2009 Conference Archive

PRESENTATION C15

DELIVER A POSITIVE ROI - CAN VALUE BE MEASURED?

Lyn Bosanquet
Director, Information Services, UNSW Library, Sydney, NSW

In this very competitive environment, academic institutions are becoming increasingly driven by a combination of business imperatives and differentiation strategies. The result of this is that the divisions within major universities are now being asked to provide evidence on how they are directly contributing to the achievement of these imperatives.

Academic libraries have a history of being all things to all men, servicing all cohorts, and offering a wide range of services. Libraries have been seen as helpful and accommodating rather than as partners in the business of research and learning & teaching. Perhaps it is time for libraries to focus their attention on services that will directly support the strategic objectives of the institution. It is only by establishing a close alignment to these objectives that the Library can truly articulate its value in the wider institutional context and therefore be in a position to measure its ROI.

UNSW Library has aligned its professional services to a focused demographic; changed the services on offer to ones that directly support the aspirations of this demographic; rolled out a comprehensive communications model; changed the staffing structure and developed a new way of measuring performance, beyond simple metrics.

The time has come - we must have a value proposition, based around core business. We need to build a structure that will allow us to sell the value, deliver the value, report on the value; and ensure that the Return on Investment {ROI} can be measured. This business perspective provides an opportunity to reinvent ourselves as an integral and valued part of the overall institution.