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Library impact and how to evaluate it has been debated for a number of years. While the activity – the busy-ness – of the library is now routinely measured and described, the difference the library makes is less tangible and harder to measure. Libraries in all sectors and worldwide are grappling with this issue, and the purpose of this paper is to summarise international standards available to support them.

The first international standard concerning library impact, ISO 16439 Information and documentation – methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, was published in 2014 after several years in development.

The standard describes a range of methods for assessing library impact which have been used across the world in a variety of libraries in all sectors.

This paper summarises the key methods described in the standard, and gives references for further reading.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the adequacy of impact surveys for identifying library influence on highly diverse populations.

Projects calculating an economic value of library services have become nearly familiar in the last decades, while attempts to identify an influence of library use on people's lives and on society are still somewhat rare. Probably the most suitable and manageable instrument for impact assessment is the survey, whether print or online, used separately or combined with interview techniques. The paper describes recent projects using impact surveys for diverse populations and compares their goals, target groups, and results. The focus is on impact in the sense of changes in people resulting from the contact with library services, not on economic value of libraries.

The impact projects that are analysed, though differing strongly in outer conditions, populations and goals, show the applicability of the survey method for impact assessment, but also the need for adapting the method to the specific conditions.

Studies on library impact are ongoing, and methods are still developing. The paper shows a snapshot of the present situation.

The paper concentrates on the most-used instrument of impact assessment; surveys. Based on practical examples it shows advantages and challenges of the method and gives recommendations for format and content of surveys in different settings.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with actually available and potential methods for identifying, verifying and quantifying the influence of libraries on individuals and society.

The paper gives an overview of methods and procedures that have been used for demonstrating the social, educational or economic impact of libraries. It points to validity problems and to labor costs of specified procedures and shows examples of simple methods that might be applied by most libraries.

Various projects worldwide have tried to develop and test such methods, and the discussion has reached a stage where a first aggregation in an International Standard seems possible and expedient. ISO therefore started a working group in December 2010.

This is the first report concerning ISO 16439.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the progress made in developing mechanisms for self‐supported impact assessment for a range of library service providers in the UK, and higher education libraries in particular. There is no established tradition for the higher education libraries to evaluate the impact that they have within their organisations.

The authors have created and developed a range of techniques which have been applied across the United Kingdom in school, health, public and higher education libraries, refining the techniques over the last decade.

The impact initiative so far is reviewed and areas for further promotion and development identified.

The work described is one of few that has achieved impact assessment across a wide range of libraries and over a significant period.

The purpose of this paper is to report on recent performance measurement and impact evaluation progress made in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Moldova, Turkey and Vietnam as part of the last phase of the Global Libraries Initiative.

The country reports are presented as a series of case studies, in some cases supplementing those reported earlier in this journal.

Recent country-specific survey findings are reported and some conclusions are offered.

This paper demonstrates how the adoption of a common approach to library service evaluation across several countries can strengthen research practice at country level beyond the Global Libraries Initiative itself.

This paper shares Global Libraries IPA learning at country level with people in other countries who may be contemplating public library evaluation at regional, national or local levels or who are interested in performance measurement and impact evaluation.

The paper shows how focusing on the impact of public library services on users can enhance the understanding of community requirements and inform the development of more effective services to library users and communities.

These case studies reflect concentrated impact evaluation and performance measurement work at country level across a range of countries over more than 18 years.

The purpose of this paper is to report a range of innovative approaches, methods and tools for evaluating the impact of public libraries and supporting the development of library leaders drawn from projects supported by the Global Libraries initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A range of approaches, tools and methods are described by specialist staff who were directly involved with these innovations.

Some comments are provided on the effectiveness of these innovations.

All of these innovations have been tried out in public library settings, usually over a period of years.

All of the selected innovations could be adapted and used by library leaders or impact specialists.

Several of the innovations are specifically designed to engage library staff and users in evaluation processes.

