Legal Research

What is each unique library visitor worth?

By admin

This chart of the day at Silicon Alley Insider go me to thinking:

Check out how Google, Yahoo!, Twitter, Bing, AOL and Facebook can place a value on unique users.

Of course, they’re able to monetize their clicks and usage and tie it to a business model. And they can aim all of the corporate strategies at that monetary measure for their stockholders.

Libraries tend to be social institutions and therefore rise and fall on social models. Libraries tend to serve stakeholders rather than stockholders.

So how do we determine the value of each use of the library? What is the value of each user, member or library card?

How much does the library cost per use? Can we divide the whole budget by the sum of circulation, gate count and clicks/sessions? Is it pennies in cost versus dollars in value?

How about customer satisfaction? How are we measuring customer satisfaction and can we compare ourselves to peers and competitors?

What is our value of libraries to the economy, social glue, crime rate reduction, educational attainment, etc. of our communities?

I think we’re in a great Tolkien-style battle for our world. Are we armed against evil?

Or is it like those MasterCard ads . . .

Book: $35.00
Library card: Free
A good read: PRICELESS!

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).