Lib-Value: Can We Determine the Value of Academic Libraries? Paula Kaufman, UIUC Texas Library Association April 25, 2013 COSTSBENEFITS WHAT WE GIVE (INVESTMENT) ROI (WORTH) WHAT WE GET (RETURN) Copyright 2000 Resource Management Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Presentation Outline Why try to demonstrate value? Background: Phases 1 & 2 Phase 3 – LibValue LibValue Tools Still to be done Concluding remarks

The Need It used to be that the way you put together a library budget was to look at like-institutions and then argue for a little more. Now my provost is saying to me, “If I give you ‘X’ dollars, what is the return on investment to the University?” ? —T. Scott Plutchak, Librarian, University of Alabama at Birmingham It used to be that the way you put together a library budget was to look at like-institutions and then argue for a little more. Now my provost is saying to me, “If I give you ‘X’ dollars, what is the return on investment to the University?” ? —T. Scott Plutchak, Librarian, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Why? No longer about telling the university “you need us” It’s about demonstrating “you need us for the important conversations and decisions”

ROI Phases 1 and 2 Faculty Grant Research Cycle LIBRARY Conduct Research Obtain Grants Write Articles Write Reports & Proposals Write Articles Write Reports & Proposals Obtain Grants Conduct Research Library

Phase 1 Findings: ROI for University of Illinois Grants (2006) $4.38 grant income for each $1.00 invested in library Based on % of faculty who rated citations in proposals from library as important to the proposal x % of proposals funded $4.38 grant income for each $1.00 invested in library Based on % of faculty who rated citations in proposals from library as important to the proposal x % of proposals funded

Phase 2: Going Global

Phase 2: ROI Findings

Phase 3: Lib-Value Multiple institutions using multiple methods to measure multiple values for multiple stakeholders ARL LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Current Projects Books and Ebooks Special Collections Information Commons TeachingLearning Comprehensive Library Reading and Scholarship Tools Website & Value Bibliography LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Books & Ebooks What is your preferred form at this moment for a scholarly book? n=114 n=15

I rate the value of the information in the E-book(s) as: Books & Ebooks N=516

Percent of Readings from Ebooks N=202, UIUC, April 2012

*Use data available from 82% of ebook publishers Cost and Use Data for Ebooks Fiscal Year #Ebooks (Cumulative) Amount Spent #Ebooks Added from Previous Year Avg. $ per new Ebook Total UsesCost Per Use ,002$185, ,186$224,04727,531$ ,089$ ,364$204,67866,178$ ,273$ ,768$383,16773,404$ ,871$ ,203$732,725129,435$ ,944$1.05

Use Frequency By Publisher: Average Uses per Ebook

Low cost-per-ebook purchase & use More cost effective to lend, store & preserve than print Offer greater accessibility & availability to users Provide broader collection variety due to low cost, package purchases & lower facilities & staffing costs; Often no need to purchase multiple copies Value of Ebooks to the Library

24/7 accessibility from anywhere Found using multiple search engines “Nice to Have” (12.6%) or “Need to Have” (54.8%) Not likely to be shared with colleagues, printed out, or be used in “cut and paste” Most likely to be read from the screen or briefly reviewed Value of Ebooks to Users

Conclusions Ebooks value to library Financial Circulation, maintenance preservation less expensive than print Useful to patrons Ebooks value to patrons Accessibility & availability Portability Search & navigation capabilities There is still plenty of room for improvement!

Albert “Dutch” Roth Digital Photograph Collection Digital Special Collections Value Creation Outreach

Digital Special Collections 00:04:52 Average Time per Visit Average Page Views per Visit Unique visits – log data from August 2010 to November 2011

States from which the collection was accessed: 45 + District of Columbia Digital Special Collections LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Information Commons Equipment Use

Information Commons

“I had a girl last week working at the desk in the commons help me research ideas for an English project. She was fantastic.” Findings: Student Survey Commons 74% of respondents said using the Commons helped them do better in class “They have a friendly staff willing to help when needed.” Information Commons

“In a typical semester, I save time by using the library to support my teaching.” 65% of instructors said that using the Library to support t heir teaching saves them time. 63% said it saves them money. Teaching

$0 $50 or less… +$1001 Teaching “In a typical semester, using the library saves me money that I might have spent on materials to support my teaching or my students’ learning.” +$1000 $0 $50 or less …

Learning Goals Improve first-year students’ research skills Offer a “friendly face” to the Library Explore possible effects of providing instruction over the long-term Develop tools to assess: Student comfort Knowledge of research tools Summative knowledge

Learning Workshop Pilot Study - Sessions English 104, UTK Libraries, Spring Ice-breaking Entering the research community Scholarly v. popular resources 2.Types of resources Article, journal, database, book When to use Google Developing keywords 3.Physical Library Orientation to Hodges Library Scavenger Hunt Assessment of skills required

Learning Initial Reports from pilot project participants indicate helpfulness of program “The best part about these workshops is that I learned a lot of information about research that I can use for the rest of my years at UT. It showed me the resources that I have here and how I can use them and as freshman, that is very helpful.” “I felt I learned a lot and my confidence in researching for my English paper and for other classes improved.”

