Towards the implementation of SDG indicators in libraries and more...
The EBLIDA Newsletter is published monthly on European library & information society issues, programmes, news and events of interest to the library, archive and cultural heritage community.
With the setting up of three EBLIDA groups of experts - on sustainable development and libraries, information law and library legislation and policy - EBLIDA is now operating at cruising speed towards the fulfilment of the objectives of the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan.
Sustainable development remains the core business of EBLIDA. The first wave of EBLIDA “Think The Unthinkable” workshops reached its zenith with the organisation of national events in Greece and Latvia, after those that took place in France and The Netherlands. At the Latvian meeting, three different Ministries were present with concrete proposals for projects.
Two additional events will take place respectively in Bulgaria and Italy during the current month of March.
EBLIDA publications, or extracts of them, have been translated into five languages (Italian, French, Dutch, Danish, Latvian); more translations are in the pipeline. EBLIDA advocates for more funding to libraries through European Structural and Investment Funds. In addition to the already existing EBLIDA Matrix and EBLIDA SDG-KIC, other services and tools are now being discussed within the framework of the ELSIA Expert Group to serve European libraries as a whole.
The evaluation of the impact of libraries on society and how impact studies may be used in assessing the implementation of sustainable development goals in libraries is felt as a priority by the library community. Three articles in this Newsletter summarise some of the conclusions of the report “Towards the implementation of SDG indicators in libraries”. The first article deals with impact studies and their relevance in the library environment; the second brings together two experiences in France and the Netherlands; the third shows the limits of SDG indicators when applied to libraries with an emphasis of indicators linked with SDGs 16.10 on access to information.
This is work in progress, but also an open scenario. In Goethe’s words, I wish EBLIDA’s expert groups, EBLIDA bodies and EBLIDA staff calm sea and prosperous voyage heading towards these new exciting views on the perspectives at the horizon!
Yours sincerely,
Ton van Vlimmeren EBLIDA President
2. ELSIA Expert Group Meeting
The ELSIA (European Libraries and Sustainable development Implementation and Assessment) Expert Group has been created with a view to dealing with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in European libraries (see the ELSIAsection on the website).
The first meeting of the ELSIA Expert Group was held on 16th February. Experts introduced themselves and unveiled their areas of expertise. Around the screen-table, there were experts from ten different countries of the European Union: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
The meeting helped identify priorities, define key concepts and settle the outputs the expert group will focus on. Moreover, it also defined responsibilities and a common understanding of the forces needed for the implementation of future projects.
All experts agreed that there is a need to share best practices across libraries and implement successful sustainable strategies with appropriate practical skills, knowledge and access to information. The experts will mobilize to invest time and effort in updating tools in order to deal with an increasing demand on ways to implement the Agenda 2030.
During the first meeting, the ELSIA expert group decided to prioritise four outputs helping libraries develop sustainable strategies.
These outputs are:
1. A guide for library applicants with European Structural and Investment Funds 2021-2027;
2. Improved content for the SDG-KIC platform;
3. Further enhancement of the EBLIDA Matrix;
4. Second European Report on SDGs implemented in libraries;
There is an increasing number of national and international guidelines aiming towards more sustainable choices; EBLIDA members and libraries around Europe should create guidelines in the library field in order to avoid misallocation of resources. Common tools across regions, nations and continents potentially will allow for the further opening and collaboration on projects that will facilitate the spread of new and inspiring ideas.
In conclusion, the ELSIA Group of experts will provide necessary assistance for European libraries and will to function as active information, communication and promotion centre concerning topics on the EU 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and more - for all EBLIDA members.
The next ELSIA meeting will take place on the 9th of April; we look forward to it!
3. LIBLEG first Meeting
Two meetings of the LIBLEG(Library Legislation and Policy in Europe) Working Group were held on the 16th and 17th of February.
More about the LIBLEG Working Group and its rationale is available on the EBLIDA website with updated information about its scope and goals.
LIBLEG was born as a response to the necessity of investigating the developments of library legislation and policies in Europe and also to assist our Members in formulating policies drawing on each others’ experiences and best practices.
LIBLEG experts were designated by library associations in seven countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Romania and Spain.
Discussion was focused on plans to revise legislation. In most European countries there is no single body of library laws, but different legal rules applied to libraries. Libraries are part of different ministries and agencies and the articulation between state and local administrative layers is not clear; in many cases, authorities in charge of libraries differ. In Europe, laws and policies are different and complex, with multiple, mixed and conflicting objectives.
Also, there is no agreement on definitions of what a library and a library policy are. It is LIBLEG’s task to work on possible methodologies and suggestions on how to formulate legislation and policies and how to evaluate them. The Group agreed to give the priority to the revision of the Council of Europe-EBLIDA Guidelines for library legislation and policy in Europe. As EBLIDA members know, the Guidelines were released in 2000 and have been instrumental in setting up library legislation in several European countries. Nowadays these Guidelines, if still valid, need to be updated. For this reason, LIBLEG has put on the agenda their revision as a response to the new trends that are shaping and influencing the library world.
What are the next steps for LIBLEG? The designated experts will meet again in a meeting on April 9th. The debate will focus on the validation of the headings of the Council of Europe/EBLIDA Guidelines and on the impact of European policies on libraries, both in legislative and financial terms.
4. Focus on evaluation of Sustainable Development Goals in libraries
4.1 Impact studies in libraries
Impact studies may have a profound influence on libraries and are essential for advocacy purposes.
They can be summarised into two categories:
studies which assess the economic influence of a library at municipal, regional or even national level, and
cost-benefit analyses assessing the value of library usage expressed in monetary terms.
Various methodologies assess direct and indirect outcomes of library action. An important indicator, for instance, is the calculation of the Return on Investment (RoI), the relationship between the total economic benefit of the library and the total resources invested in the library. An often used method used to calculate the RoI is Contingent Valuation - the value a person places on a good calculated through people’s willingness to pay in order to obtain a specified good, or their willingness to accept giving up a good. This methodology has been applied in a variety of cases both at national and local level.
Contingent valuation used in Danish libraries, for example, estimated that the value placed by Danes on libraries corresponds to a total willingness to pay up to DKK 4bn a year (€ 553 M), significantly more than the DKK 2.5bn (€ 334 M) they currently pay for libraries via taxes. Strikingly enough, this high value is expressed both by library users and non-users (32% of the Danish population).
Cost-benefit analysis is another methodology used to ascertain the value of a public service. It consists of breaking down the features of the public service and compares it to the market price of analogous services if they were performed by the private sector. This methodology has been used in a study committed by the Spanish library association, in combination with a qualitative survey of users and a survey of non-users through contingent valuation.
Other studies have been carried out in Latvia, Great Britain, United States, and in other countries. They come to the conclusion that, in general, depending on the estimation method that has been used, for each dollar of taxpayers’ money invested in public libraries, the libraries – on average – return a value to the citizens of 4 to 5 times more.
The contribution of impact studies to sustainability has to be found in libraries’ ability to incorporate evaluative methods and practices with a view to creating an adequate advocacy narrative for elected Members, administrators and granters. In this newsletter, we have selected only a few impact studies, to give our readers a general idea of how important they are for the community libraries refer to.
Was an impact study ever carried out in your library? If yes, please share your experiences with us!
4.2 Different perspectives on SDG evaluation in libraries
The application of SDGs in European libraries requires a two-step process. The first is internal to the library and applied to its premises: how a library re-organises itself to be SDG-compliant. The second is external and applied to library’s interaction with the community it refers to.
It is interesting to see practical approaches illustrating how the second approach has been implemented. In the ELSIA report two different perspectives are proposed: the first concerns some practical applications in France at the Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI, Centre Pompidou) and the second is a study on library outcomes in the Netherlands.
A good example is the drop by 30% in library attendance at BPI from 2000 to 2018. To balance what may be seen as an uncomfortable indicator, BPI now tries to highlight alternative indicators measuring library impact beyond physical visits: for instance, duration of visit, occupancy rate, and visiting experience. Visits are down but the average length of visits increased by one hour from 2000 to 2018; occupancy rate is consequently high because visits last longer; and visiting experience remains positive despite a decline in attendance.
In other words, raw statistics are far from telling the truth about evaluation and there are many ways of assessing the impact of a library or of a library service and/or product. Quantitative indicators have to be crossed with qualitative ones, like visit duration and satisfaction rate. This statement is also confirmed by similar observations in library services in the Netherlands.
