Evaluating the Twenty‐First Century Library: The Association of Research Libraries New Measures Initiative, 1997‐2001

Citation

Limb, P. (2003), "Evaluating the Twenty‐First Century Library: The Association of Research Libraries New Measures Initiative, 1997‐2001", Online Information Review, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 371-371. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520310503620

As the digital content of libraries grows, so methods of library evaluation need to change. The editor remarks (p.1) that older librarians may still turn to quantitative measures such as collection size to evaluate a library, yet younger librarians tend to look at different criteria such as user satisfaction and spending on e‐resources. Clearly, for research libraries, both criteria are important. Yet, all librarians need to keep abreast of changes in library evaluation measures and this collection offers a concise introduction to this theme. The book comprises three sections:

1. 1.

   an overview of the ARL New Measures Initiative and Learning Outcomes;

2. 2.

   library service quality and the LibQUAL+ Project; and

3. 3.

   the ARL E‐Metrics Project.

Of the 14 chapters, 13 appeared in ARL's bimonthly newsletter/report between 1998 and 2000.

Julia Blixrud, then ARL Senior Programme Officer, contributes three articles: an outline of major issues in research measurement (first published April 1998); the process of establishing new library measures (1999); and creating a role for research libraries in learning outcomes assessment programs (2000). Kenneth Smith contributes to the overview with “New roles and responsibilities for the university library: advancing student learning through outcomes assessment”. On quality measures, Colleen Cook and Fred Heath make three joint contributions: a report on SERVQUAL and the search for new measures; LibQUAL+ as an instrument in the “new measures toolbox”; and an (August 2000) update on the LibQUAL+ Pilot Project. Martha Kyrillidou, then ARL Senior Programme Officer for Statistics and Measurement, contributes to five chapters: an overview of performance measures in higher education libraries; an article (with William Crowe) on searching for new measures; a report on the October 2000 Symposium on Measuring Library Service Quality; and two chapters (both December 2000) on e‐metrics developments, one of which focuses on rising research library spending on e‐scholarly information. Also related to the E‐Metrics Project, Joan Lippincott assesses the academic networked environment whilst Wonsik Shim (the only previously unpublished chapter) discusses “Measuring services, resources, users and use in the networked environment”.

It is useful to have these articles, all concise and well written, together in a single volume as they treat related subjects and together comprise a handy overview of development of new measures of library services and holdings. However, a major weakness is that the book contains only one new article. Instead of merely reprinting previously published articles the editor (at least in his introduction) could have cited project updates and related new projects such as COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources – an international code of practice for recording/exchange of online usage data). Readers can consult online updates at the ARL Committee on Statistics and Measurement, Learning Outcomes Working Group. By 2003, LibQUAL+ had 164 libraries collecting data on 78,000 North American library users. ARL E‐Metrics also continues, with data available at: www.arl.org/stats/announce/emetricspr.html. This book will be of value to research librarians and managers in academic research libraries.