Int. Libr. Rev. (1980) 12, 209-212

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN CITY LIBRARIES (INTAMEL)

(I) A Method of Evaluation for Metropolitan Public Library Systems

H. C. C A M P B E L L *

This paper deals with a proposed method of evaluation in metropolitan public library system development, as put forward by the Urban Library Study Project of the Toronto Public Libraries. This Project is a three year undertaking by The Toronto Public Library Board to review four areas of change in certain library methods as they affect urban public libraries in all parts of the world, and propose systems of improvement.

The four areas which are the special interest of the Project are:

1. financial systems;

2. inter-library co-operation;

3. new uses and services;

4. technical developments.

However the above four areas are being studied in relation to all of the basic questions of metropolitan public library organization and administration, and as funding becomes available, detailed investi- gations will be undertaken in related areas, as well as in the four main areas of the Project's interest.

The Project has issued several quarterly newsletters that bring together news on reports, research studies and developments in various urban public library systems throughout the world, and has prepared a series of courses and seminars, in cooperation with various education and public library authorities in several countries and the University of Toronto Centre for Research in Librarianship. It is foreseen that the process of regular reporting on public library research developments

* Urban Library Study Project, Toronto Public Libraries.

210 H.C. CAMPBELL

and the holding of a series of meetings to evaluate public library research methods will result in the preparation by the Project of a number of manuals and training guides that can be of use in developing metropolitan area public library systems.

A first draft manual on the basic elements in planning public library services has been prepared for UNESCO, and is undergoing review and extension at this time.

Contact is maintained by the Project with most of the major research and development efforts of public library systems that are now taking place. These include the Canadian study "Project Progress~ the future of the public library in Canada", the US Office of Education/ALA project on a planning process for public libraries, the Public Library Research Advisory Committee of the British Library, and various training activities and seminars carried on by the British Library, the British Council, IFLA, UNESCO, and regional and national agencies.

The role of INTAMEL in sponsoring a series of joint or separate regional or national projects in evaluation of metropolitan public library system development is a crucial one, and one that if carried out at this time, even on a modest basis, could act as an important agent in providing advances in public library service. It has been several years since INTAMEL set out its tentative standards for metropolitan public library services, and these years have seen both the implement- ation of these standards but also a change in thinking with regard to the place of standards in public library management.

This change in thinking is outlined by Vernon Palmour and Marcia Bellassi in their October 1978 draft of a planning handbook prepared for the ALA under a grant from the US Office of Education.

The present uncertainty about funding levels for public libraries has generated new interests in improved planning. Funding agencies are no longer able or willing to continue increasing library budgets without better justification of the need for the services in the communities. Public libraries are competing for available public monies with other local services which are generally viewed as more essential to the well being of a community such as police, fire, sanitation, roads, etc.

In the past, use of national standards recommended by the American Library Association (ALA) i as library goals has led to a lack of comprehensive planning in many public libraries. But these minimum standards were useful only to those libraries which could benefit from them, that is, to the libraries with inputs below the recommended minimum norms. Other defects in the standards have been cited in the Preface and can be found also in the article by Bloss. 2 The

1 Public Library Association (1967). Minimum Standards for Public Library Systems, 1966; Chicago; American Library Association.

2 Meredith Bloss (1976). Standards for Public Library Service--Quo Vadis? Library o7ournal, 1259-1262.

INTAMEL 211

search for new and better standards for public libraries, empirically based, centred on development of a planning process which could be implemented by any library, and which would establish library goals~ objecfivcs~ and prioritlcs

' rclating directly to the individual community environment and population nceds~ rather than to a single national norm. National standards or guidelines would follow the empirical evidence collected in application of the process, although their type has not yet been determined.

For the libraries utilizing the process, however, the potential benefit of national standards or guidelines based on empirical data is vastly overshadowed by the inherent value of their involvement in the planning process itself, in the development of a library plan aimed at its own specific community environment, population, and available resources, and in incorporation of the continuing monitoring, evaluation, and planning cycles within routine library management practices. Considerable evidence also indicates that libraries with explicit plans based on community data can be successful in competing with other agencies for public support.

The co-operation of British and USA librarians in 1978 and 1979 led to the testing of the planning methods proposed by Palmour and Bellassi. The results were reviewed in Dallas in June 1979 by the ALA, and a further series of meetings with representatives of public library services is scheduled in 1979, with publication of the results in 1980.

An approach that might be taken under the auspices of INTAMEL is outlined on the following Chart "Planning Process for Metropolitan

Planning Process for Metropolitan Public Library Systems

Secondary data sou= . [ Broad based planning J L committee I [ Information needs Analysis of library

' a s s e s s m e n t ] I statistics I I

Primary source data J /

I Performance ] Update to community ~ d measurement J and populat on data

I I ata input

I (Pr imory cycle - Ist 5 year period) Determine library role Develop goals and objectives Establish priorities Develop and evaluate strategies Implement strategies Experimentation

I j Continuing planning

committee I

I (Secondary cycle - annual) Monitor and evaluate progress Determine new data needs Review library role Review goals and objectives Develop and evaluate new strategies Implement changes Experimentation

212 H . c . CAMPBELL

Public Library Systems". This chart is based on the present ALA/UK exploration of methods to improve local library services. The chart indicates the basic functions that are proposed in the primary or first cycle of planning operations, and then goes on to show the links from the first to the successive yearly cycles of review and updating of the plan.

Seen as applied to metropolitan public library systems this plan has a good many things to recommend it, particularly as a means of enlisting co-operation between several library systems in a single metropolitan area. Because the plan is extremely comprehensive, it requires a considerable amount of organizational support, and in its data gathering aspects, requires a professional approach if the long term value of the data is to be maintained. For this reason its adoption by a metropolitan public library system as an overall approach to the evaluation and improvement of services would be of considerable value to other metropolitan systems. Testing and reporting on its application could be carried on with assistance from other INTAMEL members.

In view of INTAMEL's basic function which is to carry out studies and investigations of matters of interest to metropolitan public libraries, the approach outlined above might repay study.

For its part, the Urban Library Study Project of the Toronto Public Libraries and the Centre for Research in Librarianship would be prepared to assist in any way possible in implementing such a course of action, particularly by serving as a clearing house of information, and in arranging seminars and workshops for persons interested in de- veloping their own metropolitan public library evaluation methods and comparing results.