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Value of Library and Information Services

Value of Library and Information Services
Project Update: February 2002

To top of page Overview

The research questions guiding this study are:

  • What is the value of using library and information services to the hospital or academic health sciences center?
  • What kinds of information do institutional administrators recognize as valid measures of the contributions which librarians through the provision of services make to the bottom line of the organization?

Following the balanced scorecard framework, this study approaches value as contributions to organizational success. To support the measurement and communication of the value of library and information services (LIS), this study has developed a taxonomy of LIS contributions to organizational success in hospitals and academic health sciences centers.

To top of page Data Collection

Following a review of the literature conducted in the fall of 2000, the data collection in this study began with a series of interviews with LIS directors and institutional administrators in hospitals and academic health sciences centers. In the spring of 2001 a total of twelve interviews were conducted with LIS directors and institutional administrators in the mid-Atlantic region. The second phase of data collection entailed a focus group of hospital administrators. This focus group was held in June of 2001, with five administrators participating. Findings from the interviews and focus group supported the development of the taxonomy of LIS contributions.

The final phase of data collection is currently underway and entails the administration of parallel Web-based questionnaires to LIS directors and institutional administrators at 120 hospitals and academic health sciences centers. In the fall of 2001 two versions of the questionnaires were pilot-tested.

Data from Likert-scale items in the questionnaires will support a comparison of LIS directors' and institutional administrators' perceptions of the value of LIS expressed as contributions to critical success factors for hospitals and academic health sciences centers. Responses to open-ended items in the questionnaires will address methods of measuring and communicating LIS contributions. Analysis of the quantitative data from the questionnaire will rely on descriptive statistical procedures. No a priori hypotheses will be tested.

To top of page Reporting

A paper introducing the study and reporting the development of the taxonomy was favorably reviewed and will appear in the July issue of the JMLA.

Two presentations on this study will be made at the MLA annual meeting in Dallas. Keith Cogdill will give a report of the study as a whole. In addition Stephanie Harris, the research assistant for the study, will present a paper on the development of the user survey template in the student paper session (the Medical Library Education's "Debuting Fresh Perspectives" session).

Keith Cogdill, Ph.D.
University of Maryland, CLIS
kcogdill@wam.umd.edu

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