WebJunction

Demonstrating the impact of your library on your community is a local task. The way you proceed will depend greatly on your local circumstances: what your library does, what (and who!) your funding sources are, and the nature of your community. This “road map” breaks the task up into major phases and points you to resources that can help you with each phase. It's not a Michelin road atlas but an evocative pencil drawing (sketched, perhaps, on the back of a Denny's napkin) that may help point you to some buried treasure.

Note: If you don't have much time to devote to your Demonstrating Impact project, take a look at George Needham's quick-n-easy formula for library impact in the January 2004 edition of I'm Curious George. George offers some simple but effective tips for starting down the path to demonstrating impact without expending a great deal of time.

Three little words

We've arranged our road map into the following broad categories:

• Strategize: assess whom you need to convince about your library's impact—and determine what is most likely to convince them.
• Quantify: put together the hard facts that speak powerfully to the hard-nosed (or hard-headed?).
• Demonstrate: make your case; pitch your story; sell your value without selling out!