Developing performance and impact indicators and targets in public and education libraries

The authors trace recent changes in the idea of evaluating performance in U K education and libraries and examine some of the differences in impact ass essment between the two fields; concluding that little attention has so far been given by librarians to service impact assessment. A process model for generating outcome/impact indicators and targets was developed in the cour se of research on the effectiveness of further education college libraries. This was then adapted into a development planning model to enable educatio n library managers to work through the processes required to arrive at appr opriate impact indicators. The model is described, various issues in workin g with the model are explored and its further adaptation for public library service managers through another national research project is reported. (C ) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.