Keynote at Ontario Library Services North Annual Conference: Hidden Gems: Finding and Creating Value in Libraries. Sudbury, Canada, September 2017.

1. Trends in Demonstrating
Library Value
Presented by Kimberly Silk, MLS
Principal, Brightsail Research & Consulting
Hidden Gems: Finding and Creating Value in Libraries
OLS-North Conference
September 27, 2017

2. Agenda
• Library Impact Studies
in Canada
in U.S.
globally
• Moving from measuring economic impact to
social impact
• Demonstrating Value: Know Your
Stakeholders
• Planning for the Future
• Discussion

3. Economic Impact Studies -
CanadaStudy Year Published 2011 Census
Population
# Branches ROI
Toronto Public Library 2013 2,615,060 98 463%
Halton Hills Public Library 2014 59,008 2 304%
Milton Public Library 2014 84,362 2 467%
Pickering Public Library 2014 88,721 3 485%
Stratford Public Library 2015 30,886 1 648%
Sault Ste. Marie Public
Library
2015 75,000 3 236%
Kawartha Lakes Public
Library
2015 73,214 15 605%
London Public Library 2015 366,151 16 452%
Vancouver Island Regional
Library
2016 430,000 38 335%
Ottawa Public Library 2016 883,391 33 417%
Newmarket Public Library 2016 79,978 1 685%
Burlington Public Library 2017 175,780 7 464%
Source: Appendix A, Library Impact Studies in “Creating a Culture of Evaluation: Taking your Library from Talk to Action.”
Bill Irwin & Kimberly Silk, Editors. OLA Press, 2017.

4. Economic Impact Studies – U.S.
Location Year ROI
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library 2007 $6.70
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (PA) 2006 $3.00
Charlotte Mecklenburg County Library (NC) 2010 $4.61 to $6.03
Denver Public Library (CO) 2006 $4.96
Douglas County Libraries (CO) 2006 $5.02
Eagle Valley Library District (CO) 2006 $4.28
Fort Morgan Public Library (CO) 2006 $8.80
Mesa County Public Library District (CO) 2006 $4.57
Montrose Library District (CO) 2006 $5.33
Nashville Public Library 2016 $3.06
New York City Public Libraries 2012 -
Philadelphia, Free Library of 2010 -
Phoenix Public Library (AZ) 2001 $10.00
Rangeview Library District (CO) 2006 $4.81
Salt Lake County Library (UT) 2013 $5.47 to $6.07
San Francisco Public Library (CA) 2007 $3.34
San Francisco Public Library (CA) – Branch Library Improvement Project 2015 $5.19 to $9.11
Santa Clara County Library District (CA) 2013 $2.50 to $5.17
St. Louis Public Library (MO) 1999 $4.00
Seattle Public Library 2005 -
Toledo-Lucas County Public Library (OH) 2011 $2.86
Thanks to Joseph Matthews, JRM Consulting, for granting permission to use this chart.

5. Economic Impact Studies -
GlobalLocation Year ROI
Barcelona, Spain 2013 2.25
Bolton, England 2005 1.2 to 1.7
British Library 2004 4.44
Christchurch City Libraries 2012 $5.10
Hutt City, New Zealand 2013 $1.27 to $1.44
Latvia 2012 1.37
New South Wales, Australia 2008 4.24
National Library of Australia 1995 2.00
National Library of New Zealand 2002 3.50
Norway 2005 4.00
Prague 2015 2.55
South Korea – 22 public libraries 2012 3.66
Spain (all public, university & research libraries) 2010 2.80 to 3.83
Sunshine Coast Regional Library, Australia 2008 $5.45
State of New South Wales 2008 $4.24
State of Victoria, Australia 2011 $3.56
State of Queensland 2012 $2.30 to $4.10
United Kingdom 2001 1.13
Wagga Wagga, Australia 2008 1.33
Thanks to Joseph Matthews, JRM Consulting, for granting permission to use this chart.

6. Library Impact Studies – What’s
Being Measured?
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
General
Impact on Information Literacy
Impact on Academic Success
Social Impact
Impact of Electronic Services
Financial Value of Libraries
Impact of School Libraries
Impact of Special Libraries
Number of Library Impact Studies by Type, Poll 2014 vs Poll
2016
Poll 2014 Poll 2016

7. Demonstrating Value:
From Economic to Social
• Financial Impact is
easy to measure
Quantitative measures
Counts and market
value
• Social Impact is more
difficult to measure
Qualitative measures
Difficult, and possible,
and worth doing
Cultural Benefits
Economic
Benefits
Educational
Benefits
Social
Benefits

8. The Social Benefits of
Library Programs and Services
•Language skills
•Studying skills
•TD Summer Reading
Club
•Maker Spaces
•Meeting Rooms
•Movies and Music
•Employment support
•Small business
support
•Computer skills
training
•Culture Days
•Meet the Author
•Bilingual Storytime
Cultural Economic
EducationalSocial

9. The Importance of Stakeholders
• Stakeholders have a stake in the success
of your library
• Every organization has multiple
stakeholders
 Patrons (all ages), Board Members, Councillors,
Local Businesses, Schools, Community Agencies,
Staff, and so on.
• Each stakeholder has a unique set of priorities
and concerns.
• Engage stakeholders by demonstrating the
value that matters to them.

10. A Cautionary Tale:
Douglas County, OR
• Population: 107,000; 13,297 km2
• Library system founded in 1953; 11
branches in 2017.
• Funded by County, dependent upon
sales taxes on timber harvests;
declining & unsustainable.
• Community voted in November
2016 against a tax levy to support
library system.
• 10 libraries closed on April 1 2017;
final branch closed May 31 2017.
• Friends of the Library formed a non-
profit organization to run the
libraries using volunteers.
• In early July, the County approved
an intergovernmental agreement to
allow the Friends to reopen the
libraries.

11. Planning for the Future
• Identify your stakeholders.
Understand what they value: what do they
have a stake in?
Measure what matters to them.
• Use consistent methodologies, to compare
results over time.
• Work toward a standard process for
measuring common impacts.

12. Table Discussion, Q & A
• Who are your stakeholders?
Patrons, Board Members, Councilors, Local
Businesses, Community Agencies, etc.
• How are your stakeholders unique?
 For each stakeholder, understand what
motivates them, and what they value about the
community and the library.
Measure What Matters

13. Thank you.
Kimberly Silk, MLS
Principal, Brightsail Research &
Consulting
kim@brightsail.com