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ROI for Libraries Remains High
By Roger Strouse
August 29, 2007
Important Details: Libraries looking to justify their existence with quantitative return-on-investment (ROI) numbers need look no further than their own end-users’ feedback. In Outsell research from Spring of 2007, users reported substantial, quantifiable benefits from involving the library in their information gathering. Library ROI was highest for the corporate and government sectors, but also positive for healthcare and education.
Benefits of library use included:
- Time Saved: Government sector users topped this metric, reporting that each interaction with the library saved them 12.2 hours on average. Corporate users came second, saving 9.4 hours per use. Education (8.4 hours) and healthcare (4.6 hours) round out the segments. The overall average time saved for all sectors combined was 9.0 hours per interaction.
- Dollars Saved: Corporate sector end-users saved the most money by taking advantage of their enterprises’ libraries. In direct costs for information, they saved about $3,107 per use, while government users report $2,575 in savings. Even the lower two segments, healthcare ($966) and education ($683), report notable savings. All segments combined reported an average $2,218 savings per use.
- Revenue Generated: Not surprisingly, the corporate sector showed the highest revenues generated with the help of the library, at $6,570, followed by the other revenue-oriented segment, healthcare ($1,900). Though revenue support figures are notoriously difficult to track and verify, the fact that users perceive this level of revenue support from the library, in itself, should encourage information managers.
- Decision Support: Two-thirds (65%) of users across sectors used library-provided information to support decisions, actions, and strategies. In this regard, government end-users were the most reliant on library information (72%), followed by healthcare (69%) and corporate (68%). As would be expected, in education a lower number (55%) reported using library-provided information to support a big decision.
Implications: Given the time that end-users spend on information tasks (now around 11.6 hours per week) and the increasing costs of content, libraries can use the data above to make a powerful argument for their own value. In light of Outsell’s newest ROI data, it seems penny-wise and pound-foolish for enterprises to eliminate library budgets in a time of increased information challenges. Outsell recommends that libraries, publishers, and information providers alike collect and publish ROI data gathered from their own users as one method of illustrating their contribution to the bottom line.