Measuring Your Library's Value

Book Details

• Publisher: Ess Ess Publication
• ISBN: 9788170005674
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Binding: HardBound

About the Book

Measuring Your Library’s Value focuses on helping libraries demonstrate and quantify the value they provide to their communities. In an environment where tax-funded organizations are increasingly expected to justify their public value, this book offers practical guidance for conducting credible and defensible cost-benefit analysis (CBA) for library services.

Designed especially for medium-sized and large public libraries, the book explains economic concepts in librarian-friendly language and provides practical examples to help library professionals understand and apply cost-benefit analysis effectively. It prepares librarians, library directors, and trustees to work confidently with economist-consultants while developing strategies to measure and communicate the true value of library services.

The book discusses how to determine whether cost-benefit analysis is suitable for a particular institution through practical checklists of advantages and disadvantages. It also explains survey design elements step-by-step and demonstrates methods for calculating the economic and social value communities receive from library services. In addition, the book provides proven examples of communicating findings effectively to different community stakeholders and decision-makers.

Authored by experts involved in developing and refining this methodology through research funded by IMLS and PLA, this publication serves as an important resource for library leaders seeking to measure, present, and strengthen the public value of their libraries in clear economic terms.