21st Century Library Measuring Sticks

Gone are the days when public libraries measure their worth solely by the number of books circulated annually. It is no longer enough to measure our success by the size of the crowd that attended our Storytime program. Our communities expect more from their public libraries than just moving books or filling a room. Librarians in the 21st century must also show the impact and outcomes of the services they offer. Measuring impact and outcomes is getting easier. Public librarians have an assortment of tools available to demonstrate the impact of library services in their communities. National initiatives like the Impact Study and PLA’s Project Outcome provide new standards and tools to measure library services.