This document discusses the importance of measuring the impact of library services in order to demonstrate their value, especially to politicians and managers. It introduces the NHS Impact Toolkit, which provides pragmatic tools like surveys, interviews, case studies and questionnaires to systematically gather information about how library services impact organizational objectives and patient care. The toolkit has been piloted and refined since 2003. Tips are provided on adopting and adapting the toolkit's tools to assess the impact of individual library services.

1. Making an IMPACT
UHMLG Spring Forum
1 March 2010
Helen Bingham and Mark Bryant

2. Lies, damn lies, statistics, and impact
• NHS libraries better at collecting data relating to inputs
and outputs, than outcomes
• Need evidence to demonstrate that library/knowledge
services are enabling the organisations that they serve
to meet their objectives
• People – especially politicians and senior managers -
respond to story – need narrative and rich qualitative
data to augment the statistics

3. www.nesc.nhs.uk
The NHS Quality & Productivity Challenge – QIPP
• Need to measure and demonstrate value
NHS Library Quality Assurance Framework England - LQAF
• 1.3c “The positive impact of library/knowledge services
can be demonstrated”
• Full compliance = a variety of methods are used to systematically
gather information about the impact on organisational
objectives/patient care.....
Focusing our efforts

4. www.nesc.nhs.uk
• To support clinical decision making
• To support commissioning decisions and policy making
• To support lifelong learning by all NHS staff
• To support research
(Report of a national review of NHS health library services in England – Peter Hill –
March 2008)
Reminding ourselves of our key purposes

5. The evolution of the Impact Toolkit
www.nesc.nhs.uk
2003-5
• Systematic review of published studies on the impact of
libraries on patient care (HILJ 2005)
2006-9
• Design and pilot of a survey of impact
• Development of good practice guidance (HILJ 2009)
2009
• Simplification and modification of survey tools, learning
from guidance, and further testing (NHS South Central)

6. The Impact Toolkit
• Currently available on the NESC website (google NESC
impact toolkit)
• Will appear at www.libraryservices.nhs.uk when this site
is launched
• Simple, pragmatic tools plus tips on use
• Four tools
1. Online survey
2. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews
3. Case studies
4. Questionnaire for recipients of literature searches
www.nesc.nhs.uk

7. The South Central experience to date
• Online survey of staff at Buckinghamshire Hospitals
NHS Trust - 2 weeks - 195 respondents
• One-to-one interviews with 8 therapists by someone
from outside the Trust
• Survey of recipients of literatures searches done by
South Central libraries during March 2009 –
questionnaire sent out at end of April, closing date mid
May – 38 completed questionnaires
• Case studies – no South Central examples yet, but see
London Alignment Toolkit at www.londonlinks.nhs.uk/
www.nesc.nhs.uk

8. Adopt, adapt and improve
• The online survey can be supplied to anyone with a
SurveyMonkey subscription
• Regional approaches – share the workload and the
evidence
• Research ethics approval not needed, but ensure that
respondents are anonymous and aware of this
• Personalise requests, send reminders
• Think about incentives to participate
www.nesc.nhs.uk

9. Tips: online surveys
• The purpose is:
• To find out how staff look for information
• To assess impact on patient care
• The most statistically based tool – don’t expect much rich
data
• Provides management information for the library
• Pointers to areas for further work
• Place a link in an email, include in the body of the email or
attach - DO NOT INCLUDE IN A BULLETIN – more than
one click is oblivion
www.nesc.nhs.uk

10. Tips: interviews
• Objectives:
• To obtain rich qualitative data, illustrating the impact of
information provided by and through library services
• To identify narrative that could be used to ‘tell the story’ of the
services and their impact on patient care, for potential later use
in marketing library services
• Most difficult part is organising the interviews
• Keep informal and short - ask about specific, recent instances of
information use, rather than about library use in general
• Use ‘independent’ researchers if possible
• Staff time is an issue
www.nesc.nhs.uk

11. • Use case studies for more discursive richer information
• Remember that the respondents are self selecting and
will already be users of the service
• For searches, think about the time lapse between
receipt of results and use/impact
• Often provide the richest data for the minimum staff
effort
www.nesc.nhs.uk
Tips: case studies and
questionnaires for recipients of
searches

12. Applying the toolkit
• Consider the audience for the data
• Focus around a management event/marketing initiative
• Milton Keynes PCT – incorporated into library services
SLA
• Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre – revised service – is it
working?
• Ridgeway – incorporated into library strategy
• Oxford Healthcare Libraries – refined questionnaire
www.nesc.nhs.uk

13. Contacts
Mark Bryant
Co-author of toolkit, conducted interviews
Mark.Bryant@ridgeway.nhs.uk
Jennie Kelson
Library Services Manager, Buckinghamshire Hospitals
Jennie.Kelson@buckshosp.nhs.uk
Helen Bingham
Library & eLearning Lead, NHS South Central
Helen.Bingham@nesc.nhs.uk
www.nesc.nhs.uk

14. References
The value and impact of information provided through
library services for patient care: a systematic review
Weightman, A & Williamson, J HILJ 2005 22 4-25
The value and impact of information provided through
library services for patient care: developing guidance for
best practice Weightman, A, et al HILJ 2009 26 63-71
www.nesc.nhs.uk