"I was an academic for 25 years, and I knew the value of the library in terms of assisting for my individual courses. That's kind of the only experience I had, and it was a very good experience. But what I felt, what I learned from this is how much the people in your field really can contribute to student learning outcomes on the whole and how much the student learning experience really is dependent upon the library and not just the building or the bookshelves… [what] really impressed me is the detail in the questions in terms of the different ways that the whole quality of the institution is tied to the library. I kind of knew that at an intellectual level for years, but it just clarified it for me." - Dr. Stephen Benton, IDEA
In many institutions libraries are losing ground in staffing, budgets for resources, and visibility and usage. Though there-are several excellent assessment tools to assess library value they are very cost prohibitive for smaller institutions. Therefore, librarians are struggling with knowing how to economically assess and communicate their library's importance to their institutions.
In response to this problem The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) created a Return on Investment committee (ROI) with the charge to:
• Assess user needs and behaviors
• Develop relevant reports and instructions for tools
• Help libraries demonstrate effectiveness, relevance & value
• Support marketing of libraries to home institutions