Search results

The purpose of this paper is to understand the alignment of assessment processes in libraries and develop a conceptual model of aligning library performance assessment for effective reporting of library value and performance to stakeholders.

The paper reviews of library performance assessment literature and current practice research to identify the need and value of aligned performance assessment processes for libraries, the primary contributing alignment factors affecting the library assessment process, and potential benefits of improved alignment of the assessment process for libraries.

Libraries can improve the reporting and value of their assessment processes by improving the alignment of their assessment processes in two ways: internally through the use of consistent and innovative processes, metrics, and culture within the library and externally by embracing the alignment factors of the library's service environment. The library must develop more effective assessment alignment processes by progressively elevating the alignment of the library's assessment processes from internal non‐alignment of assessment to the total alignment of assessment to the library’ service environment and the dynamic environmental factors driving today's libraries.

Increasing the alignment of a library's assessment processes can improve the efficiency of assessment processes, the effectiveness of the results of the assessment processes, and the library stakeholder's appreciation and understanding of the results of the assessment processes.

Provides a conceptual model applicable to all types of libraries to increase the alignment of assessment and the library's ability to report value and impact.

The purpose of this study is to develop an evaluation index. For this, questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the educational value of the library. This study encourages librarians and users to gain confidence in the educational benefits of the library and enables the students and general users to capture and appreciate the educational presence of the library, thereby contributing to the increase of activity in libraries.

To develop an evaluation index for assessing the educational value of the library, domestic and foreign papers were collectively gathered and analyzed to develop a preliminary evaluation index. Next, ten experts were selected and the three-step Delphi method was used to develop a final evaluation index. Questionnaires were developed based on the final evaluation index, and librarians and users of 100 public libraries were asked to assess educational values of their respective libraries. In Korea, there are 978 public libraries (as of 2015), and in this study, 10% of the public libraries were selected. To select the libraries, every tenth library was chosen from the data of the national library statistics system.

By presenting the educational value of the library, this study encourages libraries to improve their services and increases library usage. The educational value has been divided into five evaluation areas of literacy improvement; learning and educational support; research support and information resources provision; improvement of the quality of educational environment and education; and strengthening of competency. The strengthening of competency evaluation areas were the highest at 3.87, and those of research support and the information resources provision were the lowest at 3.63. Statistical analysis comparing responses by social status, gender, age and number of visits revealed that the majority (23 of 39) of significant differences found occurred between librarians and users.

The evaluation indicator developed in this research is expected to be a basic tool that can be applied to public libraries as well as other types of libraries. In addition, the evaluation indicator developed in this research can be applied to nonprofit organizations and this research is expected to have an educational impact as a study that evaluates and presents the educational values of libraries. In addition, because the research was conducted in a personal context, the questionnaire survey was administered in 100 libraries with limitations among the public libraries nationwide. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the educational value of libraries of other kinds such as university libraries, school libraries and specialized libraries, using the indicator developed in this research.

The biggest feat the present study achieved is the development of the evaluating indicator of the educational value of libraries. As examined in previous researches, the studies on the value of libraries are partly being executed but such studies tend to be mostly ones about such an institute’s economic merits. However, a library is not evaluated only by its financial significance but by its cultural, social and educational prominence. The present research can be extremely meaningful in that within it, the authors endeavor to estimate a library’s educational value, considering the countless papers mentioning the value of similar establishments within and outside Korea, and based on such data produce an indicator to evaluate the educational value of such institutes. Also, in the present research, it is noteworthy that the developed indicator is verified while at the same time the authors apply it in real life to estimate the educational value of such a hub for books. For such an application, the authors conducted a survey on 100 Korean public libraries, amounting to 10% of all the libraries in Korea, and the research is meaningful in that it even compared and analyzed the common notions of the librarians and users. Finally, the educational value of libraries is proven through such a process. It can be seen that the users evaluate that a library contributes to the improvement of literacy on the part of the user, and by supporting studies, education, research and academic activities adds to the user’s reading ability, character and creativity. To recount the specifics, it can be seen that they think that such an establishment heightens reading ability and results, contributes to continuing education and improves emotional stability. Such a research result is seen to be of particular use for the executive team of a library while they secure the budget or plan services to better user satisfaction with the value judgment of libraries at its basis.

There is very little research conducted on the educational influence or value of the library, although they are referred to in part when overall value of the library is discussed. Therefore, research that focuses on the educational value of the library is needed. In this respect, this research is meaningful; the evaluation index developed in this research is a basic tool that can be applied to all public libraries as well as other types of libraries. Furthermore, the evaluation index developed in this study may also be applied to nonprofit organizations, such as libraries, and will likely have a social impact as research that evaluates and presents the educational value of the library.

