In an era of competition it is becoming increasingly vital for libraries to be able to justify their costs, impact, quality, and effectiveness as well as existence. Consequently, it seems reasonable that the evaluation of library performance or quality has become an issue, and an activity, of importance in all types of libraries. As Babalhavaeji et al. (2010, p. 595) note, “library quality revolves around information resources, [the] environment in which services are provided, staff delivering those services, equipment by which service delivery is facilitated” and through “paying attention to changing needs of users, i.e. constant users' need assessment to adapt services as a whole to their demands”. Evaluating the effectiveness, impact, and quality of any library is difficult, problematic, and multidimensional work.
Highlighting that library and information service managers still find it hard to get a grip on the slippery concept of service impact and many still struggle when trying to address impact questions in their planning (p. XI), this practical book Evaluating the Impact of Your Library (2nd edition) explores a major issue for library and information service managers of all kinds – evaluating the impact of services, and aims to help busy managers to get to grips with impact issues. It consists of 12 chapters distributed under three foundational parts.
Part 1, “The context” (embracing three chapters), like a “problem statement” section, is a theoretical attempt to show that there are a number of different drivers pushing organizations including library and information centers towards evaluating their impact, and thus planning for and managing the change affected by informational revolutions within Alvin Toffler's third wave.
Through a step-by-step approach, and as a pivotal roadmap, Part 2, “Evaluating impact” (seven chapters) deals theoretically and practically with the model for evaluating the impact of library performance. Its chapters which, in my opinion, are arranged based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model developed by Deming (1986), revolve around four main things which make the process realizable as well as manageable. They are: focus, i.e. being clear about the library's purposes (Chapter 5), indicators, i.e. deciding what will tell you that change has happened (Chapters 6 and 7), evidence, that is, being able to show that change has occurred (Chapters 8 and 9), and feedback namely controlling, checking, and reviewing the cycle of impact evaluation.
Part 3 entitled “The bigger picture” (two chapters) broadens and deepens insight through taking a bigger (i.e. national or international level) and deeper (i.e. regular and long-run evaluation) approach to the process of evaluating the impact of libraries.
In a nutshell, such an interesting, inspiring, and easy-to-read guide book is a stride towards realizing that “It's not enough to do your best, you must know how to do your best” (Deming, 2013), and it clearly highlights the road from theory to practice. This logically ordered book, rooted in the knowledge and experience of Sharon Markless and David Streatfield, is of value for everyone who is interested in managing library work, from planning strategically to acting strategically. The authors' efforts in writing and now updating this instructive book should be very much appreciated by scholars and practitioners.
