The Representation of Library Value in Extra-Institutional Evaluations of University Quality

Oct 15, 2026

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University quality assessments reveal value constructs that external stakeholders treat as indicators of higher education quality. This paper places library quality assessment in historical context and reviews literature on how library value is framed within accreditation, university rankings, and student surveys. Findings show that when the library’s contribution is recognized, it is measured through collections, spaces, and expenditures, despite expanded library services into teaching, research, scholarly communications, and data management and visualization.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Library quality assessment: historical context

Forms of external evaluation: accreditation, rankings, student surveys

How library value is measured

Library’s expanded services and contrasting “heart of the university” notion

CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 47, No. 1, 2017, pages 80-96 The Representation of Library Value in Extra-Institutional Evaluations of University Quality Brian Jackson Mount Royal University Abstract The ways in which university quality assessments are developed reveal a great deal about value constructs surrounding higher education. Measures developed and consumed by external stakeholders, in particular, indicate which elements of academia are broadly perceived to be most reflective of quality. This paper examines the historical context of library quality assessment and reviews the literature related to how library value is framed in three forms of external evaluation: accreditation, university rankings, and student surveys. The review finds that the library’s contribution to university quality, when it is considered at all, continues to be measured in terms of collections, spaces, and expenditures, despite significant expansion of library services into nontraditional arenas, including teaching and research, scholarly communications, and data management and visualization. These findings are contrasted with the frequently invoked notion of the library as the heart of the university. Résumé Les façons dont sont façonnées les évaluations de qualité des universitésen révèlent beaucoup quant aux concepts de valeur entourant l’éducationsupérieure. Les mesures élaborées et mises en pratique par les parties prenantes externes, en particulier, indiquent quels éléments académiques sont largement perçus comme étant plus représentatifs de la qualité . Ce document examine le contexte historique de l’évaluation de la qualité d’une bibliothèque, et passe en revue la documentation liée à sa valeur selon trois formes d’évaluations externes : l’accréditation, le classement del’université et CJHE / RCES Volume 47, No. 1, 2017 Representation of Library Value / B. Jackson 81 les sondages menés auprès des étudiants. L’étude conclut que la contribution d’une bibliothèque à laqualité de son université, lorsqu’elle est priseen compte, continue d’être évaluée en termes de collections, d’espace et des dépenses qui y sont effectuées, malgré l’accroissement significatif des services offerts par la bibliothèque dans des arènes non traditionnelles comme l’enseignement et la recherche, les communications universitaires, ainsi que la gestion et la visualisation des données. Ces résultats détonnent de la notion souventinvoquée qui veut qu’une bibliothèque constitue le cœur d’une université . In 1994, historian Shelby Foote said “a university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library”(Chepesiuk, 1994, p. 984). Foote’s frequently quoted statement plays on the much older idea of the library as the metaphorical heart of the university. The quotation and the metaphor on which it is based both evoke a notion of centrality with respect to the library, that the library is fundamental to the fulfillment of the university’s mission. As with any indispensible institutional organ, ongoing assessment of the library’s contribution is crucial to healthy functioning. If the broader community of higher education stakeholders holds the library in the esteem suggested in these and other adages, it should follow that measures of university quality take appreciable account of library quality. This study will review the historical context of library quality assessment and examine the literature on, and positioning of, libraries in institutional quality evaluations to determine the extent to which this is currently the case. The ways in which library quality is measured have evolved substantially since the first collection of university library statistics was published more than a century ago. That first attempt to compare academic libraries, called the Gerould Statistics (Molyneux, 1986), provided metrics on collection size, collection growth, expenditures on acquisitions

FAQs

What is the focus of the paper on library value?

The paper examines how university quality assessments shape value constructs and how library value is framed in external evaluations.

Which three external evaluation forms are reviewed?

The review covers accreditation, university rankings, and student surveys.

How is the library’s contribution typically measured in quality assessments?

When considered, it is measured mainly through collections, spaces, and expenditures, even as services expand into teaching, research, scholarly communications, and data management.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet