Citation
Jacobs, D. (2015), "Impact planning and assessment of the Global Libraries initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation", Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 16 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/PMM-04-2015-0009
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Impact planning and assessment of the Global Libraries initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Article Type: Editorial From: Performance Measurement and Metrics, Volume 16, Issue 2.
Knowledge has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities. As a librarian for more than 40 years and now, as the director of the Global Libraries (GL) initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, I know this to be true. Particularly in developing and transitioning countries, people need relevant and timely information to engage and compete in a dramatically changing world. As information and public resources move online, any gap in digital access and skills can quickly become a gap in opportunity. Among their many services, public libraries provide communities with access and the support needed to close this divide.
This unique potential of public libraries is what Bill and Melinda Gates identified more than two decades ago when they chose libraries as the recipients of the foundation's first grants. It is why they decided to fund free internet access in US public libraries as a way to give all people ready access to information and the opportunities that come with digital skills and connectivity. And it is why the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's GL initiative has since grown to strengthen public library infrastructure and capacity in more than 25 countries around the world.
As advances in technology have changed community needs and shaped the services that libraries offer, they have also made it possible for libraries to better understand and steer their impact. Today, the growth of mobile technology and venues like telecenters and cybercafés provides more public access to information online, but it is still public libraries that anchor the hearts of their communities, providing digital access as well as space and services that address local needs and help overcome social and economic barriers. Ensuring that library services can keep up with the changing needs of their communities begins with the ability to assess those needs and measure how the public library rises to meet them.
I am pleased to present this special issue of Performance Measurements and Metrics as a four-part narrative of the progress GL has made and the lessons we have learned, particularly related to how we track the impact of our grants and use that information to create more impact. The information shared in this issue builds on learnings shared in a previous GL special issue in 2012 (Vol. 13 No. 1).
GL focusses on providing access to technology in public libraries throughout entire countries with an emphasis on developing and transitioning countries. GL's multi-year grants (or "country grants") fund efforts to understand local information needs, purchase equipment for libraries that can help meet those needs, train library staff, and help libraries build public support for long-term funding. Our grant process normally includes a progression, starting with smaller-scale pilot grants that inform the development of full-scale country grants.
Much progress has been made. It is through GL's country grants that we have learned the importance of measuring impact and connecting it to library services and advocacy in order to ensure libraries are recognized and funded as core community assets and partners. The work of GL grantees and others in the GL community has elevated the role and recognition of public libraries in community development, and there is a growing shift in the field from measuring what libraries do – the number of books lent and users served – to measuring their success and capturing their impact in terms of community outcomes such as increased employment, better health, higher education levels, and increased community engagement.
This has been a remarkable journey for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and one that is nearing its end. Last year, the foundation made the decision to conclude its engagement in the GL field within the next three to five years. Our goal from the beginning was to set libraries up to succeed and to strengthen the library field. To leave the field stronger and more resilient, we have undertaken a process to quantify our impact over the last 20 years and to develop a strategy that will continue on after our work is completed.
The strategy involves four key levers we believe can lead to systemic change in the library field that will benefit individuals and communities. By focussing on outputs at the library level, we can ensure library staff are equipped and driving to meet community needs. The four levers are: network and knowledge sharing; leadership capacity building; research and innovation; and impact and advocacy.
The fourth lever in particular is the focus of this journal issue and directly relates to what we have learned through our country grants. Advocating for policies and government funding for public library services is essential to maintaining the results achieved during the GL grant program, and one of the most important advocacy tools is evidence of the positive impact public libraries have on the lives of people in their community. Yet often libraries struggle to articulate, particularly in quantitative terms, how their services are improving people's lives. Long-term funding for public libraries all over the world is threatened because libraries have not been able to articulate their value in a digital age. During the past five years, GL has supported field engagement to address the critical need for a new measurement system to assess how libraries support long-term community impact. However, in order for the foundation's investment to be sustained or built upon, this work must be carried forward and adopted widely.
GL's story is shared in four papers. The first, "Global Libraries impact planning and assessment progress" looks at the evolution of individual grantees at different phases of the impact, planning, and assessment process, which prioritizes the desired outcome of a grant program and focusses all program design and assessment on achieving and sustaining that outcome. "The evolution of Global Libraries' performance measurement and impact assessment systems", the second paper, reports on new and important developments toward changes to this process and compares information across countries. The third paper, "From impact to advocacy: working together toward public library sustainability", discusses how the GL approach to advocacy informs, guides, and integrates impact data to support sustainability of GL program results. And the final paper, "Innovative impact planning and assessment through Global Libraries", looks at current innovations in public library evaluation undertaken by GL country grantees which may be of interest to the broader GL community.
In a modern, digital world, public libraries support community development by helping people be better informed, better connected, and more engaged as learners, creators, and producers. This requires leadership and strong, vibrant, and well-quipped public libraries to serve individuals and communities now and in the future. Throughout my career, I have worked with communities to create libraries that envision people's hopes and dreams for their future and I strongly believe being able to quantify the impact of the work libraries do every day to improve lives is the most important work that can be done now to support the field. I believe we are at a tipping point in the ability of libraries to measure results. I hope this report will serve as inspiration and guidance for library leaders and staff to understand the importance of measuring the impact of their libraries' services and programs, so that they can quickly respond to their communities' evolving needs and continue to improve lives today and into the future.
Deborah Jacobs