Libraries and Public Perception (eBook)

A Comparative Analysis of the European Press

Anna Galluzzi (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2014 | 1. Auflage
150 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-1-78063-425-8 (ISBN)

Infos

What is the future of libraries? This question is frequently posed, with widespread research into the social and economic impact of libraries. Newspapers play an important role in forming public perceptions, but how do newspapers present libraries, their past, present and future? Nobody has yet taken the press to task on the quantity and quality of articles on libraries, however Libraries and Public Perception does just this, through comparative textual analysis of newspapers in Europe. After a comprehensive and useful introductory chapter, the book consists of the following five chapters: Wondering about the future of libraries; Measuring the value of libraries; Libraries in the newspapers; Contemporary challenges and public perception; Which library model from the newspapers: a synthesis. - Provides an alternative means to evaluate the impact of libraries - Compares different countries and societies regarding their representation of libraries - Pursues its subject through active research, rather than self reflection

Anna Galluzzi graduated from the University of Tuscia in Viterbo in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Specialization for Archivists and Librarians, in 1997. She then went on to receive a Degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Rome 'La Sapienza, a Master (MSc) in Management of Library and Information Services at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales, and a PhD in Library Science at the University of Udine.Since 2003, she has been working as Parliamentary Administrator and Librarian at the Senate Library in Rome. Prior to that, she was contract professor in Library and Information Science and Library Management at the University of Rome 'La Sapienza”, as well as teacher in professional classes and speaker at many national and international conferences. In addition to numerous articles and papers, she is the author of the following books: La valutazione delle biblioteche pubbliche. Dati e metodologie delle indagini in Italia. Firenze, Olschki, 1999; Biblioteche e cooperazione. Modelli, strumenti, esperienze in Italia. Milano: Editrice Bibliografica, 2004; Biblioteche per la città. Nuove prospettive di un servizio pubblico. Roma: Carocci, 2009; and Libraries and public perception. A comparative analysis of the European Press. Elsevier, Chandos Publishing, 2014.

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2

Measuring the value of libraries

Abstract

This chapter firstly reviews some of the most popular methods to measure the social and economic impact of libraries (Balanced Scorecard, social impact audit, cost-benefit analysis, time costing, consumer surplus evaluation, optimisation model, contingent valuation and ROI). It then explains why an alternative method to measure the relevance of libraries in the public perception has been adopted for this research, i.e. the analysis of newspapers. The strengths and weaknesses of this method, which are mainly a consequence of the specific characteristics that newspapers have as sources of information, are presented. In particular, the newsmaking process and the relationship between newspapers and the public opinion are discussed in depth. In the last part of the chapter, the scope and methodology of the research is described in detail: research questions, chronological coverage, criteria for country and newspaper selection, criteria for data and textual analysis.

Key words

library impact

social impact

economic impact

public perception

newspaper analysis

research methodology

The methods to assess the social and economic impact of libraries

The general awareness of scientists and librarians about the need to prove the value of libraries is the reason behind the application of many different methods to libraries to measure their social and economic impact.

Measuring and assessing the quality of library services are integral parts of the managerial approach to libraries. As a consequence, where a patron-driven approach is more rooted and a library is conceived as a social institution and managed as a complex organisation, the need to adopt performance measure tools in order to make explicit the results gained by library services was felt earlier and more intensely than elsewhere.

This explains why, while in the Anglo-American countries the assessment of library services was adopted early in the 1960s, in southern European countries the first systematic collection of data aimed at improving the planning strategies date back to the late 1970s and the 1980s.

Over time, the aims, objectives and tools of library assessment have gradually widened and the standardisation process of terms, definitions, methods and tools has been carried out at both national and international level, thanks to the libraries themselves and to supranational institutions like the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).1

At the beginning, the measurement and assessment of library processes and services was intended as the checking phase of the managerial cycle, and was aimed at identifying the problems to be fixed and the strengths to be valued. The final goal of this process was to increase the efficiency in managing resources and the effectiveness in providing services.

Library performance measurement was the result of three subsequent phases:

1. the data collection;

2. the data processing by means of statistical methods and the building of performance indicators; and

3. the evaluation of data and indicators aimed at gaining useful planning elements.

The point of view of this type of assessment was mainly internal to the managerial process, though its findings were and are often used to make libraries accountable to their stakeholders (local and national authorities, patrons and providers).

