Measuring Outcomes: Applying Cost-Benefit Analysis to Middle-Sized and Smaller Public Libraries. Library Trends

The recent demand for more accountability from public librar-ies has made it essential that true cost-benefit analysis be applied to their operations. With funding from the Public Library Association, the authors developed a cost-benefit analysis methodology and applied it to five large public library systems. The present article describes their ongoing research to modify their methodologies to make them viable for application to public libraries of much smaller size. Outcomes Measurement in Public Libraries Like it or not, American public libraries have entered the age of accountability. This shift is transforming library statistics and measure-ments—what statistics are gathered, how they are gathered, and how they are interpreted and applied. To put the matter simply, library assessment, like public school assessment and higher education accreditation, is shift-ing from measuring outputs to measuring outcomes. The shift marks a trans-formation in viewpoint. Input-output measurement methodology—the established system of library accounting—follows an industrial production model. The library represents a black box. On one side of the black box, boards and administrators drop in “inputs, ” including financial resources to purchase staff, materials, and support services. From the other side of the box emerge “outputs, ” which find their principal expression in raw or adjusted counts of circulation and visitation. A whole reportorial culture emerged to address library inputs and outputs. A few professors gained considerable reputation by defining appropriate inputs and output