2014 Charleston Library Conference

One of the toughest challenges facing library’s today is showcasing the value of their library in the face of tighter budgets. Further adding to this challenge is representing this data to new administrators in a way that clearly illustrates the value they bring to their university.

Jim Hammons will share his first-hand experience of how, at the request of the new president of the university, the library staff at Ball State University used a library collection analytics service to perform a comprehensive assessment of the library’s print and electronic resources together, enabling them to efficiently interpret the results and form data-driven conclusions. With the help of a transformational assessment service, they were able to successfully reveal facts on how and when the collection is used and at what cost, making it easy to showcase the library value.

Attendees will learn how to how to use technology to position their library for the future as Jim provides examples of annual budget expenses, usage analysis of electronic resources and reporting on non-circulating items. This session will explore techniques and results of how they compiled a clear and concise view of the collection, allowing them to allocate budget appropriately and easily communicate this to administration, allowing for data driven decision making both within the library and at the institution as a whole.