Title: Valuing Libraries: Demonstrating Your Librarys Impact on Your Community
1Valuing Libraries Demonstrating Your Librarys
Impact on Your Community
The New Jersey State Library the
Highlands Regional Library Cooperative
present
- Association of Jewish Libraries National
Conference - June 23, 2008
- Presented by
- Joanne P. Roukens, Highlands Regional Library
Cooperative - www.hrlc.org
2Special Acknowledgement
- Special thanks are due to Donna Bachowski,
formerly the director of the Edgewater Public
Library (NJ) and now with the Orange County
Library System (FL). - Donna co-wrote and originally co-presented these
workshops with me and none of this would have
happened without her hard work, insight
enthusiasm and friendship.
Joanne P. Roukens
3Acknowledgements
- HRLC Funding and Resource Development Taskforce
- New Jersey State Library
- Marian Bauman, Neptune Public Library
- Miriam Parkinson, Thomas Jefferson Middle School,
Fair Lawn
4Special Acknowledgement To
- www.webjunction.org OCLC
-
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
5Today is about showing you how valuable your
library is and how you can communicate its impact
to your school, synagogue or community center
6Valuing Libraries Part 1
7 Overview
- All materials for this workshop are based on the
WebJunction Demonstrating Impact - web documents
- http//webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id1193
8 Overview
Three steps to demonstrating impact
- Strategize
- Quantify
- Make the Case
9Objectives
- After this program, you will be able to
- Define what is valuable to customers and
funders/stakeholders - Execute a seven-part strategic process
- Identify your librarys Value Proposition
- Quantify your librarys value
10Value and Vision
- What is value?
- "Value and Vision" by Eleanor Jo Joey Rodger,
American Libraries, Nov. 1, 2002 - Ideas of value have changed
- Moving target, constantly needs assessment
- Usefulness, quality, availability, image
11Value and Vision
- What it is not
- Historic is not valuable
- Doesnt correspond to staff ideas of importance
- Is not about our professional values
12Value and Vision
- Not enough money to go around
- How do we create more public value?
- Bridging the Value Gap getting past
professional values to customer value in the
public library, by Gary Deane, Public Libraries,
Sept/Oct 2003 - Doing wrong things well does not create value
13Value and Vision
- Strategic triangle
- Publicly valuable
- Politically and legally supported
- Administratively and operationally feasible
- Commit to reflection, listening and flexibility
-
Publicly Valuable
Political Legal Support
Feasible
14Value and Vision
Enhance Value
- Evaluate each service
- Identify feasible enhancements
- Listen and understand agendas
- Recognize trends and realignment
15Valuable to Your Customers
16Valuable to Administrators and Funders
17Value and Vision Summary
- Identify was is and is not value
- Examine services using the Strategic Triangle
- Need to keep an eye on trends and realign
- List what is valuable to customers,
funders/stakeholders
18Demonstrating Impact
19Strategizing Steps
- Assess your resources
- Identify your target
- Become a lobbyist
- Identify what is important to funders
- Identify what you do best
- Determine how to articulate value
- Find the connection
201. Assess your resources
- All types and all sizes can do this
- Principles stay the same
- Fit your plans to your library
212. Identify your target
- Critical to success
- Understand your audience
- Express your value so it relates to them
- Relate value in real-world terms
223. Become a Library Lobbyist
- Get out of the room
- Mingle in your building
- Go have lunch
- Build personal connections
- Make yourself visible
234. What is important to funders
- What is on the school boards mind?
- Clergy, staff, trustees?
- Administrators?
- What economic trends are effecting your
customers/funders? - What are the hot-button issues?
245. Identify what you do best
- Clear mission statement
- Strategic plan
256. Articulating Value
- What you offer, what funders value
- Limited audience attention, limited time
- Concise, understandable, substantiated
267. Find the connection
- Connect the dots
- Simple and powerful
- Value Proposition
27The Value Proposition
- An offer, not a demand
- Not what you value
- Only valuable perspective is the customers
- Valuable in a competitive environment
28OR
- If you give me this
- (the money I am seeking),
- you will get that
- (specific benefits that come from library
services). -
29OR
- The promise that a library makes to its
- customers about what they can expect
- to receive in return for their time,
- their effort, their loyalty, and especially their
dollars. -
30Value Proposition
31The Value Proposition
Must fill two requirements
- Actionable by you and your organization
- Credible and compelling to target audience
32Create Your Own Value Proposition!
