Evaluating the longitudinal impact of networked services in UK public libraries: the Longitude II project

摘要

The aim of the Longitude II project is to design and produce a web-based toolkit which can be adopted by all UK public library authorities to evaluate the longitudinal impact of their IT-based services to end users. The seminar presentation at the PM5 conference will explain the genesis of the project, describe the research activity to date, give an analysis of interim results and explain how the project will progress. The enormous increase in IT-based services provided by UK public libraries, supported by major national policies and by significant funding streams, is undoubtedly having an impact on end-users. However, systematic assessment of that impact is by no means straightforward, and a number of studies have been undertaken to try to elucidate significant impact indicators. The Longitude II project, undertaken by CERLIM, will not only provide a toolkit of techniques to enable impact to be assessed, but carry out longitudinal assessment so that changes over time can be measured.