Downloads or Outcomes?: Measuring and Communicating the Contributions of Library Resources to Faculty and Student Success

TLDR: Fleming-May and Price as mentioned in this paper discussed the need for libraries to communicate their true value and indispensability to campus communities, particularly through the measurement of electronic resource usage, which is complex and must be fully understood for meaningful incorporation into assessment measures.

Abstract: How can libraries proactively demonstrate, quantitatively and qualitatively, return on investment in an academic environment that is increasingly concerned with tangible results? As speaker for Mississippi State University Libraries' 9th MidSouth eResource Symposium, Dr. Rachel Fleming-May, Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee's School of Information Sciences, articulated the need for libraries to communicate their true value and indispensability to campus communities, particularly through the measurement of electronic resource usage. The concept of “use,” however, is complex and must be fully understood for meaningful incorporation into assessment measures. A brief summary of this session, also authored by Amanda Price, appeared in the “E-Resource Roundup” column of the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, Volume 23, Issue 1 (2011: March).