Library Performance Measurement Conference 23rd July 2013

Selena Killick Library Quality Officer, Cranfield University @SelenaKillick

Assessing the Impact of the Academic Library: From theory to practice

Cranfield University

• The UK's only wholly postgraduate university focused

on science, technology, engineering and

management

• One of the UK's top five research intensive

universities

• Annual turnover £150m

• We deliver the UK Ministry of Defence's largest

educational contract

Cranfield Locations

Cranfield Defence &

Security

375 Staff

1,250 Students

83% study part-time

Barrington Library

185,000 Print items

13,000 eBooks

27,000 Journals

878,000 downloads*

364,000 chapter

requests*

34,000 visits

20 Library Staff

*Cranfield University

Value & Impact at the Barrington Library

• Purpose: Identify and report on how the Library is

impacting on the University

• Method: Develop robust Library assessment process

linked to University strategic objectives

• Desired Outcome: Regular reporting to Library

stakeholders on the impact of the service

Library Impact Theorists

• Megan Oakleaf

• Joe Matthews

• Markless & Streatfield

Library Impact Theory

• Focus on stakeholder values

• Evidence how the Library impacts upon the

mission and objectives of the University

• Use existing information sources

• Communicate impact

• Key stakeholders

• Library staff

• Wider community

If you're not going to

communicate your

results, don't bother

doing assessment

VIP Timeline

• July 2012 – Managerial approval

• October 2012 – Team established

• December 2012 – Project commenced

• March 2013 – Phase 1

• April 2013 – Phase 2

• June 2013 – Phase 3

• August 2013 – Phase 4

• October 2013 – Phase 5

• December 2013 – Phase 6

VIP Team

Barrington Library

Library Customer Services

Development & Systems Integration

Library Support Team

Academic Liaison

Specialist Services

Cranfield University Strategic Plan

Strategic Themes:

• Enhance our research and innovation profile

• Increase our impact globally

• Inspire our people to achieve their full potential

Key Enablers:

• Excellent people and organisation

• Financial sustainability

• A collaborative and supportive environment

University Strategic Plan

2011-2015

Strategic Themes

& Key Enablers

Library Services,

Activities, Resources,

Expertise

SMART Objectives

Assessment Data

Documented

Impact

Communicate

Impact

Reflection and

continuous

improvement

Value & Impact Project Process

Library Services,

Activities, Resources,

Expertise

PHASE 1: ACTIVITIES

What activities / services

/ expertise does the

Library offer which

supports the University

Strategic Plan?

Phase 1: Activities

• VIP Team reviewed Strategic Plan individual

• Group discussion to identify activities

• 65 different activities

Strategic Themes:

• Customer-facing

Key Enablers:

• Internal-facing

Phase 2: Rationalisation

• Not possible to report on 65 different activities

• Staff resources

• Stakeholder sanity!

• Strategically valuable activities identified by:

• VIP Team (individually)

• Head of Barrington Library

• Feedback captured via Qualtrics

Phase 2: Rationalisation

# Answer Response % 1 CRIS 5 100% 2 Access to electronic resources 5 100% 3 Literature reviews for research projects 5 100% 4 Support and input to the Research Newsletter 4 80% 5 Assistance with the creation of research bids 3 60% 6 Reports collection 2 40% 7 Secret PC access 1 20% 8 Shrivenham repository (defence portal) 1 20% 9 RLI Access 1 20% 10 Mobile technology library services 1 20% 11 Copyright training 1 20% 12 Digitisation services, including HESS

requests for the VLE 1 20%

13 Enquiry answering 1 20% 14 Ezell collection 1 20% 15 Dissertation archiving 1 20% 16 Current awareness (eDefence News) 0 0% 17 Heritage collection 0 0% 18 SCONUL access 0 0% 19 Inter-Library-Loans 0 0% 20 JSCSC partnership 0 0% 21 Partnership with Amport House chaplaincy

library 0 0%

Strategic Theme: Enhance our research and innovation profile

Rationalisation Outcomes

Strategic Theme / Key Enabler Library

Activities

Theme Enhance our research and innovation

profile

4

Theme Increase our impact globally 4

Theme Inspire our people to achieve their full

potential

4

Enabler Excellent people and organisation 1

Enabler Financial sustainability 3

Enabler A collaborative and supportive environment 3

Rationalisation: Challenges

• Common viewpoint

• Evidence influence choices

• Distribution of activities

• Themes \ Enablers

• Library Teams

SMART Objectives SMART Objectives

University Strategic Plan

2011-2015

Strategic Themes

& Key Enablers

Library Services,

Activities, Resources,

Expertise

Assessment Data

Documented

Impact

Communicate

Impact

Value & Impact Project Process PHASE 3: OBJECTIVES

What tasks does the

Library perform in

order to achieve the

strategically beneficial

activities?

Phase 3: Objectives

• VIP Team identify measurable library objectives for

each of the 19 activities

• 100+ possible objectives

• Information sources identified for some

Information Sources

• Reporting on existing information sources only

• Internal & External

• Qualitative & Quantitative

• Networking

Resist the urge

to start counting

Examples

Strategic

Theme

Library Service

Objective Information

Source

Enhance our

research and

innovation

profile

Assistance with

the creation of

research bids

Provide estimate

costs for

copyright

cleared

information

Barrington

Liaison Tool

Examples

Strategic

Theme

Library Service

Objective Information

Source

Increase our

impact globally

Provide and

support CERES

(University

repository)

Promote

CERES through

the publication

of Usage

Statistics

Institutional

Repository

Usage Statistics

(IRUS-UK)

Examples

Strategic

Theme

Library Service

Objective Information

Source

Inspire our

people to

achieve their full

potential

Research

methods training

and support for

PhD students

PhD satisfaction

with library

training

LibQUAL+

Next Steps

• Phase 4: Rationalisation of Objectives

• Availability v. desire

• Representative of department

• Phase 5: Data collection & compilation

• Phase 6: Communicating impact

Perfect information is

expensive or even

unattainable

Desired Outcome

Desired Outcome: Regular reporting to Library

stakeholders on the impact of the service

? Dashboard

? Written reports

? Key performance indicators

? Intranet site

Considerations

• Moving goalposts

• New Library Strategy

• New Vice-Chancellor

• New University strategy…?

• Resourcing

• Prove v. Improve

• Staff apprehensiveness

We don’t assess to

prove…

… but to improve!

Thank You!

Selena Killick s.a.killick@cranfield.ac.uk @SelenaKillick Tel: +44(0)1793 785561