Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference - How To Tell a Story About ROI

This morning at the Electronic Resources and Libraries conference in Austin, Texas, Doralyn Rossmann (Montana State University) gave a presentation on how to use return on investment data to "tell your library's story".

Essentially, she explained that libraries need to find ways to use the quantitative and qualitative data about the value of their e-resources that tell a story that is understandable and interesting to their various audiences.

Data is useless unless it can build a narrative about what the library brings that does not come across as boring, irrelevant, etc.

Examples of stories:

• costs avoided
• research time saved
• increased grants obtained by professors thanks to university databases used
• furthering the institution's mission
• the alternative: how much users would have had to spend of their own money if the library did not exist
• etc.
  

For more ideas, Rossmann suggested going to the following sources that offer helpful metrics nd examples:

• Cornell University Library Research and Assessment Unit
• Lib-Value which includes an ROI and Value Bibliography
• ACRL Value of Academic Libraries also includes a bibliography