Diego Merizalde of the National Library of Colombia shares their impact assessment model at DPLA Fest 2017.

1. Impact Assessment Model
-The Colombian case-

2. Context
• The National Network of Public Libraries (NNPL) in
Colombia is a decentralized institution, which gives
autonomy to departmental/municipal networks to design
services.
• Challenge: How do you aggregate the impact of library
services at the national level?
• Opportunity: The National Library of Colombia
developed a national strategy to promote a set of three
innovative library services. This created the opportunity to
isolate the impact of such strategy and aggregate its
results.

3. Violence and
conflict
Culture

4. Empathy
Leadership and
empowerment
Participation
Conflict resolution
Sense of belonging
Expectations
Measured by observing changes in
the following social and emotional
skills of library users exposed to
library services
Public libraries, through
library services
Allow dialogue and
participation in public
libraries
Which, increases social
capital
in communities
Theory of Change - What is impact for us?

5. We designed a structured
instrument targeted to frequent
users of public libraries.
The baseline was obtained in
November 2016 in 130
Libraries, distributed in
22 Departments as
shown in the map
55
3
2
2
2
7
8
20
23
11
12
1
1 1
6
8
1 2
2
4
4

6. Timeline for the Impact Assessment
Model
March
2016 2017
574 libraries
started to
implement the
innovative library
services strategy
November
Baseline: Surveys
conducted in 130
libraries which hadn’t
been engaged with the
strategy (i.e. hadn’t been
treated yet). 2600 library
users were interviewed
September
Impact evaluation:
Surveys conducted in
128 libraries: 66 of them
engaged with the
innovative library
services strategy
“treated”, 64 of them not
engaged with the
strategy “control”
March
Implementation of
the innovative
library services
strategy in 474
additional
libraries
Results by December 31st, 2016

7. Innovative Library Services Strategy

8. Innovative Library Services Strategy

13. Innovative Library Services Strategy

19. Innovative Library Services Strategy

26. ELDERLY (+61 YEARS)
ADULTS (26 - 60 YEARS)
YOUNG ADULTS (18 - 25 YEARS)
TEENAGERS (13 - 17 YEARS)
CHILDREN (7 - 12 YEARS)
EARLY CHILDHOOD (0 - 6 YEARS)
263.553
visits to the 3 innovative
services in the public libraries
of Colombia in 2016
Innovative Library Services
67.882
visits
139.242
visits
56.429
visits
14.717
49.280
36.330
13.768
17.554
7.593
1.656
VISITS PER
AGE RANGE
6.870
6.171
21.600
27.335
4.250
9.033
14.106
6.892
11.142
11.987
3.269
Results with a cur-off date of December 31st, 2016

27. Innovative Library Services
265
Workshops
Results at 31 December, 2016
239
Workshops
237
Workshops
780 Collections and
5641 Photographs in Historypin
2800 playbacks (apx.)

28. Impact Assessment Model applied to other programs:
the Mobile Public Libraries case

33. 9 departments
Fonseca
LA GUAJIRA
Ituango
ANTIOQUIA
Riosucio
CHOCÓ
Tierralta
CORDOBA
Caldono
CAUCA
Policarpa
NARIÑO
Planadas
TOLIMA
Mesetas
META
San Vicente
del Caguán
CAQUETÁ
Impact assessment model
Mobile Public Libraries Project

34. Treatment group: 60 surveys
Rural areas with the following
conditions:
• Must be counties in the proximities of
the ex-combatants’ settlements.
• Their access to the MPL must be
limited, for example, by long
commutes.
Impact assessment model
Mobile Public Libraries (MPL)
MPL
More than
500 meters
radius
Ex-combatants settlements
40 surveys
500 meters
radius
20 surveys
Control group: 60 surveys

35. 2017
March
August
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Surveys will be conducted
again using panel data, which
contemplates having contact
with (at least 50% of) the people
to whom the surveys were
conducted in March
BASELINE SURVEYS
- 1080 surveys
- 9 rural counties where
MPL have been deployed
(treatment group)
- 22 neighbor rural counties
with limited access to the
MPL (control group)
Impact Assessment Model
Mobile Public Libraries