Library Impact Training

Public libraries make a positive impact on their communities
every day.

Knowing how to evaluate and measure this impact, and how to use data to tell our stories, is crucial to ensuring our stakeholders continue to support public libraries and the people who work in them.

IFLA’s Library Impact Training Program is designed to increase capacity in public libraries to measure, evaluate, and demonstrate the impact of library services.

The training provides actionable knowledge about: 

  • Understanding why using evaluation to demonstrate library impact matters.
  • Identifying community needs.
  • Developing personas to identify gaps in service.
  • Establishing indicators and collecting data about library activities.
  • Creating evidence-based stories to demonstrate impact for stakeholders.

This training is FREE* to public libraries and consortia/groups in the United States and Canada and can be delivered online or in-person.

*This training is supported by IFLA and Stichting IFLA Global Libraries Foundation (SIGL). Trainers delivering this program are members of IFLA who volunteer their time to support this program. Travel expenses incurred to deliver this training are the responsibility of the participating library. In special cases, funding to support travel expenses may be available from SIGL.

Complete this form to contact Jennifer and Kim to learn more.

Stichting IFLA Global Libraries.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
Stichting IFLA Global Libraries Foundation (SIGL).

Topics:

  1. Evaluating & Demonstrating Impact
  2. Identifying Community Needs
  3. Establishing Outputs & Performance Metrics
  4. Demonstrating Outcomes & Impact
  5. Evidence-Based Storytelling
  • The modular curriculum is fully customizable.
  • Each topic requires approximately three hours of training in an interactive workshop format.

Background:

IFLA’s vision of a strong, united and sustainable library field originates in the Global Vision discussion, outlined in ten pairs of Global Vision highlights and opportunities. Two of the ten opportunities explicitly involve measurement and evaluation and our capacity to carry it out will make a difference to our ability of demonstrating the value and impact of libraries. They are:

  • Opportunity 3:  “we need to need to understand community needs better and design services for impact” and,
  • Opportunity 6:  “we need to ensure stakeholders understand our value and impact”.

News Release:
Meet the trainers – Measurement, evaluation and demonstrating impact of library services (Nov 14, 2023)

In November 2023, IFLA and SIGL sponsored equipping twelve trainers (two per IFLA region) to train other librarians and library advocates. Jennifer Peters and Kim Silk are delivering training to libraries and library advocacy groups in the United States and Canada.

The IFLA Library Impact Training Program:

  • Provides a framework and tools to strengthen the capacity of the library field when it comes to planning for impact through community engagement and demonstrating impact of libraries on people’s lives and communities.
  • Aims to help public libraries better understand their changing communities through community assessment and needs identification, to plan activities that meet those needs and can make a difference, measure performance, and evaluate outcomes and impact – benefits for people and changes in communities.
  • Has a component of evidence-based storytelling, providing a framework for telling compelling stories to demonstrate the contribution of libraries to sustainable development and beyond, and helping to ensure all stakeholders truly understand our value and impact.