COMPETENCY N: MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

“It’s the same thing your whole life: ‘Clean up your room.
Stand up straight. Pick up your feet. Take it like a man.
Be nice to your sister. Don’t mix beer and wine, ever.’ 
Oh yeah: ‘Don’t drive on the railroad track.’”

“Well, Phil, that’s one I happen to agree with.”

Phil and Gus, Groundhog Day

Introduction
Measurable outcomes for library professionals are essential to doing the difficult work of running a library. Regular check-ins, service evaluations, and meetings with management are needed. It’s important that data from past studies be applied to future goals, and that past performance be reflected upon. Otherwise, the pitfalls of not knowing about an emerging trend can be treacherous for a library’s long-term success. Some of the ways to measure success in a library setting include surveys, performance reviews, and the everpresent strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis.

Marketing and outreach are two major ways in which library environments need to measure critical success. According to Romaniuk (2018) in The Portable MLIS, measurable input that is periodically repeated, such as the SWOT analysis, is vitally important. Measurable outcomes in marketing are vital because a lack of attention to these details can be devastating for patron engagement, no matter what the type of library or information center.

Jiang (2023) takes a different approach and studies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of technology use in the COVID-19 pandemic. Jiang (2023) mentions in summary that while governments primarily spoke to one another using surveillance technologies and checked in on measurable data, this technology was largely neglected when providing information or control to individuals. Jiang (2023) considers this a net loss, or a weakness. This is a unique way to measure strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) as I have only seen this technique be used prior for marketing and outreach purposes in a library setting. It truly is a versatile tool that is highly underrated and underutilized.

Cox (2023) takes a more traditional approach in that he uses the SWOT analysis to measure outcomes in academic libraries, and ultimately focuses on the strengths and opportunities as his biggest point of emphasis. Cox (2023) also discusses the impact of COVID-19, this time on academic libraries. He states, regarding the pandemic’s overall positive effect on academia: “…these include digital acceleration and improved positioning in the institution alongside increased budgetary pressures.” 

While academic libraries typically do not focus on the SWOT analysis for long-term measurable outcomes, Cox (2023) found it prudent in the wake of COVID-19 to examine this previously unstudied aspect of academia. Although these outcomes all focus on the SWOT analysis alone and primarily focus on the impacts of COVID-19, there are myriad other issues in libraries that require measurable data, and the sky is the limit when it comes to the topical subject matter of these studies. The ultimate goal of these techniques is to find out who, where, how many, and how few, whether it be people, objects, books, et. cetera. As budget has already been discussed in other aspects of this e-Portfolio, it only gets a cursory mention here, and the comment is that I am frankly surprised that budgetary concerns didn’t play a larger role in some of the studies I found on the SWOT analysis. It seems that an “opportunity” in this regard would be to begin using the SWOT analysis regularly to measure other goals besides how well an idea or concept is “selling”.

Conclusion
There are many ways to measure success, and some are decided in the heart, while others are determined by logic. In the case of library and information science (LIS), there is a need for logical determinations and measures of success or failure. The SWOT analysis is just one example of many that measure the organizational flourishing of a library environment, and I encourage the reader to further study the myriad of innovative ways that libraries can be measured.

Artifacts and Evidence
Artifact 1
Assignment:

Course: INFO 285 Survey Design
Description:
While in the case of competency L, this project was meant to display quantitative and qualitative data, in this situation, it also affects measurable outcomes. Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) can now root out gender bias in the workplace and hopefully come up with a more equitable solution and outcomes for all. I have found this class to have been helpful and fulfilling in myriad ways, such as becoming more comfortable with studying analytics and data. Whether the outcomes being measured are quantitative, qualitative, or mixed, there was undoubtedly reflection during this process about the impact of our collective studies as a class in the library and information science (LIS) field. Self-awareness of the pros, cons, and pitfalls of any situation with data-driven results is immeasurably helpful to any career, but with libraries facing budget cuts and rapidly changing technologies, measurable data is crucial and it is anticipated and even expected that libraries will continue to use and pursue these types of goals.

Artifact 2
Assignment:

Course: INFO 285 Survey Design
Description:
Once again, bivariate practice provides an obvious benchmark for whether or not one item can be valued higher than another, whether an outcome is truly significant or minorly impactful, and so forth. While many libraries and librarians likely won’t use sophisticated techniques like Spearman’s Rau, it is still good to know what to look for in a colleague or library professional who understands these benchmarks and can differentiate between them. Whether a complex or simple technique, measurable outcomes must always be prized above something that cannot be measured. Trends, data, and information related to patrons and library partners are always a welcome goal, and the more sophisticated the technique, the better the outcome (presumably) will be. While I did not take many other classes similar to this one, it provided an eye-opening view of data-driven library and information science (LIS) outcomes. Once again, I wax poetic on the idea that informatics should be a higher focus in the library and information science (LIS) field. Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) students would do well to focus as deeply as they can in the rapidly growing analytics field.

Artifact 3
Assignment:

Course: INFO 204 Information Professions
Description:
A classic example of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of what was once my local library a few years back. Measurable outcomes include the weakness of this library system needing to become closer to its community, provide more outreach, improve its online user presence and user experience goals, focus more on a strategic plan, et. cetera. I was honestly not a huge fan of this library system when I lived locally to it, and I believe that it’s due to the lack of data, resources, and information regarding the library system and its financial, marketing, outreach, and community decisions that make that experience so incredibly frustrating. In my view, a library of this type that does not pay attention to its changing landscape of population, circulation needs, and so forth, is doomed to repeat poor experiences and will undoubtedly lose patrons. It seems that when libraries reach this pitfall, they inevitably make excuses. “We looked for a Spanish speaker and couldn’t find one,” could be an example of this type of excuse-making, or perhaps: “We didn’t see this influx of growth coming and were completely sidelined.” Maybe check the census?

References
Cox, J. (2023). The position and prospects of academic libraries: Strengths and opportunities. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 29(4), 367–393. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2023.2238692

Jiang, H. (2023). A SWOT analysis of smart governance applications amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Information Polity, 28(4), 377–393. https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-220030

Romaniuk, M. (2018). Marketing library services. In K. Haycock & B. E. Sheldon (Eds.), The portable MLIS: Insights from the experts (2nd ed.). Libraries Unlimited.