Report Points Way To Better Understand the Value of Libraries

-- Library Journal, 5/21/2007

So, does a dollar invested in libraries really generate three, or more, times its value? A new report from the Americans for Libraries Council (ALC), Worth Their Weight: An Assessment of the Evolving Field of Library Valuation, takes a close look at the growing effort to quantify the value of libraries, as exemplified in 17 valuation and impact studies summarized, and points toward better analysis in the future. The project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “While the field of library valuation is still young, we have observed several salient trends,” write coauthors Dr. Susan Imholz, consultant to ALC on the Gates Initiative, and Dr. Jennifer Weil Arns, University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science.

The field is getting more sophisticated, they observe, advancing “from simple questionnaires to complex surveys, and from simple economic cost/benefit assessments to complex economic algorithms and forecasts.” Beyond that, analysts are getting better at trying to incorporate “the public library’s more intangible social dividends.” Still, the field is somewhat ad hoc, and the authors recommend that a more formalized web-based environment could allow researchers to share information and tools to produce better studies in the future. Also among the recommendations: they suggest researchers should look to studies in similar fields, including the arts, environment, and education, and they should define a national agenda for library valuation research.

On June 25 at the American Library Association Annual Conference, a panel discussion will be held on the issue of using Return on Investment (ROI) as an advocacy tool for libraries. Arns and other researchers will participate; no time and place has been set yet.