A study on the evaluation analysis of the library’s social values

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop evaluation indicators for assessing the social value of libraries. To this end, preliminary evaluation indicators were derived from a comprehensive analysis of approximately 60 domestic and overseas papers which focus on the value of libraries. On the basis of the derived preliminary evaluation indicators, 11 experts were selected and the final evaluation indicators were developed by conducting a Delphi survey three times. The final evaluation indicators are composed of five main issues, which are divided into areas around the social value of libraries. Included in this process are: the development of local communities, the network of local communities, the improvement of local residents’ quality of life, the levels of equal opportunities for local residents, and the information services necessary for local communities, along with 12 evaluation items, and 64 evaluation indicators. Based on this, public librarians and users were surveyed to obtain a measurement of the social value of libraries. Results showed that in general, there are negligible differences between genders and varying age groups. There are, however, significant differences in perception between people who visit the library with different frequencies; those who visit more often tended to have higher opinions on the library’s availability of resources and positive role in communities.