Maximizing Library Value and Impact

1. Library value and impact Mary Dunne & Mairea Nelson

2. Value & Impact Value is ‘the benefit the user obtains from the use of information and the effect of that use’. (Urquhart & Hepworth 1995, 33). • Indicators: • Usefulness • Satisfaction - a personally perceived response to an experience.(Poll 2012) Impact is the effect of a service on its users (and others). - may be viewed as an aspect of value. Poll R (2012) Can we quantify the library’s influence? Creating an ISO standard for impact assessment, Performance Measurement and Metrics, 13(2), 121-130. UrqhuartC & Hepworth J (1995) The value to clinical decision making of information supplied. London: British Library Research and Development Department.

3. ISO definitions input: contribution of resources in support of a library (e.g. funding, staff, collections, space, equipment) process: set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs (e.g. cataloguing, lending, reference service) output: products of library processes (e.g. titles catalogued, loans, downloads from the electronic collection, reference questions answered) outcome: direct, pre-defined effect of the output related to goals and objectives of the library’s planning (e.g. number of users, user satisfaction levels) impact: difference or change in an individual or group resulting from the contact with library services value: importance that stakeholders (funding institutions, politicians, the public, users, staff) attach to libraries and which is related to the perception of actual or potential benefit ISO (2014) Information and documentation — Methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, ISO 16439. Switzerland: ISO. .

4. P P P P P P P 7 p’s of marketing

5. Product Process Physical evidence People Promotion Place Price

6. People

7. People • Who is my audience for the evaluation?How do I ensure I report results that are of value to them in a way that suits them? • Who is my study population? • How do I ensure I gather information from my priority customers? • How do I ensure I include measures that demonstrate the value of librarians as well as the library? Starr S (2013) Creating brand love for libraries: can we be a kind of paradise? J Med Lib Assoc 101(3), 168 – 170 Shore, E. (2013) The role of the library in the transformative higher education environment: or fitting our measures to our goals. Presented at the 10th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services, University of York, 22-25 July, 2013

8. Product • Are you going to measure value and/or impact? • What do you want to evaluate – the whole library / specific resources and services – or both • Do you have indicators or objectives that you want to evaluate? • Are you going to include measures that enable to you increase value and impact?

9. Place Where do you conduct your study: • email survey • web survey • focus groups • Interviews (phone or face-to-face) • observation • triangulation (combining approaches) Dunn, K., Brewer, K., Gard Marshall, J. and Sollenberger, J. (2009) Measuring the value and impact of health sciences libraries: planning an update and replication of the Rochester study, Journal of the Medical Library Association, 97(4): 308-312.

10. Physical evidence • What is the best way of gathering that evidence - quantitative or qualitative measures? Survey questions: • Is each question necessary? • How will I use the results of each question? (does it show satisfaction; tell you if something needs to change, and how, or provide context) • Will questions make sense to respondents? (jargon free) • Do question and answer options match? (Try reading the question and each answer option out loud) • How will I report the results of each question? (Will you group categories. Will your categories make powerful statements in your final report) • Which questions will I make mandatory?

11. Answer options

12. Survey tips • Pilot the survey • Personalize the request, stressing the importance of the survey and assuring confidentiality. • Send at least one, and ideally two or even three, reminders. • If you amend the questionnaire, keep it brief. • Consider the use of a financial incentive such as a lottery draw. Weightman, A., Urquhart, C., Spink, S. and Thomas, R. (2009) The value and impact of information provided through library services for patient care: developing guidance for best practice, Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26,63-71. Best practices for improving survey participation http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/best-practices-improve-survey-1583708.pdf Smart survey design by survey monkey http://s3.amazonaws.com/SurveyMonkeyFiles/SmartSurvey.pdf

13. Impact – aligning to goals

14. Library taxonomy: the value of library and information services in hospitals and academic health services centers Abels, EG, et al. (2002) Journal of the Medical Library Association, 90(3), 276-284.

15. Performance indicators Dalton, M. (2012) Key performance indicators in Irish hospital libraries: developing outcome-based metrics to support advocacy and service delivery, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 7A. Critical incident technique http://www.ucc.ie/hfrg/emmus/methods/cit.html

16. Reporting impact Following 13 interviews, our researcher produced a report of results under identified themes • better informed workers in the drugs sector • better informed policy • programme and project development • better informed interventions with service users • improved course educational development • better informed written outputs

17. Aligning results to impact types

18. Aligning organisation goals – library goals - impacts

19. Impact Assessment Method Ten item scale used to measure impact at McGill University Pluye, P., Grad, R.M., Stephenson, R. and Dunikowski, L.G. (2005) A new impact assessment method to evaluate knowledge resources, AMIA 2005 Symposium Proceedings, 609-613. Information Impact Assessment Method - http://www.flintbox.com/public/project/1946

20. Price Do you have a budget? Costs – • recruiting an external researcher • purchase access to survey provider • staff time - how long will it take to prepare, administer, analyse, write up and promote?

21. Promotion How will you communicate your results? • for customers • for health practitioners (?potential customers) • for funders • for other librarians

22. Process What are the pieces of the puzzle that have to fit together and in what time-frame? • Do you need to get approval from senior managers? • When is the best time to conduct a study? • Do you have a deadline e.g. your annual report? • How long do you give your responders? • Do you need a gantt chart to show timelines?

23. Conclusion We have learned that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, but that there are many tools and resources to help us as librarians demonstrate the importance of our work. VALUE Validating A Librarian’s Unique Expertise IMPACT Impressing Managers & Practitioners About Change Transfer