Impact of the People's Network

MLA and the Big Lottery Fund have undertaken an evaluation and impact strategy for the People's Network which has included work at strategic and process levels in order to demonstrate how overall policy and programme objectives have been achieved. This will allow us to answer the question "What difference has it made?" And more specifically, what difference has it made to public library users and communities at large, to public library staff and the public libraries service.

This short Flash clip helps illustrate the positive impact that the People’s Network has had and where we are heading in the future. See also this selection of quotes (Word 23KB)  from public library users to hear what people have said about computers in their libraries.

Refer to the links section for a number of sources relating to the evaluation and impact of networked services in public libraries.

Formal evaluation of the People's Network project

Formal evaluation of the project has been conducted on behalf of the New Opportunities Fund (now Big Lottery Fund) and MLA by the Tavistock Institute over a period of 18 months.

The emphasis of work carried out by the Tavistock Institute for the Big Lottery Fund has been at a strategic level in determining:

• the impact of the programmes on developing library services
  
• the impact of the programmes on library users and
  
• the impact of the programmes on meeting broader policy and organisational objectives, including promoting social inclusion

For further information read the full report: Books and Bytes: new service paradigms for the 21st century library (PDF 731KB) . Also read the summary report of the work undertaken by the Tavistock Institute and published by the Big Lottery Fund. The report shows how public libraries are being transformed and revitalised by the introduction of computers. The People's Network: Evaluation Summary (PDF 160KB)

For additional background information refer to the invitation to tender (Word 30KB) that NOF issued for this work and Evaluation of the People's Network and ICT Training for Public Library Staff Programme - Interim Report for the New Opportunities Fund (Word 290KB) also by the Tavistock Institute.

The focus of work that has been carried out by the Tavistock Institute for MLA has centred on the operational effectiveness of the training programme. Specifically this has looked at the delivery of the ICT training programme for public library staff and its impact on professional practice. The scope of work has covered England, Wales and Northern Ireland (a separate study has evaluated the impact of the programmes in Scotland). The report, 'Competencies and Capabilities: New Paradigms for Workforce Development in the 21st Century Library' published by MLA is available in the MLA Publications index.

For further information read the invitation to tender (PDF 179KB) for this work. The findings of their research are due to be published in the near future.

Other useful resources

Brophy, P. (2004). The People's Network: Moving Forward (PDF 874KB) This reports highlights the impact of the project’s first full year.

Brophy, P. (2003). The People's Network: A turning point for public libraries( PDF 314KB)  is an early assessment of the impacts that this service was having on its users.

Dodd, C. et al (2002). NOF ICT Training Programme for Public Library Staff: Interim survey of training to meet expected outcomes 2-8 and advanced levels of the programme (PDF 779KB) This study was commissioned by MLA in 2002 to give an indicative insight into the impact of staff training at the half-way point of the programme.

Issue Papers no.1. The evaluation of public library online services: measuring impact (PDF 411KB) by Peter Brophy on behalf of MLA and the New Opportunities Fund to accompany the 2002 People's Network Workshop Series. 

Longitude Toolkit: A toolkit for libraries to assess the impact over time of their electronic services, and be used by MLA and other stakeholders to demonstrate long-term impact of funding for the People's Network.