This article aims to describe two methods – critical incident and return on investment – that can be used to measure and demonstrate explicit and derived value of academic libraries. Results from several studies that use these methods are described in the context of the Lib‐Value project, funded by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services.

A series of surveys using the critical incident of the last article reading by faculty are used to gather information on the purpose, outcomes, and the value of scholarly article readings and access to collections through the library. Both qualitative and quantitative data are collected through web‐based surveys.

Over half of scholarly article readings by faculty are for research purposes and readings for research purposes were more likely to be obtained from the library's electronic collections and are valued more highly than readings for other purposes or from other sources. In a study of ROI to grants from the library's journal collections, results show that for every dollar invested in the library faculty attribute many more dollars returned in grant income through more successful grant proposals.

Return on investment is one method for measuring the value of a library's collections and services; others include measuring outcomes through critical incident and qualitative “stories”. Ongoing studies will examine how the library's products and services help faculty be successful, help students be successful, and generate both immediate and downstream income that provides good return on investment.

This paper highlights methods to measure the value of academic libraries as well as reporting findings from several studies that reflect changes in scholarly article readings over time. This type of research helps libraries demonstrate their value and gather evidence to choose from among alternatives.

This study aims to develop an evaluation index to evaluate the economic value among the values of the library and also attempts to measure the economic value of the library by performing a survey of the librarians and users at public libraries. The results of this research would likely encourage the librarians to feel increasingly confident about the library, while students and users, in general, would also likely be able to realize the economic value and presence of the library in more perceptive ways, thereby contributing to the activation of the library.

This study pertains to the development of an evaluation index for assessing the economic value of the library and, to evaluate the economic value of the library, has derived a preliminary evaluation index by collectively gathering and analyzing the domestic and foreign papers on the value of the library in its first phase. The preliminary evaluation index derived was verified by conducting three phases of Delphi survey by selecting ten experts. The survey questionnaire was developed to measure the economic value based on the final evaluation index derived from this study, and the economic value was measured against the perceptions of librarians and users of the public library.

The economic value of the library was divided into the four categories of the local economy’s value enhancement, namely, connection with the local community, human resources development, job creation and investment value enhancement for the librarians and users surveyed for assessment purposes. Consequently, the area of connection with the local community turned out to be the highest at 4.15, followed by 4.02 of the investment value improvement, 3.58 for the local economy’s value improvement and 3.50 for the human resources development and job creation, respectively. Furthermore, the respondents demonstrated the highest level of consensus on average on how the resource sharing by libraries has helped to reduce the economic burden for the residents as a matter of social value for the public library while believing that the libraries deliver a high level of return on social investments.

There are not that many studies conducted on the economic influence or the value of public libraries in Korea, and they are merely referenced in part if and when referenced to the overall value of the library. Given that, the research that focuses only on the economic value of the library must be carried out. In this respect, this research has been quite meaningful. The evaluation index developed in this research is likely to become a basic tool that can be applied to public libraries, as well as other types of libraries. Furthermore, the evaluation index developed through this research could be applied to nonprofit organizations, such as libraries, and would likely have a social ripple effect as a research that evaluates and presents the economic value of libraries. Accordingly, in this research, we have analyzed the list presented by the American Library Association and domestic research results, and have also structured the core details and derived the preliminary economic value index. Finally, 4 evaluation areas, 7 evaluation items and 22 evaluation indicators have been developed through the Delphi survey through three phases.

This study aims to present a new approach to measuring the economic value of special libraries, including certain time‐saving effects that the contingent valuation method application cannot exclusively prove.

A cost‐benefit analysis is used as a tool to determine whether the benefits of special libraries outweigh the cost incurred in providing the services. The benefits of such libraries are based on estimates of how much the user is willing to pay for the service, as well as the cost of time saved as a result of his contact with library services. A case study was conducted to show how special libraries could apply the proposed model to their library setting to measure the value of the library's services.

According to the case study involving the KDI School Library, the economic value of its library services measured in terms of a B/C ratio was 1.97, serving as strong justification for the library's existence.

This study is more specific and accurate than previous studies in that it enables an individual analysis for each service special libraries offer and focuses on the types of benefit derived. It is hoped that the model will help analyze the strength of each library service as well as the total economic value of the library.

