Subscribe for Free
Send to a Friend
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Research Review
Given the objectives for this case study, a literature review was conducted to determine if a suitable methodology existed for creating an ROI for an academic library. Although many cost/benefit studies have been conducted on the value of the library, only recent studies attempt to quantify the value of the library in terms of a ROI.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
The definition for an ROI varies depending on the context and it is frequently expressed as income received as a percent of the amount invested in the asset. One definition that seemed applicable in the context of this project defines ROI as a return value for the life of the investment, not just a gain or loss, or the year-to-date return.
Social return on investment (SROI) is an emerging concept designed to document the social and environmental cost savings from public sector projects that warrant continued investment. It attempts to quantify social benefits by expanding the ROI to include factors not previously measured. Whereas a cost/benefit analysis is typically used either at the outset of an investment or retrospectively to determine whether it was worthwhile, SROI is a practical management tool that supports informed decision making on a regular basis.
BENCHMARKING STUDIES ON PRODUCTIVITY
Programs that assess academic productivity have been based on different factors that generate debate on how comparable institutions are defined. Luis Porenza, in an issue of Inside Higher Education in May 2007, points out the need to distinguish between research competitiveness for available grant dollars in the form of inputs and faculty productivity as measured by citations or patents as an output. He also notes that 70% of federal funding is directed at biomedical research.
National Research Council (NRC): Assessment of U.S. research doctorate programs
Previously published in 1983 and 1995, the current NRC study has 200 universities participating and an
update is planned for release in late 2007. This study was redesigned to help universities improve the quality
of their programs through benchmarking, to provide potential students and the public with accessible
information on doctoral programs nationwide, and to enhance the nation's overall research capacity.
Center for Measuring University Performance: Top American Research Universities (TARU)
The Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance at the University of Florida has grown into an
annual assessment of universities based on nine variables including: total and federal research expenditures,
endowments and annual giving, national academy members, Guggenheim and Fulbright awards, doctorates
and postdoctorates, average SAT scores, and National Merit and National Achievement scholars. TARU
shows the competing schools’ market share and their effectiveness in securing grants. Lombardi notably
points out that the presence of either an engineering program or medical school skews expenditure rankings
and affects comparability of institutions.
Academic Analytics: Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index
Academic Analytics is partially owned by SUNY Stony Brook, and produces the Faculty Scholarly Productivity
Index, which evaluates faculty on their publications, grants, and awards. These data are weighted and aggregated
to produce comparative rankings by program, discipline, and institution. Reports are custom produced for
institutions, and summary data were published in the Chronicle of Higher Education in January 2007.
h index
Suggested in 2005 by J. E. Hirsch, who is on the physics faculty at the University of California San Diego,
the h index has gained ready acceptance. It counts those papers where the citation level is equal to the
total number of papers published and is used to count impact as well as productivity.
