University Investment in the Library: What is the Return? a Case Study at Guru Nanak Dev University

The study calculates Return On Investment (ROI) in GNDU Library by linking the library to income generation by all the faculty members using the library. A well structured questionnaire was designed to elicit the opinions of the faculty members. Personal interviews were conducted to fill in the gaps if any. Responses were gathered from 191 faculty members of the university. ROI Model suggested by Roger Strouse for corporate and government libraries and adapted by Judy Luther to the academic library was used for calculating return on investment in GNDU library. ROI was calculated on the basis of responses received from the faculty members. The following three factors served as part of the model. 69.6% of the faculty use references in grant proposals. 94.2% of the faculty obtained citations/references via the campus network or Library gateway. 93.2% of the faculty state that citations/references are important/essential in securing grant awards. The use of these factors in the model produced a return of Rs 1.01 in grant income to the university for every rupee invested in the library during 2009-2010.