Evaluating the Impact of Your Library

Impact and all that: use of some key terms in this book PART 1: THE CONTEXT 1. The demand for evidence Why is evidence of impact an issue for libraries (and information services)? Emerging interest in the management of change What is distorting the picture? Why is it important to tackle impact? 2. Getting to grips with impact A metaphor and a model Why is impact such a slippery concept? Overviews of impact Changing how we think of evidence What does impact mean? 3. The research base of this work What we know about impact from the management literature Evidence-based practice and the LIS picture The overall research picture What we don’t know Where our model comes from PART 2: EVALUATING IMPACT 4. Putting the impact into planning Why do we need a new evaluation model? The model Using the model And the first question is How do you currently measure your success as a service? 5. Getting things clear: objectives Choosing where to get involved The mission Where can libraries make an impact? From impact areas to objectives Some examples of objectives Why objectives matter 6. Success criteria and impact indicators: how you know you are making a difference Formulating success criteria: getting the balance right What sorts of changes will show impact? What is an impact indicator? What do good indicators look like? What do you do if you don’t know what impact to expect? What makes a poor indicator? Some issues to consider before you start writing indicators Writing indicators Getting the words right Using frameworks to help you choose appropriate indicators Some indicators 7. Making things happen: activities and process indicators Why activities? Why now? Identify activities Review the activities Process indicators Output indicators Process and output indicators: things to watch The ‘reach’ of the service 8. Thinking about evidence Deciding your approach to gathering evidence The organizational context Finding strong surrogates for impact evidence Ethical evidence-gathering Matching the evidence to your needs What counts as impact evidence? Fitness for the purpose Other methods of gathering impact evidence 9. Gathering and interpreting evidence Observation Asking questions Interviewing Getting impact information from people in groups Collecting stories and constructing case studies as impact evidence Action research Doing it! Analysing data Interpreting and presenting your evidence Sources on research methods Finding research methods e-resources Evidence or advocacy? 10. Taking stock, setting targets and development planning Taking stock: reviewing your impact and process indicators Setting targets for impact Process targets Development planning Planning your impact evaluation PART 3: THE BIGGER PICTURE 11. Doing national or international evaluation Looking at the national and international picture Negotiate the terminology Respond to the national impact challenge What can national or international library evaluation try to achieve? Are you ready for impact evaluation? Start evaluation with programme design – and learn as you go Identifying a framework for national and international impact evaluation Developing an approach to impact evaluation at national level Ethical evaluation Emergent evaluation revisited Plan the evaluation Starting to enact your plan Sustain the process Thoughts on advocacy Some examples of impact evidence and advocacy Impact evaluation, advocacy and service sustainability 12. Where do we go from here? Getting impact evaluation right Getting beyond the narrow focus Digging deeper Looking long enough Getting help Towards impact benchmarking Towards evidence-based working? Other visions

Biography

David Streatfield, Sharon Markless