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Academic library and information services: new paradigms for the digital age. Proceedings of the 8th International Bielefeld Conference, 7-9 February 2006, Bielefeld, Germany. Norbert Lossau and Sabine Rahmsdorf
The search for an ultimate measure of benefit may be illusory ([31] Revill, 1990).
The need for evidence
The value of libraries for the individual and for society has long been seen as self-evident. However, in times when users are becoming increasingly independent in their information seeking, when information seems to be free on the web (even where libraries have paid for access), and physical visits to libraries may decrease, the benefits gained from funding libraries are questioned not only by funding institutions but also by the public. Funding libraries is an expensive business: print and electronic collections, buildings and equipment, and especially staff costs, constitute a considerable factor in the budget of universities or communities. The questions are:
Does investment in libraries represent value for money?
Are there tangible, demonstrable effects arising from library use?
Do such effects serve the goals of the funding institution?
Could such effects be achieved without the existence of the particular library?
In the competition for scarce resources, it becomes vital for libraries to show evidence of the impact and value of their services, preferably in quantified results. "Outcome-based evaluations can be thought of as an accountability measure ..." ([18] Hess and Klekotka, 2005, p. 272). Librarians themselves are of course convinced of library benefits. In the Alexandria Manifesto, adopted in 2005 in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) sees library benefits in the following fields ([20] IFLA, 2005):
- democracy;
- intellectual freedom;
- information literacy;
- information equality;
- reduction of poverty; and
- cultural diversity.
But how can we prove what we believe?
Impact of libraries
Libraries have always been able to calculate the inputs into services (funding, staff, collections, space, equipment) and have become increasingly sophisticated in measuring the outputs of those services (e.g. loans, visits, downloads, reference transactions). Measures have also been developed to assess the quality of library services and the cost-efficiency of the library's performance. But quantity of use and quality of performance do not yet prove that users benefited from their...