries, the CFPB seeks to hear
from the librarians and patrons themselves. The CFPB hopes to find out the types of programs
libraries and library users would be drawn to, the services being used most now, other
community resources and agencies available for support, what programs work and which ones
don’t, what personal financial learning needs exist, and how programs could be made sustainable
and scalable. The goal is to develop a technical approach for delivering free, unbiased financial
information to U.S. consumers that could help them with difficult or complex financial decisions
or to better manage their personal finances.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Public library administrators and staff; library patrons
representing various user groups, such as parents, computer users, older Americans, frequent
visitors, etc.
TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check all that apply)
[ x ] In-Person Meeting
[ x ] Interview
[ x ] Focus Group
[ ] Social Media Poll

[ ] Qualitative Survey
[ ] Small Discussion Group
[ ] Online Discussion Forum
[ x ] Other: _online survey

CERTIFICATION:
By submitting this document, the Bureau certifies the following to be true:
1. The collection is voluntary.
2. The collection is low-burden for respondents.
3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal
agencies.
4. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential
policy decisions.
5. The results will not be used to measure regulatory compliance or for program evaluation.

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Personally Identifiable Information:
1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [ x ] No
2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the
Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No NA
3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No NA

Gifts or Payments:
Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to
participants? [ ] Yes [ x ] No

Assurances of Confidentiality:
1. Will a pledge of confidentiality be made to respondents? [ ] Yes [ x ] No
2. If Yes, please cite the statue, regulation, or contractual terms supporting the pledge.
NA

JUSTIFICATION OF SENSITIVE QUESTIONS (if applicable):

BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent

Number of
Respondents
5
20
100
45
170

Library administrator
Librarians
Patrons (web)
Patrons (in-person)
Totals

Participation
Time
1 hour
1 hour
10 minutes
1 hour
//////////////

Burden

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $11,383

5 hours
20 hours
17 hours
45 hours
87 hours

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Strategies for Selecting Respondents
Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential
respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe?
[ x ] Yes
[ ] No
If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If
the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of
respondents and how you will select them?
The nine libraries we are interviewing are partnering with the CFPB as pilot locations for
the Community Education project. The interviewees will be the administrators, staff and
patrons from these partner organizations. The administrators of the pilot libraries will
facilitate the selection of appropriate staff to interview, as well as assist in promoting an
online survey of their patrons.

Information Collection Procedures
Please summarize the procedures that will be used to collect data from respondents.
To accomplish our objectives we would like to conduct surveys and interviews with relevant
stakeholders and audience groups. The data captured will be qualitative in nature and will
contain no personally identifiable information.
Participation in these surveys and interviews is entirely voluntary and no incentive will be
provided. The intended methods for data collection will be: telephone, in-person and web-based
survey.
Administration of the Instrument
1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
[ x ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media
[ x ] Telephone
[ x ] In-person
[ ] Mail
[ ] Other, Explain
2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ x ] Yes [ ] No

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Public Libraries in the United States Survey Fiscal Year 2010, IMLS, (January 2013)

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