[WEB4LIB] Library Web site ROI

[Paul H. Gray]

I don't know you from Adam, Gay -- so please do not take this personally --
but --
YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!
This whole note sounds like something out of a Dilbert cartoon.

>. . .
>
>Existing library and archive Web sites run the gamut between Information
>pages (electronic business cards) to complex Web sites providing both
>information and services.

Existing libraries and many non-profit agencies run much the same gamut.
Thank the gods and goddesses --- we need this diversity

>All of them cost money and organizational
>resources to design, publish and maintain.  Few, if any, either seek to
>recover costs from site users or market other products as commercial,
>e-commerce sites commonly do.

Of course they don't  -- that is not their function - and is probably not
the function of the institution that sponsors them.

>
>If, as current management theory would have it (eg. Hallows.
>Information systems project management. c1998), intangible benefits are
>not benefits at all,

What a load of Orwellian RUBBISH
You can't put a price tag on the ability to see a beautiful sunrise  -
But if you don't think that is a benefit - - -

Ok - let's be more mundane -- You can't point to a specific ledger entry
showing a profit from having toilet paper in the restrooms - as opposed to
discarded newspapers -- which would serve the same purpose at a much lower
cost ---
Do you really want to argue that is not a benefit?


>then on what basis are ROI / C-B analyses of NPO
> Web sites to be arrived at?  According to Hallows, a benefit either
> saves money for an organization or generates profits.

>1. Are hard numbers available for NPO Web sites?

What numbers do you want? Numbers of hits? Ask their network admin - but
these numbers are largely as meaningless for NPOs and libraries as they are
for anyone else - because the do not tell you why the person came to that
site - or what they went away with.

>2. If Web sites attract users, does an increase in users statistics result
>in funding increases?

I would suspect not - particularly in the world of NPD's - unless the Web
site is used for fund raising.  Having been involved in several NPO's I can
assure you that with or without the web - the size of the population served
and the amount of funding are only very loosely related --
The first always outstrips the last.

>3. Are there any measurable benefits to providing information and services
>free of charge to site visitors from outside of the
>organization's jurisdiction?

Or within the organization's jurisdiction for that matter??
Wouldn't it be far cheaper to have like one huge central library in region
- where all the schools could send their people??  Why the savings in
janitorial service alone would be enormous.

Unless libraries in Canada are much different than they are here - they
generate no FTU (Full Time Student Equivalents) therefore - the do not
figure in the granting of government money - nor do they generate any
profit for the institution -

OK -- I overstate my case -- without a library that meets certain minimum
requirements - the institution loses its accreditation and cannot attract
students.
But most schools I know attempt to far exceed those standards -- why???
Why do we keep a copy of Shakespeare on the shelves? Why do we put art on
our walls?  Why do we have upholstered furniture and carpeted floors?
There are far less expensive alternatives to all of these that would serve
exactly the same - tangible - purpose.

I would expect talk like this from administrative bean counters in a world
where libraries and related services are sometimes seen as money pits.  But
to hear it from someone in the library community is very disturbing.

>4. Why do libraries and archives publish and maintain Web sites often at
>great expense?
>  a. Because it can be done?

Probably

>  b. Because everyone else is doing it?

No doubt in many cases - All of the pundits have convinced us that this is
the "wave of the future" which - said loud enough and long enough becomes a
self-fulfilling prophecy.

Someone once called the Web  the CB radio of the 90's -- my older friends
here in the states will appreciate the analogy -- even if it is a bit of a
stretch.

Yes - in a world of limited resources - libraries and NPO's - and business
and individiuals -- must learn to take a close look at how they are
spending those resources.

Libraries, for instance, MUST develop tools and technigues to gather
feedback from within and from outside their institution to determine if the
Web site (and everything else we do for that matter) is consistant with the
Purpose Statement of the Institution - and if it is helping the institution
achieve it's stated goals.

But - when that achievement or those goals are narrowed down to figures on
a balance sheet --
we are living in a very very sad world.

I have no doubt that your Dr. Hallows is far more educated than I am - and
you likely may be yourself. And, I may have said some things that betray a
grave ignorance of library science (I have two Masters' but neither is an
MLS -- I'm just the technical grunt here) -- but --
I have to take --strong-- exception to the basic assumption here - to the
contrary -
I would almost go so far as to say that intangible benefits are the only
TRUE benefits.


I hope for your sake, Gay, this was just an academic exercise. And again I
meant no personal offense at all.  But if this reflects your true
philoshopy of life - I do feel sorry for you -- it must be an immensely sad
and empty life.  If not now - it will be when you are older.

My apologies to my friends on the list for this lengthy tirade - please do
not flame me -- I've said my piece and will retire to my server room to
clean my pocket protectors.

But this whole basic assumption just struck a nerve with me --
I hope I am not alone.

Opinions stated are obviously strictly my own -- don't blame my bosses :)


Paul H. Gray                       VOICE - (817)515-6623
L. R. Manager                      FAX - (817)515-6275
TCJC NE LRC                        E-MAIL - phgray at tcjc.cc.tx.us
828 Harwood Rd
Hurst, TX 76054