How do you measure the success of a library? I have been pondering this issue as we start moving ahead with Brent's Libraries service. During the Project itself, we concentrated on two measures which are of standard use around the country _ visitor numbers and book loans.
However, I think that changes in usage are likely to affect the interpretation of these numbers. The growing use of the Internet and ebooks is likely to reduce visitor numbers. This is because, people will be able to use at home or mobile Internet access to search an online catalogue rather than having to go to a building to look up the books, order them and then come back later to collect them. If they are ordering an ebook, they might do so without setting foot in the library at all. If the general assumption, that ebooks will take up an increasing share of the book market is true, this will tend to create an important category of use which mere visitor numbers ignore altogether. Again, if we believe that library services include encouraging reading, that might be attained through online discussion groups, which again do not require any physical presence in a library.
Of course, this doesn't make visitor numbers a useless measure. Far from it, I can't imagine a high quality library service that did not include homework clubs, bookstart sessions, book readings and so on. Research that Brent did through Red Quadrant suggests that people are not willing to pay for a book delivery service, so people will still be physically picking books up from the library. It is also true that a major feature of libraries is browsability which I cannot imagine be accommodated entirely through online methods.
However, over the next few years, I think Brent Library Service will have to start thinking about a broader range of measures in addition to book loans and visitor numbers. These might include, for instance: computer log ons, page views for online services, and the numbers of people signed up to activities like book clubs.
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