6. Conclusions and Recommendations
6.1 General
The VITAL Project achieved its aims through its programme of work and with the help and commitment of very many people: the project team, including the seconded library authority staff; the Advisory Committee; librarians and researchers who commented on interim methodologies and results; members of the public who participated in the surveys. As a result we have been able to develop a methodology which is suitable for widespread adaptation and have gathered sufficient indicative evidence from three very different library authorities to draw at least tentative conclusions on the value and impact of end-user IT-based services in public libraries.
The VITAL methodologies fit well with other work in the field: with the CIPFA PLUS approach; with the new public library standards; with international work in the EQUINOX and various US-based research and development programmes, and with the wider agenda and procedures associated with 'Best Value'. This battery of approaches can help to further elucidate questions of value and impact and guide strategic and tactical planning and service delivery. We comment below on the further work which we believe is still required in this area.
6.2 VITAL Methodologies
The methodologies developed and tested during the Project have been documented in the Workbook and provide a basis for any public library authority to assess the value and impact of the end-user IT-based services it is providing, and to identify which services in particular would be valued by users and potential users.
In developing these methodologies we have been aware of the very limited resources available to authorities and the need to engage in monitoring and evaluative activities which themselves offer value for money. We have also been aware that many authorities will need to gather data as part of their mainstream activities and will not be in a position to appoint specialists to undertake this work for them. We have therefore produced an approach which is capable of application by trained librarians who are not, however, trained statisticians or market researchers. Where such expertise is available, however, we would urge that it should be used.
6.3 Evidence of Value and Impact
By testing the VITAL methodologies in three library authorities we were able to gather direct indicative evidence of the value and impact of providing end-user IT-based services. The results of this work are reported in Chapter 5 above and will not be repeated here. However, we can summarise these findings by stating that they indicate that where such services are available they are valued by their users, by public library users who do not happen, for whatever reason, to use those particular services and by citizens who do not themselves make use of the public library. While we are not in a position to comment on the value for money of the investment that has taken place, it is to date on such a modest scale that it would appear that investments are generating a significant value. Whether such value could have been generated had the investment been made elsewhere, we are not in a position to comment.
6.4 Recommendations
6.4.1 Implementation
We would wish to encourage wide implementation of the VITAL methodology and would suggest that DCMS/Resource might consider how incentives can be developed to encourage authorities to undertake such studies. Discussions have taken place with IPF in which the project team have indicated that they would have no objection to VITAL methodologies being adapted for incorporation in CIPFA-PLUS work.
6.4.2 Comparative findings
We make no claims for comparability of the results of VITAL studies between authorities at the present stage, since there are very many variables involved (such as different charging policies, different availability of facilities and so on). Where we have drawn comparisons we have stressed that these must be regarded as only indicative. It follows that more work is needed to establish the basis for comparative findings between authorities.
6.4.3 Longitudinal findings
Within the scope of VITAL it was not possible to undertake repeat studies in order to build up reliable time series results. We look to EARL's Longitude project to provide methodologies to achieve this and to establish the robustness of VITAL methodologies over time. At the time of writing we note that one useful mechanism may be to use a 'rotating' focus group or interview group, such that membership changes slowly over time. This would provide continuity while helping to ensure that familiarity with the reasons for undertaking these exercises, and with the questions, did not bias the participants' responses.
6.4.4 Narrower focus
We have not explicitly attempted to make in-authority comparisons within the scope of the Project, although there are suggestions from the results that the populations served by different branches may have very different characteristics vis-à-vis IT use and the attractiveness of the public library as an access point for this type of service. It would be useful to explore this narrower focus in some sample authorities.
6.4.5 Broader focus - networked services
Evaluating the provision of access to networked services will increasingly require evaluation of services provided regionally, nationally and internationally as well as those which are under the direct control of the library authority itself. A parallel can be drawn with the experience of the academic library sector, where the development of the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER), including the Resource Discovery Network (RDN), means that the quality of service received by any one end-user is dependent on a range of service providers to a much greater extent than was the case in the past. For the local library authority this means, among other considerations:
- that the service must be managed as a 'hybrid library' through which end-user services are treated as an integrated whole. Library managers must seek to move away from the idea that there are 'IT-based' and 'traditional' services to a seamless approach to meeting their users' information needs;
- that services developed locally must interoperate with services available regionally and nationally. This puts the onus on the library manager to ensure that appropriate standards and protocols are being observed;
- that all local services must be planned within these broader contexts, and that the sustainability and scalability of services must be considered from the broader and not purely local perspective from the start;
- that local library authorities must seek to influence the provision of networked services, through the People's Network Team and other mechanisms;
- that cross-sectoral library provision (i.e. involving public, academic, national and other library services) must be considered. For example, the current feasibility study into the provision of a UK National Union Catalogue could have far-reaching consequences for public library service provision.
Mechanisms need to be found to allow the public library sector to address all of these issues effectively. Clearly Resource has a major role to play in co-ordinating such discussions. The lack of a body which can parallel the work of the academic sector's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) must not be allowed to diminish the services which public libraries are able to offer to their users.
6.4.6 Broader focus - memory institutions
Given that there is increasing interest in bringing together, at least in planning terms, the various 'memory institutions' (libraries, museums, archives, galleries etc.), it would seem useful to explore public perceptions of IT-based services in general, and Internet access in particular, through such institutions. While it is undoubtedly the case that all such institutions will increasingly use ICTs to display surrogates of their collections and will use the Web to promote and deliver their services, there must be a question mark over the appropriateness of providing general Internet access through every such service point. This perhaps reinforces the point, made earlier in this report in respect of public libraries, that greater clarity of purpose (which includes a clear understanding of what will not be done as well as what will) would be hugely beneficial.
6.4.7 Value for money
VITAL was not designed to discover the value for money or cost-benefit of investments in IT services. This is a major issue which would require expert input from economists and others. There are no recent, reliable studies of the value for money of library investment in general, although Best Value moves us in this direction. We would suggest that this issue might best be explored through examining the linkages between Best Value studies, Annual Library Plans and available measures of service delivery and user satisfaction, the last including work based on VITAL.
6.5 Final Observations
The overall impression which the VITAL Project team gained from these studies was that citizens, whether active users of the public library or not, value IT-based services as an appropriate, and many would say, essential part of the portfolio of services which are offered by public libraries. This suggests that continued and indeed increased investment in such services should be considered by all library authorities as a high priority. At the same time, they should gather evidence which will help them justify and plan such services and demonstrate to policy makers and the public at large their value and impact.
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