An old tool with potential new uses: return on investment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine potential new uses of return on investment (ROI) in alternative methods for library assessment and valuation. Design/methodology/approach – Uses examples of recent uses of ROI by libraries to identify potential new applications of ROI in library assessment and valuation. Findings – ROI investment has historically been used by libraries for the assessment of past performance of library organizations in a reactive/defensive nature or for assessing the value of customer services. ROI has not been widely used as a proactive assessment tool, to introspectively assess administrative or other internal services, or as an offensive assessment and valuation tool, especially for intangible performance assessment and valuation. Originality/value – New applications of the ROI assessment tool could provide library administrators with proactive means of increasing the effectiveness of library assessment, valuation, and their results.