Afterwards, attention gradually turned to the library patrons, as a consequence of the widespread awareness that libraries are serviceoriented organisations whose aim is to respond to the needs of their patrons. Consequently, two new evaluative needs arose:

1. developing community profiles by identifying and collecting demographic, social and economic data;

2. bringing out the patrons’ points of view concerning services, their level of satisfaction and the reasons behind non-use.

The mainly quantitative approach turned into a properly qualitative one, and tools like interviews and focus groups were adopted to allow patrons’ expectations and perceptions about libraries and their services come out.

As a consequence of using the methods of the social sciences and of moving from the relative objectivity of quantitative data to the substantial subjectivity of opinions, the level of complexity of evaluation grew, as well as the capacity to understand the phenomena that affect a library’s life.

Under this methodological framework, at first the measurement of library quality in all its meanings and sides was emphasised. Later, the analysis and evaluation went beyond the boundaries of the library environment.

Faced with the deep changes that have occurred in the social, economic and technological contexts, libraries need to prove their usefulness in enhancing and fostering social wealth and they need to ensure this is recognised by society as a whole.

Over recent years, new methods for the evaluation of the social and economic impact of libraries have been tested. These have required librarians’ increased competences and awareness concerning the available tools, their application and the ways to communicate the findings to the outside world.2

This is the court where the game for libraries must be played in the near future. Actually, as a consequence of the economic crisis and of the budget cuts to public services – specifically cultural ones – libraries are expected to strengthen their social impact, prove their value in socio-economic terms and deliver a concrete return on investment of their services.

The impact assessment is the most complex and the newest form of evaluation from the methodological point of view. This is why international standards and manuals are still under construction, and there are still few shared practices to follow for different types of libraries.

Nonetheless, an ISO (International Organisation for Standardization) working group,3 starting from a document published in 2002,4 has classified the methods of impact assessment in three main groups, which mix quantitative and qualitative analysis:

1. observed evidence, coming from direct observation, annotation, comparison between usage data and data about scholastic and professional successes;

2. solicited evidence, obtained by means of questionnaires, interviews and focus groups;

3. inferred evidence, extracted from the library statistics (for example, the visits or the number of participants to events), the data concerning the user satisfaction and the performance indicators.5

Another proposal of classification groups the methods of impact assessment according to the fact that they focus on the library’s impact on patrons, on social impact or on economic impact, though the last two are deeply intertwined and cannot be easily distinguished from each other.

The methods employed to measure the impact of library services on patrons are usually based on the inferred evidence, i.e. those library statistics and performance indicators that indirectly prove the library impact.

Over recent years, new measures and indicators have been developed to meet the requirement of the library impact assessment; the international standards have evolved for the same reason. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC)6 has become one of the most-used strategy performance management tools. It consists of a structured report which analyses an organisation from four or more different perspectives, identifying a few strategic objectives within each perspective and choosing a small number of performance measures and indicators for each objective.

The adaptation of the BSC to libraries considers the following four perspectives:

1. the user perspective, which measures the service or the satisfaction with service;

2. the internal processes perspective, which looks at the workflow efficiency;

3. the financial perspective, which measures the cost-benefits;

4. the development perspective, which tells us if the library is ready to meet new challenges and initiate new programmes.

After selecting a number of measures and indicators for each perspective from the existing international standards, each group should be weighed against the others, according to the fixed strategic objectives and the parameters considered crucial to give an indirect assessment of the social and economic impact, in order to get a synthetic and straight-to-the-point description.

The impact assessment concerning the patrons can be also carried out by means of the qualitative research tools (i.e. interviews, focus groups and so on), which are essentially the same as those used for measuring the user satisfaction.

The assessment of the library social impact is, by its nature, closer to qualitative than to quantitative research, and uses both observed and solicited evidence extensively. One of the most popular methods adopted to this end is the social impact audit,7 which aims at finding out the points of view of the many different classes and groups forming a community, in order to have a full picture of the social outcomes...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 20.9.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Buchhandel / Bibliothekswesen
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Marketing / Vertrieb
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Unternehmensführung / Management
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Wirtschaftsinformatik
• ISBN-10: 1-78063-425-0 / 1780634250
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78063-425-8 / 9781780634258