The LIRG/SCONUL Impact Initiative: assessing the impact of HE libraries on learning, teaching, and research

The LIRG/SCONUL Impact Initiative took place between July 2003 and December 2005. Twenty-two higher education institutions in the UK attempted to measure the impact of their services on learning, teaching, and research. Within the context of the programme, each institution investigated the impact of a new innovation. This paper provides a final overview of the two phases of the Impact Initiative and highlights some of the findings. Measuring impact is not easy but there are significant benefits for the profile and development of academic libraries in trying to do so. It provides guidance for libraries on assessing impact drawing upon the experience of the Impact Initiative

Impact measures for libraries and information services

PURPOSE - To demonstrate the importance of impact / outcome research in libraries. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH - The paper gives an overview of purposes and methods used in impact research and illustrates this through project experiences. FINDINGS - Various projects worldwide are trying to prove that use of library services can positively influence skills and competences, attitudes and behaviour of users. The benefits that users experience by using library services can be assessed in terms of knowledge gained, higher information literacy, higher academic or professional success, social inclusion, and increase in individual well-being. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS - The main problem of impact research is, that influences on an individual are manifold and that therefore it is difficult to trace changes and improvements back to the library. The paper shows methods that are tested and used at the present. More investigation is needed to identify methods that could be used to show a library’s overall impact or to develop measures that would permit benchmarking between institutions. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS - The paper shows practical examples of impact assessment, covering “soft” methods like surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation and quantitative methods like tests, analysis of publications, or usage data. ORIGINALITY/VALUE - The paper acquaints libraries with a topic that is not yet well known and, by showing practical examples, demonstrates how libraries can attempt to assess their impact

Library performance measurement in the digital age

Book synopsis: University libraries around the world have embraced the possibilities of the digital learning environment, facilitating its use and proactively seeking to develop the provision of electronic resources and services. The digital environment offers opportunities and challenges for librarians in all aspects of their work - in information literacy, virtual reference, institutional repositories, e-learning, managing digital resources and social media. The authors in this timely book are leading experts in the field of library and information management, and are at the forefront of change in their respective institutions. University Libraries and Digital Learning Environments will be invaluable for all those involved in managing libraries or learning services, whether acquiring electronic resources or developing and delivering services in digital environments

Measuring the impact of higher education libraries: the LIRG/SCONUL Impact Implementation Initiative

The Library and Information Research Group (LIRG) and the Society of College, National, and University Libraries (SCONUL) are working together on a joint initiative looking at the impact of higher education libraries on learning, teaching, and research. Twenty-two libraries have been involved in assessing the impact of particular services or new innovations in their institutions. This article considers why measuring impact is important, describes the background to the Impact Initiative and what led to it being set up, identifies the institutions that are involved and their chosen topics, outlines what is involved for the participating institutions, and reviews progress to date

The impact of libraries on learning, teaching and research. Report of the LIRG seminar held in October 2001.

What makes a good academic library? Those of us who work in academic libraries know that we need to be able to demonstrate value for money. The Library and Information Research Group (LIRG) has recently organised two seminars on the effective academic library. These have been concerned with how we measure the performance of an academic library

How Third World rural households adapt to dietary energy stress

People can adjust to environmental changes by calling on a wide range of physical attributes, capabilities, and behaviors. For survival, probably the most important are those that make it possible to prevent serious imbalances between food energy needs and the amount of food that can be acquired at acceptable cost. Those who formulate food and agricultural policies need to know the scope, costs, and benefits of the more common adaptive strategies used by poor people, who are normally at greatest risk of energy stress. In particular, policymakers and analysts need to assess the scope and limits of adjustments by individuals or groups. When might adjustments fail to be biologically adaptive, that is, to reduce the risk that adverse effects of undernourishment will prevent individuals from contributing to the genetic inheritance of future generations? Even if adjustments are biologically adaptive, when are they likely to involve unacceptable suffering, damage to health, or social incapacity? In How Third World Households Adapt to Dietary Energy Stress: The Evidence and the Issues, IFPRI Food Policy Review 2, Philip Payne and Michael Lipton draw upon relevant literature from a range of subjects spanning the biological, behavioral, and social sciences and set out a conceptual framework to identify the current state of knowledge and the gaps in it.Malnutrition Developing countries. ,Adaptation (Physiology) Developing countries. ,