The impact planning and assessment programme of GL was the largest sustained international public library evaluation programme so far attempted. This paper reports on the more innovative evaluation activities undertaken through this programme.

The purpose of this paper is to indicate the place of assessment of the impact of libraries in the overall quality evaluation of these institutions. In the paper, an attempt has been made to separate the concepts of the impact and values of library services and, according to the designated scope, the most important areas of research, methods and indicators for the assessment of the impact of academic libraries were characterized. The focus was on the most important areas, i.e. on the impact of libraries on didactics and academic research, information literacy and on its assessment in the cultural and environmental aspect.

A literature-based overview of actual insights on tasks and areas, methods, indicators research on the impact of academic is provided.

The author has determined that the analysis of the impact of academic libraries can mainly concern the following areas: information (influence on didactics, research and information competence of users), cultural and environmental. That is why it is worth analyzing the most important methods and indicators of research on the impact of academic libraries in these areas. The best way to research the quality of libraries, and especially to determine its impact on users and the environment, is to use a mixed methodology – a whole set of quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques. Triangulation can involve the use of both qualitative and quantitative data or the use of multiple methods to develop one type of data.

However, these methods were used to study the impact of academic libraries, whose results do not determine the financial value.

The paper shows the methods of research on the quality of the functioning of academic libraries with a special emphasis on the study of their impact on users and the social environment.

The paper shows the methodology of determining the social role of academic libraries.

The paper intends to add to the body of knowledge about the research methodology for the impact of academic libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries (GLs) initiative approach to advocacy and how it informs, guides, and integrates impact data to support sustainability of GL program results.

The paper defines advocacy in the context of GL, and explores the GL grant planning process, tools, and collaboration between advocacy and impact specialists. Results are demonstrated through grantee examples that illustrate a variety of approaches to library advocacy using impact data at local, country, and regional levels.

The paper demonstrates the importance of identifying community needs, designing impact measures to demonstrate how libraries help to address those needs, and the variety of ways impact evidence can be used to effectively advocacy for public libraries. This basic formula can be applied to advocacy efforts ranging from a broad national policy to a small incremental change in perceptions of libraries by local decision makers.

This paper reinforces the essential link between library impact measurement data and successful advocacy.

This paper examines the relationship between research into the evaluation of the impact of library and information services, policy making in the field, and professional practice and education. The paper first summarises the background to a recent critical literature review undertaken on behalf of Resource: the Council on Museums, Archives and Libraries. The review was intended to identify any published evidence that Museums, Archives and Libraries are making a contributory impact to developments in the British Government’s key policy areas. Except in the field of learning, little supporting evidence was found. Methodological weakness undermined the validity of much of the related work identified by the review. After considering approaches to ensuring the impact of research on policy making, including a more appropriate publication strategy and greater face‐to‐face dialogue, the paper discusses the attitudes of LIS practitioners towards academic research and the need for closer collaboration. Finally, the paper speculates on some of the implications for LIS educators in developing future researchers better equipped to identify the contribution that libraries make, and more effective in influencing policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to report on performance measurement and impact assessment progress made in 14 countries as part of the Global Libraries initiative, starting with the early country grants in Mexico and Chile. For the mature grants in Bulgaria, Botswana, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Viet Nam which were recently completed or are approaching completion, the nature of the country program is outlined, before the impact assessment work is described and some recent results and conclusions are reported. A similar approach is adopted with pilot and new grants in Colombia, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey and Lithuania.

The country reports are presented as a series of case studies, in some cases supplementing those in an earlier special issue of this journal.

Where appropriate, recent country-specific survey findings are reported.

This paper shares Global Libraries IPA learning at country level with people in other countries who may be contemplating public library evaluation at regional, national or local level or who are interested in performance measurement and impact evaluation.

These cases studies reflect concentrated impact assessment and performance measurement work at country level across a range of countries over more than 12 years.