Longitude Toolkit

Introduction to the Longitude Toolkit

The aim of this toolkit is to enable public libraries to assess the impact over time of end-user electronic services provided in the library, both on individuals and on the community.

By checking impact over time it is possible to assess change, and to check whether original impacts are being sustained.

Longitudinal impact is also important because many of the effects of services can only be assessed over a period of time - they are not immediate but depend on either continued interaction or on a range of influences which affect a user. Understanding how repeated interaction with a service changes users is important knowledge for managers.

This Toolkit is for public library managers seeking to gather reliable information on the overall impact of their services, within local, regional and national contexts, and to demonstrate and exemplify significant impacts on individuals.

The toolkit has been developed for MLA by CERLIM . The research report describing the project which produced the toolkit is available below:

Longitude II: A Library Networking Impact Toolkit for a User-Driven Environment (Word 700KB)
Longitude II: A Library Networking Impact Toolkit for a User-Driven Environment (PDF 700KB)

Go to the Longitude Toolkit Contents page