Because we’re worth it!

Demonstrating value and impact inAcademic Libraries

Rebecca Davies, Aberystwyth University

“Academic libraries today are complex institutions with multiple roles and a host of related operations and services ...

Yet their fundamental purpose has remained the same: to provide access to trustworthy, authoritative knowledge.”

Campbell (2006)

Storm clouds gather...• The “library losing its supremacy in carrying out

this fundamental role...due.... to the impact of digital technology.” (Campbell, 2006)

I’m also adding the challenges to our role from... • Declining budgets, increasing student

expectations and revolutionary changes in scholarly communication...

So does your institution need you? If...

Academic Libraries facilitate and enable our Universities’ success.

Then the answer is yes -

• but how do we prove our value & impact?

The awkward truth... What success means...Universities generate income through their

reputation for:

• The student experience• Student attainment• Academic staff teaching & research excellence

Academic libraries need to define the difference that their service makes to:

1. The student experience2. Student attainment &3. Teaching & Research success

1. The Student Experience• The National Student Survey started in 2005 & all

Universities are obliged to provide contact details for their final year undergraduates.

• Results for the NSS feed into press league tables & generate lots of publicity and feed perceptions of value.

• One of the 23 measures focuses on the library.

& now we’re moving to a world of....• “Compare my University.com” with the KIS

(Knowledge Information Sets)

The battle of the beanbags....

NSS as a force for good...% agree that “The library resources and

services are good enough for my needs” 

our lowest scoring Department in 2010 only 53% of students agreed!

This is one of our outstanding departments – so library score brought down their score & the Uni wide score.

Interventions • Introduction of a Library Skills exercise as part of a core 1st

year module for 230 students.

• Dissertation module – library sessions as part of the workshop series where library staff will be on hand to help with their research skills.

• Lecturers explained what is required of the students in terms of book purchases and researching different sources for their assignments – make it clear they should be resourceful themselves.

• Audit the library resources for a core 1st year module for - number of multiple copies and e-book and e-journal availability.

Result “The library resources and services are good

enough for my needs” 

2010 = 53%2011 = 65%

2. Student Attainment

“Analysis of the results consistently revealed a correlation between e-resource use, book borrowing and student attainment & this appears to be the case across all disciplines”White and Stone (2010)

Visits to the library...

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/agm2011/presentations/stone.ppt Stone (2011)

Accessing e-resources...

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/agm2011/presentations/stone.ppt Stone (2011)

Borrowing....

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/agm2011/presentations/stone.ppt Stone (2011)

But.... As pretty as these graphs are...• There’s some data that is a bit “awkward” (e.g.

15.5% of students who got a 1st never visited the library....eeek)

The Library Impact Data Project was then funded by JISC & has just finished, & found:

• There is a relationship between library resource use and degree attainment as demonstrated across multiple universities

• Independent research in other countries into this relationship has similar findings

3. Research & teaching success

My view = Value is a perception even if it has price tag.

There is a tension between the student experience & the view of some academics of the library... (bean bags) – damage to perceived value.

Proving value of the service to academic colleagues is complex• They respond to our user surveys in small

numbers.

• Budgets!• The library as an icon vs. actual use

200620072008200920102011

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

StaffUndergraduatePostgraduateDistance LearnerOther

• Faculty Survey 2009: Key Strategic Insights for Libraries, Publishers, and Societies • April 7, 2010• Roger C. Schonfeld (Manager of Research) & Ross Housewright (Analyst)• Ithaka S&R

An example of RoI by the Uni of Illinois 78.14% faculty w/ grant proposals using citations fromLibrary X50.79% award success rate from grants using citationsfrom library X$63,923 average grant income= $25,369 avg. income generated from grants using citesfrom libraryX 6232 grants expended÷ $36,102,613 library budget= $4.38 grant income for each $1.00 invested in library

http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/kaufman.pdf Kaufman (2010)

Portrait of a successful faculty member…

• Publishes more • Wins awards• Reads more• Reads more from the library• For every article cited, reads 27-40 additional

articles

(Tenopir, 2011)

But beware of value = juking the statsRoland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski: I don't get it. All this

so we score higher on the state tests? If we're teaching the kids the test questions, what is it assessing in them?

Grace Sampson: Nothing. It assesses us. The test scores go up, they can say the schools are improving. The scores stay down, they can't.

Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski: Juking the stats. The Wire http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0763100/quotes

& don’t forget Stakeholder testimonials .... Service is

friendly, prompt and efficient, thank you.

If you don’t know something- ask! The staff have always been helpful

Whenever I've dealt

with IS, the staff

have always been

very friendly and

crucially, not

patronising.

Fresher year rocks!

Enjoy and make the

best of your tim

e!

Many thanks to Yokos,

Pier, Harries, A

ngel,

Academy, alcohol and

the library!

Quick bibliography• Measuring (and Increasing) the Value of Academic Libraries

www.alpsp.org/ForceDownload.asp?id=1773 Tenopir, C. (2010). University Investment in the Library,. Phase II: An International Study of the Library's Value to the Grants Process. ...

• LibValue project website http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu/

• What is the return on investment of a University Library? (PPT)http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/agm2011/presentations/tenopir.ppt Dr Carole Tenopir, Professor of Information Sciences, Director of Research for the College of Communication and Information, and Director of the Centre for Information and Communication Studies, University of Tennessee

• Demonstrating the value of libraries to student achievement: linking loans to degree results (PPT)http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/agm2011/presentations/stone.pptGraham Stone, Electronic Resources Manager, Huddersfield University

• Maximising use of library resources at the University ofHuddersfield. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/7811/1/UKSG_Serials_paper.pdf White, Sue and Stone, Graham (2010) Serials, 23 (2). pp. 83-90. ISSN 0953-0460

Library Impact Data Project http://library.hud.ac.uk/blogs/projects/lidp/2011/09/28/library-impact-data-toolkit/

Thank you - any questions or comments?Rebecca Davies rkd@aber.ac.uk @BeccaDavies