Post on 15-Jul-2015
The Value of Library-Provided Content:
Assessing Usage and Demonstrating Impact
Megan Oakleaf, MLS, PhDNISO Virtual Conference
April 2015moakleaf@syr.edu | meganoakleaf.info
Conceptions of Value• Satisfaction | surveys, self-reports• Service Quality | surveys, self-reports• Inputs/Outputs | money, time, numbers, etc. in and
out, comparisons to external standards/lists• Commodity | monetary value• Competing Alternatives | monetary value in
comparison with other options• Use | downloads, citation analysis, impact
factors/SNIP/etc., altmetrics• Return-on-Investment | financial ratios, micro (cost
per use) and macro (overall library investment)• Impact | what users do with content, achievement of
institutional or other goals
Typical:23% of faculty are satisfied with
library-provided content in their area of research.
So what?
Typical:A lot of people downloaded
a lot of things.We’re not sure who.
We’re not sure what things.We’re not sure what they did with them.
If anything.
Seriously?
Typical:If you had to
get the same or similar materials elsewhere
it would cost you = $$, time.
But I don’t do that.
Typical:We do more with less.
Well, we do about the same with less.Uh, actually we do a lot less with less.
I didn’t notice….
Impact:not how good is library content,
but rather how much good
do users do with that content
Tell me more!
What do users dowith the content you provide?
create new content, solve problems, make decisions,
take actions, and so on…
What do users do with the content you provide?
How much do you know about that?Do they do the things your
institution/organization values?
Context for Value…
institutional or organizationalmission
goals strategic priorities
focus areas
Tell me more!
Efficiency Focus Areas:
Time savingsIndustrial productivity, Shortened product cycle
Reduced parts costs, Labor savingsImproved qualityIncreased sales
Quicker response to threatsMoney saved over alternative sources
Risk of inappropriate information decreased
What does library content contribute?
Corporate Focus Areas:
Proceed to the next step in a projectDecide upon a course of actionImprove organizational imageImprove client relationshipsExploit new opportunities
Avoid time lost, bad decisions, loss of funds
What does library content contribute?
Medical Focus Areas:
Handle patient care differently (diagnosis, choice of tests, choice of drugs,
length of hospital stay, advice given)
Avoid hospital admissions, patient mortality, surgeries
What does library content contribute?
Public Library Focus Areas:Student learning, Early education, Literacy
development, Problem solvingFamily cohesion, Social inclusion, Social capital,
Community buildingCommunity capacity building, Employment, Small business support, Local economic developmentEconomic value, Decreased family spending (on
recreation, learning materials, etc.)Democracy support, Voter education
Safety, Community resilience (think Ferguson)
What does library content contribute?
Diagraming the Problem
Is there any intersection
here?
Librarians provide content.
The institution/ organization/etc. has needs, goals,
missions, outcomes it wants to
achieve.
Read All About It!
Soria, K., Fransen, J. & Nackerud, S. (2013). Library use and undergraduate student outcomes: new evidence for students’ retention and academic success. portal: Libraries and the Academy. 13(2), 147-164.
Stone, G. & Ramsden, B. (2013). Library impact data project: Looking for the link between library usage and student attainment. College and Research Libraries. 74(6), 546-559.
Cox, B. & Jantti, M. (2012). Discovering the Impact of Library Use and Student Performance. EDUCAUSE Review 47(4).
Want even more information? See the 2014 Library Assessment Conference proceedings and Assessment in Action results too!
Carol Tenopir& The Value of Academic Reading
• Faculty read 22 articles, 7 books, and 10 other publications (on average) per month, and it takes them approximately 40 hours.
• Two thirds of the articles come from library collections.
• Impact: improves research results, changes research focus, inspires new thinking, improves teaching.
Tenopir, C., & Volentine, R. (2012). Scholarly reading habits: demonstrating library value. LINK, 8-9.
Adapted from: Oakleaf, Megan. “Are They Learning? Are We? Learning and the Academic Library.” Library Quarterly. 81(1). 2011.
A Map to Value
We need to know:
The mission, goals, strategic priorities, or focus areas
of the parent institution.
We need to have:
Defined outcomes that describe the impact of library-provided content
on users, written in terms relevant to
the parent institution.
[Users] will be able to do [thing that the institution values].
• Students will be able to evaluate information found in library-provided content effectively.
• Faculty will be able to teach effectively using library-provided content .
• Faculty will be able to complete competitive grant proposals using library-provided content.
“Use” data.
What content use is there?
Useful for correlating library content usage with
measures of institutional success.
But what we have right now is inadequate…
“Use” data that doesn’t exist.
What use should there be based on the needs/requirements of
the parent institution, even if that use doesn’t currently exist?
Individual level data.
We can aggregate individual data, but we can’t disaggregate group data.
We can clean personally identifiable information from data,
but we can’t add it back in.
The Question of Correlation
Surrogates for library-provided content:
• Downloads
• Citations
• Library instruction
• Reference transactions
• ILL
• “Traditional” impact factors & newer altmetrics
• Other?
Surrogates for outcomes:
• Better grades
• Increased retention
• Better teaching evaluations
• More publications
• More positive T&P decisions
• More grants or awards
• Other?
What if we could demonstrate the contribution of library content...
• To students completing academic work successfully and completing their programs/degrees?
• To actually learning how to be good, lifelong, sophisticated users of information?
• To quick and lucrative employment of students?• To recruiting great new faculty?• To improving teaching?• To placing articles in the right publications?• To the awarding of grants?• To tenuring and promoting successful faculty members?• To the profile, prestige, reputation of the institution in the
global and local community?
Adapted from: Oakleaf, Megan. “Are They Learning? Are We? Learning and the Academic Library.” Library Quarterly. 81(1). 2011.
Identify situation of complexity
Decide to find
solution
Seek information
Decide to act
Take action
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Reflect on past experiences &
interpret environment
Engage in inquiry to
reduce doubt
Use reasoning to create new
rules for action
Build knowledge through
experimentation
Incorporate discoveries from action
PRAGMATISM
What if we could use what we learned about the contributions of library content…
• To teach users to be better, lifelong, sophisticated users of information?
• To help students do their academic work even more successfully and achieve their goals in greater numbers or more quickly?
• To assist students to gain faster and more lucrative employment?
• To recruit and promote more and better new faculty?
• To help faculty produce more articles in higher-impactpublications and get more and bigger grants?
• To the grow the profile, prestige, reputation of the institution in the global and local community?
Which conception of value are your assessments of library-provided
content predicated on?
SatisfactionService QualityInputs/Outputs
UsageCommodity
ImpactOr something else?