33Example
Services the Acme Cleaners do best
34Example
You, the customer, needs
35Acme Cleaners Value Proposition
36Value Proposition - Example
What the Acme Cleaners does best
- Quick, reliable
- Good value
- Clean suede
- Spotless results
- Odorless
- Environmentally friendly
- Reasonably priced repairs
- Will not shrink or lose clothes
37Value Proposition - Example
What the Acme Cleaners does best
- Friendly service
- Home pickup and delivery
- Drive through
- Updated technology
- Work done on premises
- 24/7
38Value Proposition - Example
You, the customer, need
- One hour service
- Reasonable prices
- Spotless, pressed and folded clothes
- No more wire hangers, except for shirts
- No shrinkage
- Delivery service
39Value Proposition - Example
You, the customer, need
- Extended hours
- Drive through
- Refreshments, magazines
- Carry out to car
- Free repairs
- Courtesy
- honesty
40Acme Cleaners Value Proposition
- If you give us your clothing to clean, we will do
an excellent, professional job at a reasonable
price, quickly and on time. Satisfaction
guaranteed.
41Niceville School Value Proposition
- When you use the library, you can count on a
welcoming atmosphere where you can quickly find
information for assignments, teaching, great
books to read and computers to use for word
processing, databases, websites and more.
Assistance is always readily available.
42Summary
- Assess your resources
- Identify your target
- Become a lobbyist
- Identify what is important to funders
- Identify what you do best
- Determine how to articulate value
- Find the connection
43Demonstrating Impact
44Demonstrating Impact Quantifying
- Translate intangible benefits into hard numbers
- What are our intangible benefits?
45Approaches to Quantifying
- Traditional statistics
- Outcome Based Evaluation - OBE
- Return on investment - ROI
- Anecdotal
- Data from peers
461. Traditional Statistics
- Circulation figures, patron visits, collection
size, reference transactions, program attendance - Pro Demonstrate base level of service
- Con Doesnt speak powerfully to funders
472. Outcome Based Evaluation
- Shows results as determined by previously set
categories - Pro Specific, powerful, becoming more prevalent
- Con Can be an involved process
483. Return On Investment
- Common in the for-profit sector
- Shows value of services
- Pro Clear, accurate statement of fund use and
resulting benefits - Con Difficult to quantify benefits from
non-priced goods and services
494. Anecdotal
- Humanizes your services
- Pro Powerful communication tool
- Con Lacks hard evidence
505. Data From Peers
- Comparison of your services and statistics to
libraries with similar service profiles - Pro Fairly easy to complete
- Con Can backfire all politics are local
51Bottom Line
- Best and most powerful arguments will come from
information about the realities of your own
community and your own library.
52What Data Do You Need?
- Based on your strategy and your locality
- Need enough to establish the library value to
your funders
53Data Collection
- Easiest repackaging existing data
- More difficult compiling, analyzing raw data
- Most difficult collecting fresh data
We are going to do it the easy way!
54What You Are Going to Do!
- Gather your statistics
- Population
- Total of last fiscal year budget
- Last years circ/usage stats
- Use price list from website and select
- Open worksheet and fill in numbers
55What You Are Going to Do!
- Divide total value figure by budget figure
- Multiply by 100 to get ROI percentage
56How Easy!
- Niceville Public Library
- Budget of 458,000
- Population 9,358
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60Review
- Value what is it and how do we enhance
- 7 steps to strategizing
- Value Proposition
- Quantify benefits
61ACTION!
- Gather your statistics
- Access the Excel spreadsheet template
- Fill in your figures
- Add short description or narrative, if you wish
- Polish, if you wish
- Share Value of Services documents
62Valuing Libraries Toolkit
All the materials for the Valuing Libraries
Toolkit are available at
- www.hrlc.org/funding/valuinglibs.htm
63QUESTIONS?
64Part 2 - Making Your Case
- Tell your story effectively
- Deliver a one or three minute speech
- Write an impact letter
- Create a Strategy for Communication Document
65Conclusion
66Valuing Libraries Contact Info
- Joanne P. Roukens, Executive Director
- Highlands Regional Library Cooperative
- 973-664-1776
- jroukens_at_hrlc.org
67The Highlands Regional Library Cooperative (HRLC)
is a proud member of the New Jersey Library
Network.
This workshop was made possible by a funding
partnership between the New Jersey State Library
and HRLC. Norma Blake, New Jersey State
Librarian Joanne P. Roukens, Executive Director,
HRLC