Promoting reading among children and preventive strategies against literacy deficiencies at a later age in life has always been an important policy goal for public libraries in the Netherlands. Boekstart (Bookstart) is an important educational program and is aimed both at young children (0-4 years) and their parents, who are offered a stimulating reading environment, access to books, training and coaching. The purpose of this program - stimulating literacy and giving young children a better start in primary school - shows a clear match with SDG4: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Obvious though it may seem from a substantive point of view, the connection between these targets and library services is not taken for granted.
A relationship must be established between library targets, library outputs and library outcomes. For instance, if we assume that a library target is to ensure that girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, or that a substantial proportion of adults achieve literacy and numeracy, possible outputs may be achieved by libraries through products as Bookstart. Outcomes, however, have to be measured in terms of children’s higher score in language tests and their use of vocabulary, or in terms of attitudes to reading and to libraries.
These are simple inferred data, generally available in libraries and not so difficult to produce. They are essential in assessing how libraries fulfil the attainment of sustainable development goals.
4.3 Evaluation of SDG 16.10 in libraries: contrast to fake news
Freedom of expression and free access to information in libraries are normally grounded in a professional narrative which claims that libraries host certified information. According to this narrative, libraries would be an alternative to social media, which often channel suspicious information as a reflection of ideological or biased postures.
This library narrative is illusory in at least two ways.
First, because together with certified information libraries do store historical pieces of misinformation and their related metadata – pamphlets including falsehoods or overtly distorted facts, flat-Earth conspiracies or, very simply, obsolete theories.
Secondly because, however information literate they are, users willing to come to a well-informed and objective judgement about societal, political or scientific events should go through the following steps:
access a library;
peruse documents including fake news;
verify fake news against opposite truths.
These conditions, never fully satisfied, are always time-consuming; as Mark Twain is credited to have said: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
In 2015, 195 nations agreed that they can change the world for the better. UN 16.10 target is: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements. In 2016, two events marked the year of the post-truth society: the Brexit referendum and the elections in the U.S. In both events there is evidence of fake news exerting strong influence on the results of these two important consultations.
The United Nations apply two indicators to assess SDG Target 16.10:
Indicator 16.10.1: Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months.
Indicator 16.10.2: Number of countries that adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information
However important these two indicators are, they cannot be used to assess the impact of access to information in European libraries. The first indicator is strictly related to media activities, the second measures how transparent and effective national/local administrations are in delivering the information they produce through websites and portals.
Moreover, in spite of the fact that the European Commission approved in 2018 an “Action Plan Against Disinformation”, Eurostat indicators on SDG 16.10 were not introduced in consideration of “the limited policy relevance of the proposed indicator in an EU context.” Indicators related to Access to information and Freedom of expression are also produced by several NGOs, such as The Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, and IREX. They are limited in scope, from both content-related and a geographical perspective.
A positive policy on fake news in libraries entails a production of information literacy courses, website evaluation made in libraries or by libraries, tools enabling the automated filtering of fake news. A set of “intermediate” indicators internal to libraries are therefore needed to assess how libraries are successfully contrasting fake news. The “Number of people attending information literacy courses or consulting certified websites as a percentage of library users (or a percentage of population)” may be parameters which can successfully be adapted in libraries. These indicators, or similar ones, would assess the role of libraries in providing quality access to information and how well they support an informed citizenry.
5. Think The Unthinkable workshop in Bulgaria "European Structural and Investment Funds in 2021–2027: funding opportunities for libraries"
17 March 2021
14:00 - 16:45 (GMT+2)
EBLIDA and the Bulgarian Library and Information Association and the Global Libraries - Bulgaria Foundation are organizing a webinar on "European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in 2021 - 2027: opportunities for libraries", which will be held online (Zoom) on 17 March 2021 from 14.00 to 16.45 Bulgarian time.
To request participation and to ask questions related to European funds in advance please use the Registration form.
March 22 INCONECSS Community Meeting Place: Online event Organizer: ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
March 22 INCONECSS Community Meeting Place: Online event Organizer: ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
About the Newsletter
Responsible for the Newsletter: Giuseppe Vitiello
[contact him by email: g.vitiello at eblida.org] Editors: Unless otherwise specified, all articles are written by the EBLIDA Secretariat.
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