A new Working with Library Statistics module is now available at http://nnlm.gov/mcr/advocacy/statistics. This module looks at the types of activities and materials common in libraries, giving the definition, source of the data, considerations for use and the difficulty level of collection. While originally designed for hospital librarians, this module may be useful to all other types of libraries as well. (bbj)

The January Breezing Along with the RML recording is now available at https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p55601526/.

The NN/LM MidContinental Region’s 2009 Breezing Along with the RML series resumed with presenters Jean Shipman, Director, and Claire Hamasu, Associate Director. Jean Shipman reviewed the Medical Library Association/NLM Health Information Literacy Research Project results, now that this two-year project has ended. She shared how this project has helped educate health care providers about the key role medical librarians can play with improving their institution’s health literacy efforts. Claire Hamasu recounted what happened during the NN/LM site visit including the report from the site visit team that summarized strengths and recommendations for the RML. If you want to preview the team’s report, it’s available at http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/nnlm_sitevisit.html.

Network members have been invited to complete the 2008 Network Member Questionnaire. Have you responded? Just click on the link in the email you received and complete the questionnaire by January 16, 2009. If you’ve deleted the email contact Betsy Kelly and she’ll send it to you. We do this just once every 5 years and the information we collect impacts the programs and services we offer. Don’t let someone else decide what’s important in this region. We want to hear from everyone!

This Wednesday August 20, 2008 at 10am MT, 11am CT is the time for our monthly Breezing Along with the RML. Barb Jones, Missouri/Library Advocacy Liaison, and Betsy Kelly, Assessment and Evaluation Liaison, will reprise their MLA presentation on tools to enable hospital librarians to determine the return on investment and cost benefit of their libraries and services. Come with some numbers and let’s discuss how you can use the online calculators to show the value your library brings to your institution. Joining is as easy as going to a web site (http://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcrupdate). More information and links to recordings of previous sessions are available on the MCR web site (http://nnlm.gov/mcr/services/updates/updates.html Add this event to your calendar and join us! /ch

A new calculator has been added to the online tools available through the MCR website. Check the Evaluation section for a link to the CBA/ROI calculator. This tool helps you discover the dollar value your book and journal collections return to your organization. Click on http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/roi.html to give it a try. Contact Betsy Kelly with any questions and please do send comments. Your input will help make this tool useful for you! [bk]

MidContinental Region Members,

Since July 2007 the NN/LM MidContinental Region (MCR) and the NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region have been sharing a Technology Coordinator position. We’d like feedback from MCR Network members about whether sharing a position between the two regions has had an impact on the services of the MCR technology project area. This questionnaire will take no more than 5 minutes to answer. We’d like your input by May 8, 2008. Please go to the following URL to answer a few questions. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2y4Ey46hah2V_2fjY7VGM1Cw_3d_3d /ch

How much would it cost to replace your library services on the retail market? Calculate what it would cost to buy library services - at a book store, through pay per view for articles, from an information broker - if you and your library weren’t there. Try this calculator and see what YOU are worth! Retail Value Calculator. Let us know what you think - email Betsy Kelly. (bk)

Study looking at academic library ROI is underway
By Judy Luther, Informed Strategies, Ardmore, PA, USA

Value, or return on investment (ROI), in many forms has long been a topic of interest among the library community. While value has been a recurring theme in recent trade literature and on conference agendas, much of what has been written and discussed has centered on the cost-justifications of collections or the relative time-savings of electronic literature in research processes.

The demand for academic libraries to justify their expenditures continues to grow. As University of Alabama at Birmingham Librarian T. Scott Plutchak has commented, “It used to be that the way you put together a library budget was to look at like institutions and then argue for a little more. Now my provost is saying to me, ‘If I give you X dollars, what is the return on investment to the University?’”

Given the increasing interest in the ROI for academic libraries, in early 2007, Elsevier’s Global Customer Marketing team partnered with the library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, information sciences researcher Dr. Carol Tenopir and me to develop a new model for quantifying the return on an academic institution’s investment in its library. The goal for this study, now underway, is to determine an ROI that extends beyond the usual assessment of the value of academic library resources and encompasses the contributions a library makes in the revenue-generating activities within its university.

“If I give you X dollars, what is the return on investment to the University?”

As a single-institution case study, what differentiates this ROI project from others done in the public and corporate library sectors is its focus on how an academic institution benefits from library investments that are, in turn, used in revenue-generating activities. In particular, the study delves into the role that library collections play in the generation of grant funding. The study’s results may help academic library directors calculate their libraries’ ROI to their institutions. Doing so may, in turn, open discussions with university administrators interested in how libraries support their institutions’ priorities in the areas of research and grant funding.

UIUC Library Director Paula Kaufman is presenting the findings of this study, including its ROI model, at Elsevier’s Digital Libraries Symposium during the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia. A white paper detailing the study results is being published soon in print and in PDF at www.elsevier.com/libraryconnect. (bbj)

An article in the October 2007 issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association details a study of whether case discussion at residents’ morning report, accompanied by a computerized literature search and librarian support, affects hospital charges, length of stay and thirty-day readmission rate. Read the article at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2000787 (bbj)

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region (NN/LM MCR) announces the availability of a Hospital Library Award.

The purpose of this award is to provide support for projects that hospital librarians can use to demonstrate their value to and increase their visibility in their institution.

One award of up to $8,000 will be granted. Proposals are due by February 1, 2008. For further information and an application, please email Barb Jones at jonesbarb@health.missouri.edu. (bbj)