Measuring Value and ROI of Academic Libraries: The IMLS Lib-Value Project

1. Measuring Value and ROI of Academic Libraries:The IMLS Lib-Value Project Carol TenopirUniversity of Tennesseectenopir@utk.edu Northumbria August 2011

3. 2 Value Studies Scholarly Reading and Value of Library Resources Lib-Value Aim: Develop models for assessing value and ROI for academic libraries. Aim: examine the value UK academics place on having access to scholarly materials. End Result: An international perspective on the role and value libraries and their resources bring to individuals and institutions.

4. purchase or exchange value: what one is willing to pay for information in money and/or time, and use value: the favorable consequences derived from reading and using the information. In the information context economist Machlup described 2 types of value:

5. Economic (private) What is the value to an individual to use the library resources? Social (public) What is the value to the institution of the library? Environmental (externality) What is the value of the environmental savings of library provision of electronic resources? Have libraries gone green without knowing it? Lib-Value Comprehensive Library Value Study (Bruce Kingma)

6. Implicit value (i.e., usage, downloads) Explicit value (i.e., interviews) Derived values (i.e., ROI) Value can be measured in many ways:

7. University of Tennessee-Knoxville Downloads UTK Article Downloads

8. Article Readings Over Time Average number of article readings per year * *2011 (UK), n=1013; 2005,n=932; 2000-03, n=397; 1993, n=70; 1984, n=865; 1977, n=2350

9. Average Readings Per Month: U.K. Faculty, 2011 n=2117, June 9 2011, 6 UK universities

10. Purpose Outcomes Return on Investment (ROI) Going beyond implied value to show…

11. Multiple institutions using multiple methods to measure multiple values for multiple stakeholders LIB-VALUE:

12. Readings for Work Related Purposes

13. Reading and Scholarship Surveys (Tenopir& King, 1977-present) • Measure explicitly purpose, outcome, and value from scholarly reading by focusing on critical incident of last reading, with open-ended questions • Include all reading (from library and not) • Exchange and use value • Method can be used for other services

14. Critical incident of last reading “The following questions in this section refer to the SCHOLARLY ARTICLE YOU READ MOST RECENTLY, even if you had read the article previously. Note that this last reading may not be typical, but will help us establish the range of patterns in reading.”

15. Articles

16. Source of Article Readings Percent n=1189, June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

17. Article Readings from Library by Age of Reader Percent n-=1047, June 9, 2011, 6 universities

18. Where did you read this last article? (Articles from library only) n=764, June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

19. Preliminary Faculty Survey Results

20. Use of Library Collections for Articles n=562 n=775 June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

21. Principal Purpose of Reading U.S, Australia, 2004-2006 U.K, 2011 n=1433 n=1161

22. Source of Reading by Purpose of Reading: Faculty in U.K Teaching Research Current Awareness n=1161, 2011

23. Readings for Research or Writing (2011) • More likely to be found by searching • More likely to be from e-sources • More likely to be after the first year of publication • More likely to “inspire new thinking” • More likely to be read with great care

24. Outcomes of Journal Article Reading

25. Time Spent Per Article Reading: Faculty in U.K, 2011 Percent Mean time is 44 minutes; median time is 30 minutes n=1203, June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

26. Booksor Book Chapters

27. Source of Book Readings Percent n=931, June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

28. Book Readings from Library by Age of Reader Percent n=863, data as of June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

29. Time Spent on Book Readings Percent Mean time spent reading is 1 hour and 33 minutes; Median: 1 hour. n=932, June 9, 2011, 6 UK universities

30. Other Publications Includes: conference proceedings, government documents, and trade journals or magazines

31. Other Readings Percent n=735, data as of June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

32. Source of Other Readings Percent n=730, data as of June 9, 2011, 6 U.K universities

33. Time Spent Reading Other Publications Percent Mean time spent reading is 35 minutes; Median: 30 minutes n=588, data as of May 1, 2011, 5 U.K universities

34. Time Spent (Exchange Value) Reading from Library • Article • 55 min/article X 25 read per month X 12 months X 67% from library= 184 hours a year per academic staff member • Book • 123 min/book X 8 per month X 12 months X 27% from library= 53 hours a year per academic staff member • Other Publication • 51 min/publication X 11 per month X 12 months X 15% from library= 17 hours a year per academic staff member

35. What role do scholarly articles play in your research, teaching, and other activities? Absolutely essential. They form the basis of my work. A great deal—they are the foundation. ” A great deal—they are the foundation. A central one for both teaching and research…inseparable in any true university despite the current climate.

36. 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 ”

37. Return on investment in a strict sense… …is a quantitative measure expressed as a ratio of the value returned to the institution for each monetary unit invested in the library. For every $/€/£ spent on the library,the university received ‘X’ $/€/£ in return. Demonstrate that library collections contribute to income-generating activities

38. Return on Investment is also… …values of all types that come to stakeholders and the institution from the library’s collections, services, and contribution to its communities.

39. Valueis demonstrated by time invested in reading, by purpose of reading, by value to purpose, by outcomes of reading, and by how library services contribute to the income and mission of the institution

40. More details and searchable Lib-Value bibliographic database available on the project website:http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu