From Features to Benefits:
Challenges in Telling the Whole Story of
Libraries and Library Users
Alvin M. Schrader, PhD
Director of Research, University of Alberta Libraries
OLA Super Conference
Toronto, February 3, 2012
12 million items borrowed
2 million questions answered
169,000 items purchased
1.8 million web renewals
8 million website visits
14 million library visits
17 libraries
2 million holdings
107 databases
169,000 program attendees
2 million on-site uses
All Libraries in Canada*
• 40 million inquiries
• 403 million circulations
• 22,000 service points
• 465 million collection items
• 38,000 FTE staff
• $3-3.5 billion expenditure
* National Core Library Statistics Program, 1999
Typical Uses of Library Statistics
• operational decision-making
• strategic planning
• budgeting and financial planning
• policy formation & evaluation, e.g., equity of access
• patterns & trends
• benchmarking
CLA, Victoria1998
Big Picture Questions
• How do we tell the real story of the value of
libraries and their services?
• What is their importance to library users?
and to Canadian society and culture at large?
• How do we capture and communicate, to
decision-makers, users, and our publics, the
benefits of libraries and services?
 Hooks?
Not-for-profit value “equation”
Value = assets - liabilities + goodwill *
* Tina Thomas, EPL
Concepts and Language of Metrics…
- performance indicators
- social indicators
- performance measures
- KPIs
- performance metrics
- effectiveness measures
- quality assurance measures
- quality indicators
- usage metrics
- outputs
- success indicators
- ROI
- SROI
- benefits
- outcomes
- impacts
- impact metrics
- impact outcomes
- results measures
- user satisfaction?
So what?
National Core Library Statistics Program
Statistical Report, 1999:
Cultural and Economic Impact of
Canadian Libraries on Canadian Society
By
Alvin M. Schrader
and
Michael R. Brundin
March 2002
National Library
of Canada
Bibliothèque nationale
du Canada
Concerns in Measuring Library Service
• regularity – for previous & multi-year comparisons
• data discrepancies – validity (definitions, different ways of
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•
•
•
•
•
counting), consistency, accuracy, completeness
higher level measures – e.g., per time period; per branch; per
capita; ratio of in-house to off-site use; ratio of visits to use; over time;
before & after
economic impact measures – e.g., multiplier effect
comparison with other services
comparison with other cultural sectors
sense of the particular – individual, not just demographics
diagnostic value – to identify weaknesses in specific services and
make improvements
Concerns … Missing Measures:
 user visits – on-site, phone, virtual
 on-site use of materials, services, equipment
 awareness levels
 user satisfaction
 user demographics
 user attributes – knowledge, understandings, opinions, skills,
beliefs, values, behaviour, attitudes, motivations, perceptions,
expectations, feelings, satisfaction, loyalty, etc.
 user benefits, impacts, outcomes, change – knowledge,
understandings, opinions, skills, beliefs, values, behaviour,
attitudes, motivations, perceptions, expectations, feelings,
satisfaction, loyalty, etc.
Library service complexity
• people-based – hard to study
Studying nuclear physics
is child’s play compared to
studying child’s play.
- Stephen Herrero in Bear Attacks,
quoting his psychology professor
Library service complexity …
• people-based – hard to study
• multidimensional
Federal Government Policy Files:
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•
industry & agriculture
transport
culture, heritage & official languages
citizenship, immigration & multiculturalism
human resources & skills development
finance
Alberta Government Departments
(2004)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
agriculture
children’s services
community development*
economic development
energy & environment
food & rural development
government services
health & wellness
• human resources &
employment
• innovation & science
• justice
• learning**
• persons with disabilities
• seniors
* public libraries
** school libraries
** post-secondary libraries
Provincial & Territorial Ministries
Most Commonly Responsible for
Public Libraries*
• Culture
• Education
• Community Services
* 2010 & 2004 combined
Provincial & Territorial Ministries
Responsible for Public Libraries – 2010
• Municipal Affairs
• Education
• Culture, Heritage & Tourism
• Post-Secondary Education,
Training & Labour
• Education
• Education, Culture &
Employment
• Communities, Culture &
Heritage
• Culture, Language,
Elders & Youth
• Tourism & Culture
• Community & Cultural
Affairs
• Culture,
Communications &
Women’s Issues
• Education
• Community Services
Provincial & Territorial Ministries
Responsible for Public Libraries – 2004
• Community, Aboriginal &
Women’s Services
• Community Development
• Learning
• Culture, Heritage &
Tourism
• Culture
• Culture et
Communications
• Education
• Education
• Community & Cultural
Affairs
• Community Services
• Education, Culture &
Employment
• Culture, Language,
Elders & Youth
Library service complexity …
• people-based – hard to study
• multidimensional
• designed for self-service
• without physical form
• fleeting, transient
• different every time for every user
• perceived differently by staff & users
The one thing that can be said
with absolute certainty about
service institutions is that their
publics do not have the same
image of them as do the people
who toil within them.
- Peter Drucker
Library service complexity …
• prior user experiences influence both
expectations & satisfaction
• everyone tends to (over)generalize
• word-of-mouth influences library reputation
• service & quality change with time &
circumstances
• library users are “co-creators” and partners in
service quality & value
The first step is to measure whatever can be
easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes.
The second step is to disregard that which
can't be easily measured or to give it an
arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial
and misleading. The third step is to presume
that what can't be measured easily really
isn't important. This is blindness. The fourth
step is to say that what can't be measured
really doesn't exist. This is suicide.
- Robert McNamara
What is a cynic? A man who knows the
price of everything and the value of nothing.
- Oscar Wilde
Not everything that counts can be counted.
- Albert Einstein
HASSL (!)
entrance
From supplier eyes to user eyes ...
• Library features and services are potentials for user
benefit.
• Library service outputs – transactions & interactions –
are user inputs.
• Library service outputs are potential impacts.
• Library user impacts, outcomes, & benefits are
changes & transformations in user attributes.
From supplier eyes to user eyes …
• Every library use is about choice – about people making
intentional choices to use a library.
• Every library use is about an experience.
• Every library use is about potential impact & benefit.
• Every library use is about impact & transformation – on
knowledge, understandings, opinions, skills, beliefs, values,
behaviour, attitudes, motivations, perceptions, expectations,
feelings, satisfaction, loyalty, and other attributes.
From supplier eyes to user eyes …
• Every library use is about a “moment of truth” for
institutional reputation, marketing, & branding.
• Every library use is about perception & image, about
“the library brand” & library branding.
 a brand is the intangible sum of attributes &
implicit cultural referencing, a unifying identity
• Every library use is about shared values.
• Every library use is a story.
A way forward in measuring library value …
• Identify key user-centric metrics.
• Consider all kinds of problems – e.g., studies of visibility,
usability, awareness, economic impact, specific services, shared
values, etc.
• Consider all sources of evidence – including users & staff,
especially front-line staff interacting with users.
• Consider all kinds of evidence – including testimonial,
anecdotal, narrative, qualitative, quantitative, visualization, &
philosophical.
A way forward … cont’d
• Develop a plan for systematic collection of key usercentric data – market research.
• Develop a communication & marketing plan –
recognizing word of mouth, staff, users, champions, etc.
One patron's testimonial is
worth a thousand gate counts
when it comes to making the
case for libraries.
- Sandra Singh
At the beginning of the 21st century,
there are more libraries in Canada
than Tim Hortons and McDonald's
combined — 22,000 compared to
2800 Tims & 1400 McDonald's.
More libraries
than
Timmies!
Public Libraries: More cardholders than
VISA, more items than FedEx, more
outlets than Tim Hortons & McDonald’s
– Ottawa Public Library
The City’s most-used public facility –
visited more often than the Calgary
Flames, the Calgary Zoo, Theatre
Calgary, Heritage Park and other
sports, culture and recreation facilities
combined!
- Calgary Public Library
Worksheet for developing key messages*
Asset
Sound Bite
• Openness to newcomers
& earning their trust
Toronto Public Library is
where newcomers go to
become Torontonians.
[former Mayor David Miller]
• Staff expertise & resources
for people in employment
transition
• 24/7 digital access
*
Recession sanctuary.
Fast, friendly, self-service.
thanks to Wendy Newman, Senior Fellow,
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Worksheet for developing key messages (2)
Asset
Sound Bite
• Physical space
• Staff expertise & resources
The third place.
Your partners in
knowledge.
We sweat the details so
you don’t have to. - Ulla de
Stricker
• Children’s services &
resources
• Library as place
Libraries grow good kids.
The community’s living
room. - Strathcona County PL
Worksheet for developing key messages* (3)
Asset
Sound Bite
• Rich resources, ILL
Passionate about sharing.
Beyonce’s latest.
Beethoven’s greatest.
• Progressive, fun organization We are information ninjas.
We speak geek.
• Defenders of intellectual
freedom.
Standing up for ideas.
* Edmonton Public Library
Worksheet for developing key messages (4)
Asset
Sound Bite
• Rare books & special
collections
A legacy investment.
• Effective legal research
Practising safe research!
?
?
Central Questions
• What value do we add to the universe of cultural
records and information for the people we serve?
• What value do we add to their quality of life?
• Are the library vision & mission user-centric &
outcomes-driven?
• How do we answer the big “So What” questions?
• And what are the hooks to get – and hold –
people’s attention?
Librarianship isn't about
gate count and circulation
figures, but people helped,
lives enriched, and
communities improved.
- Sandra Singh
Repositioning Libraries
• Benefits not features.
• Value experienced not value added.
• Transformations not transactions.
• Making a difference in people’s lives.
Telling their stories is telling ours.