Developing a generic tool to routinely measure the impact of health libraries.

BACKGROUND: Health libraries contribute to many activities of a health care organisation. Impact assessment needs to capture that range of contributions.

OBJECTIVES: To develop and pilot a generic impact questionnaire that: (1) could be used routinely across all English NHS libraries; (2) built on previous impact surveys; and (3) was reliable and robust.

METHODS: This collaborative project involved: (1) literature search; (2) analysis of current best practice and baseline survey of use of current tools and requirements; (3) drafting and piloting the questionnaire; and (4) analysis of the results, revision and plans for roll out.

FINDINGS: The framework selected was the International Standard Methods And Procedures For Assessing The Impact Of Libraries (ISO 16439). The baseline survey (n = 136 library managers) showed that existing tools were not used, and impact assessment was variable. The generic questionnaire developed used a Critical Incident Technique. Analysis of the findings (n = 214 health staff and students), plus comparisons with previous impact studies indicated that the questionnaire should capture the impact for all types of health libraries.

CONCLUSIONS: The collaborative project successfully piloted a generic impact questionnaire that, subject to further validation, should apply to many types of health library and information services.