Scholarly Reading UK, n=1189, June 2011; UIUC,n=639 April 2012

UK: 6 UK universities June 2011 UIUC: April 2012 Use of Library Collections for Articles n=639n=775 Scholarly Reading

” Publishes more Wins awards Reads more Reads more from the library For every article cited, reads additional articles Portrait of a Successful Faculty Member Scholarly Reading

% library-provided Article ReadingBook ReadingOther Publication Reading 6 UK universities n=2117, June 2011 UIUC n=639, May 2012 UK 67 UIUC 56 UK 27 UIUC 24 UK 15 UIUC 11 Scholarly Reading

n=2117, 6 UK universities, June 2011 The Library Book Collection Supports Young Academics Scholarly Reading

Comprehensive Study Comprehensive Value Faculty survey Fall 2010 (42% rr) Student survey Spring 2011 (98% rr) Contingent Value In-person use Remote use Journals Books Library instruction Commons Special Collections Help from professional librarians

Faculty Survey Results (Weighted) Activity Average frequency in the last 30 days Physical visits2.50 visits (73%) Remote visits12.31 visits (88%) Total Resources Used During an in-person visit to the library 6.34 uses Remotely online uses Total Time Spent Using Resources in-person 64 minutes remotely 67 minutes

Student Survey Results (Weighted) Activity Average frequency in the last 30 days Physical visits5.07 visits (69%) Remote visits4.64 visits (63%) Total Resources Used During an in-person visit to the library uses Remotely online 4.06 uses Total Time Spent Using Resources in-person 159 minutes remotely 68 minutes

Willingness to Spend Time and Money Getting Resources from Other Sources In-personRemote Faculty 169 min94min $67$30 Students 35min32min $5$13

Value of the Academic Library (millions of dollars) Annual Value In-Person Use Remote Use Faculty Time$10.2$14.9 Money$3.4$4.1 TOTAL$13.6$19.0 Students Time$12.0$4.2 Money$11.1$10.3 TOTAL$23.1$14.5

Environmental Impact of Use Getting to The Library % of Faculty Average Minutes % of Students Average Minutes Walk84%6.2972%8.67 Drive12%4.1711%4.86 Bus1%1.6816%11.84 Other2%1.711%2.09

What if There was no Online Access? Faculty Value of Time Saved Faculty Value of Resources Saved Student Value of Time Saved Student Value of Resources Saved Walk $1,423,371 $2,087,636 Drive $134,805$57,773$189,885$569,655 Bus$4,526$194$671,492$201,448 Other$9,213$7,408 TOTAL $1,571,915$57,967 $2,956,421$771,102

What if There was no Shared Access to Journals? Faculty Articles Monthly Faculty Annual Total Student Articles Monthly Student Annual Total Online visit , ,030 Online in- person visit 1.028, ,331 In-person1.2910, ,953 TOTAL , ,314 Photocopied or printed , ,612 Read not printed 92,475714,702

Value of the Academic Library (millions of dollars) FacultyStudents Economic In person$13.6$23.1 Remote$19.0$14.5 TOTAL$32.6$37.6 Environmental Remote access$1.6$3.7 Read not printed$0.1$0.7 Social?? TOTAL$34.3$42.0

Return on Investment Library Budget $17.0m Economic Value$70.2m return-on-investment$4.13 Economic + Environmental $76.3m return-on-investment$4.49

Tools ARL LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Website & Value Bibliography Launched in early 2010 with ~ 400 records Two major, several smaller updates March 2013: > 900 records Diverse formats Journal and magazine articles, websites, books/chapters, reports, presentations, etc. Diverse disciplines LIS, Higher Education, Environmental Ecology, Business, etc. LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Website & Value Bibliography Features Linked Topical Index featuring unique Controlled Vocabulary Linked Author Index Record search, sort by type, etc. LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Can We Determine the Value of Academic Libraries? NOT YET LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

Can We Determine the Value of Academic Libraries? NOT YET But we’re beginning to build models to demonstrate value LibValue Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries

More details and database available on the project website: