The initiative includes 3 parts, all available here http://www.imls.gov/about/21stCSkills.shtm:

1. The Online Self-Assessment: a brief interactive survey that quickly analyzes an institution’s 21st century strategies and describes next steps for action.

2. The Report: outlines a vision for the role of libraries and museums in the national dialogue around learning and 21st century skills and includes case studies [be sure to read these case studies!] of innovative audience engagement and 21st century skills practices from across the country.

3. The Self-Assessment Tool: allows museums and libraries to determine where they fit on the continuum of 21st century skills operations and programming.

I found numerous parallels to the efforts of the initiative with those of Project Compass and thought it would be great to start a discussion about the long term goals your library has to support the development of patrons’ 21st Century Skills beyond the current workforce challenged economic climate and on into the future.

The report identifies the differences between 20th and 21st Century skills, and provides a framework including four skills areas:

• Learning and Innovation Skills
• Information, Media, and Technology Skills
• Life and Career Skills
• 21st Century Themes, including: Global Awareness; Financial, Economic, Business, and Entrepreneurial Literacy; Civic Literacy; Health Literacy; Environmental Literacy

You can see the skill sets cover many of the areas we have traditionally focused on. I’m very excited to see how this framework might help libraries clarify our role and forge potential community partnerships to build 21st C. skills in our communities.

I found these 3 quotes to be particularly powerful:

First an overall call to collaboration:

All libraries and museums—and the people they serve—stand to benefit from becoming more intentional and purposeful about accommodating the lifelong learning needs of people in the 21st century, and doing this work collaboratively in alignment with community needs.

And then more focused on learning, specifically the role we as libraries can play in informal learning to help our communities…

Skills like critical thinking and problem solving are not only relevant for K-12 students and schools. There are millions of adult learners not in formal education programs looking to refine workplace skills. Even school-aged children spend the overwhelming majority of their waking hours in non-school settings, and increasingly they spend this time in organized out-of-school settings such as afterschool, museum, and library programs. In these settings, they develop important skills—such as problem solving, collaboration, global awareness, and selfdirection—not only for lifelong learning and everyday activities, but also for use back in K-12 schools and college classrooms.

And I loved this one that encourages us to

The report itself is loaded with other excellent information that can both guide programming as well as advocacy efforts, with clear articulation of the critical value of libraries. I’ve yet to dive deep into the assessment tools, but kudos to the task force and team member who pulled together the launch of this outstanding initiative!

Read it and tell me what you think!

Information on Application Process
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the National Center for State Courts, the Center-hosted Self-Represented Litigation Network, in cooperation with the Legal Services Corporation, is presenting a two-day conference that addresses how public libraries can improve access to online legal information at libraries. The conference will be a unique opportunity for participants to meet with public librarians and with legal and court experts to discuss strategies for integrating access to legal information into their programs, including how to locate the best content and tools, how to talk about the content with library patrons, how to work with content partners to make sure that needed content is developed, how to share what they have learned statewide, and how to use successful programs to advocate for the importance of public libraries as gateways to government institutions.

The conference organizers plan to select between 10 and 15 teams of two to three people from across the country to attend the conference. These teams will learn about a broad range of currently available print and online, customer-friendly legal tools developed by courts, bar associations, law libraries, and legal aid programs that support people without access to legal aid or counsel. The participants will learn how to access this information, facilitate sharing among libraries and legal agencies and participate in the enhancement and customization of these tools.

Preference will generally be given to teams that include a person who plays a statewide library staff educational or organizational role; a local librarian with a strong interest in expanding the use of public libraries for access to justice; and one of the following: a legal aid staff member; or a court online information expert or member of a self help center currently not using online tools to provide services. Applicant teams are encouraged to put together a group that will be the most effective in their area of service to spread the word in their states. The decision of the selection group will be final.

Conference participants will receive travel and hotel costs (subject to certain caps described in the application). Participants will also be eligible to apply for post-conference funding to implement some of the tools learned at the conference. Such grants, which will range from $750 to $1,000, might be used for travel to conferences at which training would be shared, development of marketing materials, and so on.

For additional immediate information, contact Richard Zorza, richard@zorza.net.

Application materials can be found on:
SelfHelpSupport: http://www.selfhelpsupport.org/libraries
WebJunction: http://www.webjunction.org/legal-information/-/articles/content/86970844

REPORTS ON CALCULATING A LIBRARY’S RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Compiled by Don Reynolds, Past President of the Association of Rural and Small Libraries, and Director, Nolichucky Regional Library, Morristown, Tennessee
Updated February 20, 2009

Public Library Benefits Valuation Study. St. Louis Public Library, April 2001.

Library’s Contribution to Your Community. Illinois Regional Library Systems, 2002/3.

Libraries: How they stack up. An OCLC Report. OCLC, 2003.

Value of Public Library Service. Massachusetts Library Association, October 2003. Also available: “Estimated retail value and Values explained” and Calculator work sheet

The Economic Impact of Public Libraries on South Carolina. January 2005.

Taxpayer Return-on-Investment (ROI) in Pennsylvania Public Libraries. Pennsylvania Library Association, September 2006.

Value for Money: Southwestern Ohio’s Return from Investment in Public Libraries. November 2006. Report Summary

Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development. Urban Libraries Council, January 2007.

Worth Their Weight – An Assessment of the Evolving Field of Library Valuation. Americans for Libraries Council (Libraries for the Future), May 2007. Two notes:
1.) This report summarizes all the various valuation projects from around the country.
2.) I was having some trouble getting this to download, but was told by Libraries for the Future that the website issue is being addressed.

Vermont Library Association’s Library Use Value Calculator – What is your library worth to you? August 2007. (Note: Follows Massachusetts model.)

Return on Investment for Public Libraries. Library Research Service (Colorado), 2007/8. Note: This site also includes numerous case studies of individual libraries. Individual ROI Calculator.

Return on Investment (ROI). North Suburban Library System (Illinois), 2008. (Note: Two calculators are available here, one for a library’s return on investment to the community, one for the ROI for an individual.)

Maine State Library’s Library Use Value Calculator. Updated 2008. Note: This approach also follows Massachusetts model.

New York Libraries: How They Stack Up! Revised October 2008. Printable brochure version, also revised October 2008

“I heard about the library-passport program and thought it was really cool,” said Thompson, 28. “I love going to my library. It’s such an incredible resource. My goal is to get people excited about visiting their local branch.”

Thompson had originally planned to visit all 28 branches of the Seattle Public Library system in one day, but freezing temperatures and early library closures shortened his list. Besides the 11 branches he was able to reach before snow forced them to close, he also visited 6 more branches which he photographed.

Seattle Public Library created the Library Passport program to celebrate the completion of its Libraries for All program, encouraging library patrons to visit the new and remodeled library branches.

To read more about Sam Thompson’s library marathon, see the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s article, A marathon task: Runner logs 50 miles visiting library branches in one day. Also see SPL’s recent news release on other locals’ programs centered around the Passport.

I know, it’s a solemn reminder for the day after, but I wanted to check in with folks who were hoping for the passage of library bonds yesterday.

I’ve heard both good news and bad about library bonds passing. I’m hoping folks will share their stories here as a comment or in a WJ discussion. Because we’re getting ready to launch our Virtual Town Hall in December these types of conversations will also be useful in helping the WJ community build a solid foundation for the series.

Virtual Town Hall: Focus on Tough Economic Times

This December, WebJunction is hosting a series of three webinars on the topic of Libraries in Tough Economic Times. Join us in a new Virtual Town Hall format designed engage all attendees with questions, brainstorms, stories, and to collect practical strategies. We’ve picked 3 different days and times to accommodate as many schedules as possible, but you’re encouraged to join us for as many of the sessions as you are able.

• Thursday, December 4, 10:00 PT/1:00 ET Register Now
• Friday, December 12, 11:00 PT/2:00 ET Register Now
• Thursday, December 18, 12:00 PT/3:00 ET Register Now

I’ve started a Town Hall discussion to get the conversation rolling and to get input as we decide on topics for focus. I think that library bonds are certainly worthy of focus. Other ideas include:

• library budgets
• library closures
• staffing cuts
• and new patron needs in tough times.

