SLA Europe was pleased to welcome two guest speakers to discuss and share the importance of impact measurement. Our speakers outlined ways to leverage and use language when discussing the value of the library within a company or organisation.
Kristīne Pabērza-Ramiresa explored why impact evaluation still such a struggle for many libraries. Although there are a number of reasons, such as making sure stakeholders understand measures of success or confusing outputs with outcomes, the importance of making measurement a habit and an integral part of services or programmes can provide interesting and wider benefits.
Christian Lauersen considered a 2020 study initiated by Roskilde Central Library and conducted by Seismonaut on the impact of public libraries in Denmark. This study was the first of its kind and presented a nuanced analysis of the impact of public libraries on the Danish public.
SLA Europe’s recording of the webinar can also be viewed below and also on our YouTube channel. We would also like to ask members to please consider making a charitable donation to our chosen charity, Half Moon Young People’s Theatre.
About our speakers
Kristīne Pabērza-Ramiresa is the Member Engagement Officer at IFLA. One of her main tasks in this role is to work on the Library Map of the World project. Before joining IFLA, Kristine worked as Senior Officer at the Culture Information Systems Centre (CISC) in Latvia where she managed several cultural heritage digitization and access projects.
Kristine’s passion is evaluation that she realized in her role of impact assessment specialist of the Global Libraries program in Latvia. Between 2007 and 2013 she led a research study on social and economic impact of public library services in Latvia. From 2014 to 2016 Kristine was President of the Library Association of Latvia. In capacity of trainer, she worked with EIFL in their public librarians’ capacity building programs in Africa to deliver training in community needs assessment, performance measurement and impact evaluation. She also held a lecturers’ position at the LIS department of the University of Latvia.
Christian Lauersen is the Director at the Libraries and Citizen Services, Roskilde Municipality in Denmark. He is based in Copenhagen and believes that libraries are crucial institutions for all communities, helping to create an open, more diverse, inclusive and equal world. One of Christian’s main professional interests is how shared public places like libraries foster stronger communities. He is proud founder of Library Planet – a crowdsourced travel guide to libraries of the world – and the very first library bossa nova song. You can follow Christian on Twitter (@clauersen) and on Linkedin.