QQML conference 2019 about 250 participants from 62 countries

 

The first QQML conference was collecting in Chania, Greece in May, 2009.

It was organized under the umbrella of ASMDA association organizing scientific conferences from 1981.

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods were already then proved still more important tools for the libraries, because of their usefulness to the everyday professional life.

The qualitative and quantitative methods aim at the assessment and improvement of the services, to the measurement of the functional effectiveness and efficiency – to demonstrate the result and performance of the libraries.

Also, the focal information about libraries and their operations is an important strategic tool for library directors – or for the directors of any cultural heritage organization – for decision making concerning the decisions on resource allocation and evaluation, and planning for the future.

QQML has something to give also to other professionals than the directors of the cultural heritage organizations – networking and adopting of new matters is of benefit to all of us.

The qualitative and quantitative methods are used to find out why and when the patrons appreciate the services – What are the critical targets of development? Which were the points of success? What did the patron get – what is the value of the library (or other cultural heritage organization) to the patrons?

This is the starting-point of the innovation involvement and the ongoing procedure of the excellent performance.

Systematic development of quality management in libraries (as well as other organizations) requires a detailed framework, including the quality management standards, the measurement indicators, the self-appraisal schedules and the operational rules.

These are practice-oriented tools developed as result of benchmarking.

Their basic function is to express responsibly for the relationship between the customers and the services and provide a systematic approach to the continual change onto excellence.

The indoor and outdoor relationships of libraries are dependent of their communication and marketing capabilities, challenges, opportunities and implementation programs.

This leads me to talk about what is close to my heart – namely to the Impact of libraries.

The impact of libraries was up for discussion from the very first conference where special sessions took place, and this topic has been on discussion every year – naturally! Because all the topics discussed in QQML conferences are closely related to the impact and value of the libraries.

The abbreviation QQML – Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries – it’s all about impact:

Combining qualitative and quantitative data, just the topics dealt with in this conference, are the basis of evaluation and the International ISO Standard (ISO 16439) was published in 2014 as guidance for the libraries to specify methods for using the qualitative and quantitative data in evaluation of the library and its impact and value.

I was member of the group making this standard and the information I had adopted during my career inter alia in these QQML conferences had importance in our work.
The dimensions of the library impact include the frame organization of the library, the users, and society at large.

The impact of library may be concrete and measurable as new skills such as information retrieval. Impact as defined in the ISO standard is more abstract and difficult to measure.

The standard refers to changes that are for the most part indirect and intangible and, therefore, difficult to identify and quantify.

Impact connotes more general changes in an individual, a group or community such as an increase in knowledge or changes in attitudes, values and behavior.

When considering the abstractness of the concept “impact”, it seems challenging to find an easy and non-laborious tool for measuring the impact of library.

Yet, the QQML conferences serve as the experts' meeting forums and they give material to the think tanks of the cultural heritage organizations for developing new types of indicators – the indicators of tomorrow, indicators that direct the discussion from the traditional sentiment towards showing the value and real impact of the library and information services.

Today, this topic is actual in all sectors of the cultural heritage organizations – libraries, museums and archives. Also in this year’s QQML, all these sectors are present as they were also in the first QQML and every year.

I see this conference as an excellent forum for networking across the sectors of the cultural heritage organizations – in the future, the services of these organizations will be merged in one way or another.

As users of information services, the future information seekers do not care nor even necessarily know where the information comes from, thanks to the digital information services that merge the information from the databases of many different types cultural heritage organizations, collecting data from libraries, archives and museums to the use of the information seekers.

And I predict that the services of this type will increase and still more cross-sectoral cooperation will be done.

So, the 11-year-old QQML that started in 2009, has taken good wind under its wings going strong to the future!

2019 about 250 participants from 62 countries. 

 Carmelina Rotundo Auro