Conference Notes LAC 2012: Parallel Session IV (Communicating Value)

Parallel Session IV: Communicating Value
Date: October 30, 2012, 1:30pm

I. "Telling the Story: Library Assessment for University Leadership."

• Presentation about how their library, UVa, prepared for a presentation to their administration for funding. 
• See article in http://diverseeducation.com/article/48610/.
• What makes a good financial model: 
• Enhances decision-making. 
• Transparency. 
• Fosters accountability. 
• Provides stable funding for institutional priorities. 
• Provides appropriate incentives. 
• The library is an area that adds value to an institution, even if does not generate revenue. 
• Shaping the story. Articulate your purpose and mission, and you need to present it externally: provost, administrators, and others outside the library. 
• Describe and understand your constituents. For example, faculty want access to resources. Students may be interested in more spaces. 
• Share your ambition. Talk about your proactive innovations and visions, and again, share. 
• Paint your financial picture. Spaces, services, collections (what you spend money on). Tie costs to your mission statement. 
• ARL libraries can use peer institution data. For others, try to find peer data for benchmarking. 
• But a lot of this is input data. Next, we need to discuss outcomes data. 
• From the Q&A: 
• Deans may not "understand" the library, but we do. Faculty does too. Get faculty to tell your story too. 

II. "Making the Case for Institutional Investment in Libraries: The Value of Evidence-Based Narratives."

• The narrative: what we want administration to know. 
• Our contribution to student and faculty success. 
• Our contribution to university mission visibility. 
•  Develop short, focused messages. 
• Use data to support your narrative. 
• Focus on what is important to the institution. 
• Build on the library's existing strengths. 
• Tell your story using evidence. 
• Enlist support of others in the university community. 

III. "The ICOLC Balanced Scorecard Pilot.: The Value of Collaborative Parallel Play."

• This idea was originally for for-profit organizations, but it has been adapted to mission-driven non-profits. 
• Learn more about ICOLC at their site: http://icolc.net/.
• (Honestly, I did not really get a whole lot of much out of this presentation. All I remember is a bunch of charts). 

IV. "Consortia Value: The Orbis Cascade Alliance."

• See Megan Oakleaf's The Value of Academic Libraries. 
•  Recommendations: 
• Form an ongoing assessment group. 
• Embed indicators of success in all future planning efforts and initiatives. 
• Develop common data set. 
• Develop an assessment took kit. 
• Create a set of "elevator speeches," testimonials, so on. (I actually learned this one back at Immersion in Seattle summer a year ago). 
• (Overall, I get the impression I probably need to read the Oakleaf book. Of this session, the first two sessions were the ones I found a bit more useful in terms of some valuable nuggets).