For immediate release:
December 21, 2010
For more information, contact:
David Green
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
david@arl.org
Washington, DC--The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is pleased to announce that a website for "Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries (Lib-Value)," a three-year project funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), is now available at http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu/.
A searchable bibliographic database of library value and ROI literature is now freely available. The database currently contains more than 400 entries, including books, book chapters, journal articles, theses and dissertations, reports, presentations, and free websites, covering the expanding literature on library value and evaluation, return on investment in libraries of all kinds, as well as foundational material on methodologies for determining value. This is a valuable resource for any professional interested in getting a head start on assessing library value updated on a regular basis. The database was compiled by Rachel Fleming-May, assistant professor in the UT College of Communication and Information’s (CCI) School of Information Sciences, and Crystal Sherline, a graduate student in the CCI.
The Lib-Value project is conducting research on value and ROI in academic libraries and developing a set of tested methodologies and tools to help academic librarians measure which products and services provide the most value to the university community and best support the university’s mission and goals. These tools will also aid library leaders in demonstrating the library’s value to university administrators and funders. More resources will be made available via the Lib-Value website during the next two years as the grant activities move forward, featuring materials from related workshops, presentations, and publications, as well as current news.
Lib-Value is a collaboration between the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries, with partners at Syracuse University and participants at Baruch College (CUNY), Brooklyn College (CUNY), SUNY University at Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo State College, and Bryant University. To attend an in-person update of the activities of the project from Carol Tenopir, professor, director of research, and director of CCI’s Center for Information and Communication Sciences, Megan Oakleaf, assistant professor in the iSchool at Syracuse University, and Rachel Fleming-May, please join the ARL Library Assessment Forum hosted by Martha Kyrillidou, ARL, on January 7, 2011, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the San Diego Convention Center, Room 28A.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 126 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at http://www.arl.org/.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has long ranked among the nation’s most distinguished teaching and research institutions. Its diverse, world-class programs reflect the mission of a comprehensive, land-grant university. The largest public university in Illinois, the U of I campus was chartered by the state in 1867 as the Illinois Industrial University and opened its doors to students in 1868. For more information about U of I, please visit http://www.illinois.edu.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee system. It has about 26,000 students, more than 1,400 faculty members, and more than 300 degree programs. UT Knoxville is one of the nation’s leading public research institutions and, with Battelle, co-manages the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which provides faculty and students with unparalleled research and learning opportunities at the Department of Energy’s largest science and energy lab. UT Knoxville is now home to the one of the world’s most powerful academic computers, Kraken. Accredited since 1972, the School of Information Sciences within the College of Communication and Information has achieved regional, national, and international recognition through its award-winning faculty and innovative research. For more information about UT Knoxville, see http://www.utk.edu/. For more about the CCI’s School of Information Sciences, see http://www.sis.utk.edu/.