The purpose of this paper is to describe HKUST Library’s active participation in helping the university prepare for the 2014 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2014) in Hong Kong. Through the process the authors demonstrated library’s value and librarians’ expertise in supporting research.

This is a case study that highlights how HKUST Library tackled this complex exercise. The effort was delineated as three stages: the design stage when the authors proactively supported the electronic system design for RAE 2014, the formation stage in which the submission infrastructure was built, and the data process stage.

Based on the Library’s experience in creating and managing the Institutional Repository and the Scholarly Publication Database, the participation proved to be instrumental in designing and building the electronic infrastructure for the RAE 2014. After the project, the HKUST research community had higher trust and regard of the Library, both for the research information management systems and librarians’ expertise in providing research support service.

The paper elaborates details of HKUST Library’s effort, including human resource deployment, project management strategy, operational tactics, challenges the authors faced and keys to success. The experience demonstrates that libraries and librarians can establish credibility and gain respect from research communities through delivering tangible outcomes.

There is very few case studies in the literature on libraries’ participation in and contribution to RAEs. This paper fills a gap in the area.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Value Scorecard framework for performance measurement and advocacy in academic and research libraries.

The study used a leadership perspective and an autoethnographic approach to develop and test the theory and practice of value measurement in a case study research library. A constructivist approach was taken for developing the framework, followed by quantitative and qualitative methods to develop, deepen and implement the full description.

The Scorecard proposition is summarized as previously elaborated in five papers, covering the overall framework and its implementation and more detailed theory and practice from the case library on human and relational capital assessment.

The paper provides a new ontology for research libraries. Implementation has been undertaken in one case library, but the learning should be transferable to others and also potentially to other public sector or values-based organizations.

The Value Scorecard is shown to be applicable to organize measurement and assessment in research libraries for the demonstration and advocacy of a library’s value. It is hospitable to pre-existing data collection approaches.

The Scorecard addresses the need to prove the social value and worth of libraries.

The Value Scorecard is a unique and unifying contribution to the frameworks and methods for performance measurement and advocacy in academic and research libraries. The study covers 10 years of research work to understand the concept of value in libraries, as well as 8 years of organizational development to apply this learning.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on advances in the understanding and practice of people evaluation in libraries. The paper is conceptual and offers a framework for human capital evaluation.

The research approach has been to employ a mixed method research strategy (multi-methodology), combining desk research exploring quantitative capital assessment methods from other industries, sectors and libraries; phenomenological observation of existing data collection and development concepts; and survey data from staff in case studies of the author's own and other organizations.

The synthesis suggests the measures required to populate the library capital dimension of the value scorecard, thereby providing an estimation of the value of a library's human capital.

The paper fills a gap through a broad survey of advances in people assessment in libraries, and provides a unique framework for human capital measurement in libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the development of ideas relating to the value of library relationships. The paper is conceptual and provides a framework for the measurement of relationship capital (RC) for academic and research libraries.

The research approach has been to employ a mixed method research strategy combining desk research on the concepts of the definition of RC and its foundation theories with an exploration of relational capital assessment methods from other industries. A historical review is presented with cases of the traditional main method of delivering effective relationships in libraries (embedded librarians, academic liaison and subject librarians).

The synthesis suggests a measurement approach to populate the RC dimension of the value scorecard, thereby providing an estimation of the full value of the library’s relational capital.

The paper fills a gap in the consideration of the importance of relationships to academic and research libraries, and provides a unique and original framework for assessment and measurement.

As the demand for new services strains library resources, directors of research libraries must practice efficient cost management and demonstrate alignment with institutional objectives. For technical services, this requires managing the effective cost of metadata services, assessing core functions, and evaluating operational performance. This paper uses Complex Adaptive Systems (CASs) as a framework to expose the network of local and global dependencies that currently define the field of operation for technical services. Comparative analyses using a CASs framework were conducted on reports by the Library of Congress, the Heads of Technical Services in Large Research Libraries Interest Group, and the British Library. Each report addresses financial pressures placed on bibliographic control services in response to the 2008 recession. Statements within the reports were assigned to one of three dominant systems: bibliographic control, institutional identification, and distributive networks. The statements were then mapped to the CASs characteristics to determine environmental pressures and areas of adaptation. The reports exposed long-standing dependencies that tie local bibliographic control to a complex network of external agencies. Institutional shifts toward user-centered services coupled with growing fiscal restraint has disrupted the stability of these networks. The analyses found that in all cases network instability led to localized institutional adaptation to existing economic pressures. The paper recommends applying a CASs model to assess the alignment of distributed metadata standards and systems development to local institutional objectives.