2015 Charleston Library Conference

Historically, libraries approached resource acquisition with a lens of “Volume Assessment”, where the focus was to provide as many resources at the least possible cost to meet the unpredictable demand of patrons. Key metrics for assessment were volume and cost (e.g. cost per item). Today, we find ourselves firmly in a time of “ROI Assessment” where, with the wealth of analytics and assessment tools available, we introduce a perspective of “value” into our assessment of resources (e.g. cost per access / use, etc).

But what of the future? We foresee a new era of “Engagement Assessment” emerging, that more accurately gauges the true impact or “value” to our end users (e.g. cost per engaged use). Our current ROI metrics tell us if someone used a resource, but not how they used it, why they used it, and what impact it had on them.