Please plan on bringing your questions and strategies to the events. All attendees will be encouraged to participate, but if you’ve got something meaty to share, let us know so we can get your slides or pictures into the Virtual Town Hall before the session begins.

I’ve been itchin’ to use the Wimba Classroom for more informal virtual gatherings like this and look forward to the series. With your participation, we as a community can begin to tackle many of the challenges that lie ahead for our libraries.

Some of Amanda’s choices are standard fare for any teen/pre-teen’s reading list:

• Princess Sonora and the long sleep, by Gail Carson Levine and Mark Elliott
• Half Magic by Edward Eager
• Carnival at Candlelight by Mary Pope Osborne
• etc….

Normal stuff, right? But then you keep reading and right down there at the end she drops the kind of zinger you still don’t expect (had you been expecting a zinger from an 8-year-old, that is), even from a child who’s been listening to their famous economist dad. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s worth viewing Amanda’s list for yourself.

Personally, I’m going to spy on my daughter’s night stand when I get home tonight. I don’t expect to find much indication that my work has influenced her reading choices, but then again, she’s only 7. Next year could be the big year for online community and information theory texts.

How about you? I’m sure some of you have some great stories to share. What’s the weirdest book you’ve ever seen a kid choose and why?

-Tim

Money talks! In good times and tight economic times, people are conscious of spending their money wisely. People also want their hard-earned dollars, given in the form of tax dollars, spent wisely. As a library trustee on a governing or an advisory Board, can you convince elected officials, your neighbors and taxpayers in general that they are getting a good return on their investment (ROI)? In other words, can you talk in dollars?

Investment

For-profit companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies need money to provide products and services. People who invest in these organizations, stockholders, individuals and grant agencies and taxpayers, all ask: “How do I measure my return on investment?” and “How do I know if my investment is really paying off?”

Return on Investment (ROI)

In the for-profit sector:

Company officials and boards of directors have developed formulas to measure the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. As stated in Wikipedia’s definition, this ratio is usually expressed as a percent and is referred to as ROI.

In library land:

Can you say your library users derive more than $4.00 in benefits for every $1.00 spent of taxpayer money? St. Louis Public Library can!

A pilot study of the St. Louis Public Library (SLPL) provided this claim of return on investment. The pilot study and its results are described in a Library Journal article, “Proving Your Library’s Worth: A Test Case.” The full research on library use of cost-benefit analysis to measure economic benefits and impacts is detailed in a how-to-manual: Measuring Your Library’s Value. Elliott, Donald S., et. al, American Library Association: Chicago. 2007.

In “Public libraries pack a powerful $$$ punch”, Tom Story summarizes findings from studies to show the economic impact of public libraries. Among the findings were:

• In Florida: for every $1.00 of taxpayer dollars spent on public libraries, income (wages) increases by $12.66.
• In South Carolina: In return for an investment of $77.5 million, public libraries pump $347 million into the state’s economy.

Numbers Aren’t Enough

While numbers are impressive, you need to be able to put the numbers in context to emphasize your point. Some publications that put interesting numbers in context include:

1. An OCLC report, Libraries: How they stack up, which makes comparisons:

• Five times more people visit U.S. public libraries each year than attend U.S. professional and college football, basketball, baseball and hockey games. If library patrons were to pay the average sporting game ticket price of approximately $35 per visit, libraries would generate more than $39 billion in annual revenues.

2. Quotable Fact Cards -state cards modeled after an ALA publication, proclaim:

• Texas libraries spent an average of about $18 per capita for public library service in 2003? For a family of four, that’s library service for a year for only about $72.00. It would cost $130 for the same family to attend Six Flags Over Texas for one day.

• Marylanders borrowed an average of 7 books per person in 2003. At $25 for a hardcover book, each citizen’s taxes paid for one book and $10 toward a second book. Each citizen saved $140 by using their public library.

Everything is Local

National and state statistics about return on investment (ROI) are nice, but as the song says “God bless the child that’s got its own.” As trustees of local public libraries, you will be 100% more effective if you can quote numbers from your own libraries.

Trustee Tips and Tricks is a regular guest feature on BlogJunction. You can reach Pat at http://www.pfisherassociates.com and keep on top of the series by following the BlogJunction Trustees category.

