IFLA WLIC 2022: Open Sessions by Statistics and Evaluation Section

The State of Outcome/Impact Measurement in Metropolitan, National, and Academic Libraries

Co-organized with the Metropolitan Libraries Section, this session focused on how libraries move from outcome measurement to the assessment of the impact or value of library programs and services.  Daphna Blatt, Senior Director of Strategy and Public Impact, at the New York Public Library focused on outcomes and impact in a large metropolitan library system.  She shared several output analysis cases at both strategic and operational levels. Shawn Mitchell, Director of Policy, Planning, and Performance Management at the Toronto Public Library introduced their Bridge project, focusing on measuring the performance and outcome of technology services through patron and staff surveys. Mary Davis Fournier, Executive Director, of the Public Library Association (PLA) focused on the role of professional associations in fostering impact assessments. She introduced their IMLS grant-awarded project, the National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA), and the toolkit project outcome for public libraries. Dr. Colleen Cook from the School of Information Studies at McGill University demonstrated how the data from the application Waitz informs enhanced operational and strategic decision-making in areas such as staff scheduling, security, and planning displays and exhibits. She also showed how combining data from Waitz with gate count data provided insights on visitor stay length and user behavior.

Carolyn A. Anthony, Chair of the Metropolitan Libraries Section, wrapped up the session by weaving together the importance of measuring impact with the use of both qualitative and quantitative measures in telling the story of impact and focusing on the contribution, not attribution.

In the session introduction, Dr. Mary-Jo Romaniuk, Vice Provost for Libraries and Cultural Resources at the University of Calgary, invited attendees to respond to a survey question “If you were developing a survey on how libraries show value/impact, what question(s) would you ask”? The responses were collected by the end of the session for future analysis.

Providing, Communicating, and Assessing the Value of Research Support Services in Libraries

Dr. Mary-Jo Romaniuk, Vice Provost for Libraries and Cultural Resources at the University of Calgary hosted this session. Over 170 attendees attended this session.

Dr. Clifford Lynch, Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) provided an overview of the changing opportunities for research support services in academic and research libraries and their importance to the research communities. Dr. Frankie Wilson, Head of Assessment at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, covered skills and services libraries can offer to support research and their impact on the institution and individual researchers. Marie-Louise Ayres from the National Library of Australia was unable to attend so Dr. Bella Gerlich, the chair of the SE Section, presented Marie-Louise’s paper about the communication and assessment of the value of research support service in libraries. Dr. Justine Wheeler, Assessment Librarian at the University of Calgary introduced the use of logic models, as recently adopted by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and shared examples using logic models for the evaluation of different types of academic library services, including those supporting research.