Valuing Libraries: Demonstrating the Contributions NJ Libraries Make to Their Communities

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Valuing Libraries Demonstrating the
Contributions NJ Libraries Make to Their
Communities
The New Jersey State Library the
Highlands Regional Cooperative Library
Funding and Resource Development Taskforce
present

• A Two-part Workshop Written and Presented By
• Donna Bachowski, Edgewater Public Library
• Joanne P. Roukens, Highlands Regional Library
  Cooperative

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Acknowledgements

• HRLC Funding and Resource Development Taskforce
• New Jersey State Library, Norma Blake Jeff
  Kesper
• Morris County Library, Sara Weissman
• INFOLINK, Cheryl OConnor
• Neptune Public Library, Marian Bauman

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Special Acknowledgement To

• www.webjunction.org OCLC
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

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Today is about showing your community,
organization, school or business how valuable
your library is.
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Valuing Libraries Part 1

• Valuing Your Services

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Overview

• All materials for this workshop are based on the
  WebJunction Demonstrating Impact
• web documents
• http//webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id1193

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Overview
Three steps to demonstrating impact

• Strategize (today)
• Quantify (today and homework)
• Make the Case (next session)

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Objectives

• 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

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Value 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

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Value and Vision

• What it is not
• Historic is not valuable
• Doesnt correspond to staff ideas of importance
• Is not about our professional values

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Value 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
  pubic library, by Gary Deane, Public Libraries,
  Sept/Oct 2003
• Doing wrong things well does not create value

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Value and Vision
Publicly Valuable

• Strategic triangle
• Publicly valuable
• Politically and legally supported
• Administratively and operationally feasible
• Commit to reflection, listening and flexibility

Political Legal Support
Feasible
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Value and Vision
Enhance Value

• Evaluate each service
• Identify feasible enhancements
• Listen and understand agendas
• Recognize trends and realignment

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Exercise
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Value 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

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Demonstrating Impact

• Step 1 Strategizing

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Strategizing 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

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1. Assess your resources

• All types and all sizes can do this
• Principles stay the same
• Fit your plans to your library

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2. Identify your target

• Critical to success
• Understand your audience
• Express your value so it relates to them
• Relate value in real-world terms

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3. Become a Library Lobbyist

• Get out there
• Build personal connections

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4. What is important to funders

• What is on the boards mind?
• What is on the councils mind?
• What do the constituents say?
• What economic trends are in your community?
• What are the hot-button issues?

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5. Identify what you do best

• Clear mission statement
• Strategic plan
• Library audit http//skyways.lib.ks.us/pathway/a
  udit.html

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6. Articulating Value

• Focus on what you offer and what your funders
  value
• Audience attention is limited, as is your time.
• Concise, easy to understand and substantiate
• http//www.infolink.org/services/other/roi.asp

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7. Find the connection

• Connect the dots
• Simple and powerful
• Value Proposition

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Value Proposition

• An offer to some entity in which they get more
  than they give up, as perceived by them, and in
  relationship to alternatives, including doing
  nothing.

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The Value Proposition

• An offer, not a demand
• Not what you value
• Only valuable perspective is the customers
• Valuable in a competitive environment

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OR

• If you give me this
• (the money I am seeking),
• you will get that
• (specific benefits that come from library
  services).

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OR

• 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.

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Value Proposition
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The Value Proposition
Must fill two requirements

• Actionable by you and your organization
• Credible and compelling to target audience

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Exercise
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Example
Services the Acme Cleaners do best
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Example
You, the customer, needs
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Acme Cleaners Value Proposition
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Summary

• 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

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Demonstrating Impact

• Step 2 Quantifying

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Demonstrating Impact Quantifying

• Translate intangible benefits into hard numbers
• What are our intangible benefits?

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Approaches to Quantifying

• Traditional statistics
• Outcome Based Evaluation - OBE
• Return on investment - ROI
• Anecdotal
• Data from peers

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1. Traditional Statistics

• Circulation figures, patron visits, collection
  size, reference transactions, program attendance
• Pro Demonstrate base level of service
• Con Doesnt speak powerfully to funders

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2. Outcome Based Evaluation

• Shows results as determined by previously set
  categories
• Pro Specific, powerful, becoming more prevalent
• Con Can be an involved process

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3. 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

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4. Anecdotal

• Humanizes your services
• Pro Powerful communication tool
• Con Lacks hard evidence

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5. 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

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Bottom Line

• Best and most powerful arguments will come from
  information about the realities of your own
  community and your own library.

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What Data Do You Need?

• Based on your strategy and your locality
• Need enough to establish the library value to
  your funders

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Data 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!
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What 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

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What You Are Going to Do!

• Divide total value figure by budget figure
• Multiply by 100 to get ROI percentage

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How Easy!

• Niceville Public Library
• Budget of 458,000
• Population 9,358

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Review

• Value what is it and how do we enhance it
• 7 steps to strategizing
• Value Proposition
• Quantify benefits

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ACTION!

• Gather your statistics
• Access the Excel spreadsheet template
• Fill in your figures
• Add short description or narrative, if you wish
• Polish, if you wish
• Bring Value of Services documents to next
  session
• Must provide us with a copy!

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Valuing Libraries Toolkit
All the materials for the Valuing Libraries
Toolkit are available at

• www.hrlc.org/funding/valuinglibs.htm

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QUESTIONS?
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Next Time - Making Your Case

• Tell your story effectively
• Deliver a one or three minute speech
• Write an impact letter
• Make a ten-minute presentation

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Conclusion

• Strategy
• quantify
• Impact

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Valuing Libraries Contact Info

• Donna Bachowski, Director
• Edgewater Public Library
• 201-224-6144
• Bachowski_at_bccls.org
• Joanne P. Roukens, Executive Director
• Highlands Regional Library Cooperative
• 973-664-1776
• jroukens_at_hrlc.org

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The Highlands Regional Library Cooperative (HRLC)
is a proud member of the New Jersey Library
Network. The Cooperative and its services are
made possible in whole or part by funding to the
New Jersey Library Network from the NJ State
Legislature and the New Jersey State Library, an
Affiliate of Thomas Edison State College. 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