WebJunction’s new functionality includes the ability for you, the community, to share comments about the research, so please share (here or at the bottom of each of the documents) your thoughts after reading these reports. I’m especially interested to hear how people anticipate using the new data to advocate for their library’s services.

This week’s question breaks a trend by coming in through a BlogJunction comment. We’ve often pitched the blog as another place for folks to ask their WJ questions, but hardly anyone takes us up on it. Maybe along with all the other changes we’ve got going, we’re going to some new blog trends, too.

Anyway, on with the question. RoseAleta asks:

I’m trying to find a quote to use for a City Council presentation about how libraries contribute to economic development. It seems I’ve read this any number of times that businesses and homebuyers look for “quality of life” as much as job income, etc. in making a decision to re-locate.”

I’m sure the WJ community is loaded with great ideas for helping RoseAleta (and if you aren’t I’d love to hear that, too. Maybe we can get together and commission a report!). I know my library adds a huge value to the community, but you can’t quote me because I’m not running a multinational corporation.

If you’ve have thoughts to share on the matter, please respond to the question in the WebJunction advocacy discussion forum or here in the blog.

Library boards and the library director are responsible for seeing that community needs are addressed by providing library services that are well-planned and that fulfill the library’s half of the social contract—making a difference in stakeholders’ lives in return for taxpayer funding. It’s in the job description!

But how to go about it?

Start with a “Give ‘Em What They Want!” philosophy

• Conduct a community needs assessment as the first step in periodic strategic and market planning.
• Focus on programs and services which meet community needs.
• Write program or service goals as statements of benefits that members of the community will receive.
• State the objectives, which are measurements that will be used to determine the progress made toward the goals.

Measurements

One way of measuring is to have “benchmarks,” which are sometimes called “standards,” for comparisons. Georgia has operating and primary standards, to evaluate its public libraries. The standards describe essential, full and optimal levels of service in enough narrative detail to allow boards and directors to determine where their libraries fall on the continuum.

However, when it comes to measuring results, numbers count; from kid’s SAT scores to batting averages, folks use numbers to assess success. The numbers that quantify the library users’ success stories (outcome measurements) may be more compelling than the numbers that quantify what the library does. However, both are useful for demonstrating results.

Organization-referenced results—these results are all about the library

How much we do:

• Inputs – what the library staff uses and does, e.g. dollars spent on materials, FTEs on the staff, etc.
• Outputs – what the library does with the resources, e.g. items circulated, reference questions answered, programs presented, etc.

How efficient we are:

• Process – how much does it cost –staff time/dollars- to select, purchase, and shelve a new book, etc.
• Return on Investment (ROI)—benefits that accrue to the community as a result of taxpayer investment
• Cost-benefit calculations—measures both benefits and costs in dollars

How well we do:

• Customer satisfaction—user surveys
• Rankings—comparisons of libraries on selected criteria such as staffing levels, funding levels, hours open, etc.

Person-referenced outcomes—these results are benefits (measurable outcomes) that accrue to persons who use a service or participate in a program; benefits to many individuals viewed together show the impact on the lives of members of the community.

• Outcomes (measured by indicators) represent an achievement or a change in:
  • Behavior
  • Skills
  • Knowledge
  • Attitude
  • Status or Life Condition
• Indicators are the specific, observable and measurable characteristics, actions, or conditions that tell whether a desired achievement or change has happened.
  • Format of a good indicator: Number and/or percent of a target audience who report, demonstrate, exhibit an attitude, skill, knowledge, behavior, status or life condition in a specified quantity in a specified timeframe or circumstance

Grading

Data do not speak for themselves. You must interpret the data you have collected.

• Have you achieved the target numbers you set in your goal statements?
• Have you made progress toward reaching the goal?
• Are you seeing improvement over last quarter or last year?

Only your community and the director-board team can decide what grade to give to your programs and services. However, if you are measuring what you do and its impact on the lives of the members of your community, your Board has the tools it needs to perform its oversight and advocacy roles. And, you deserve an “A” for effort.

Trustee Tips and Tricks is a regular guest feature on BlogJunction. You can reach Pat at http://www.pfisherassociates.com and keep on top of the series by following the BlogJunction Trustees category.