Measuring Quality – Performance Measurement in Libraries (2nd revised edition)

Citation

Henczel, S. (2008), "Measuring Quality – Performance Measurement in Libraries (2nd revised edition)", Library Management, Vol. 29 No. 8/9, pp. 810-811. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917530

The first edition of this work was published in 1996 and dealt with academic libraries. This new edition includes public libraries and adds indicators for electronic services, the importance of the library as a meeting and working place, the library's teaching role, functions for external users, the importance of staff and cost‐effectiveness.

Initial chapters provide detailed descriptions of the role of performance indicators in quality management, and the use of indicators to measure impact or outcome of a situation or service.

Chapters three and four provide an overview of the development of the indicators presented in this book, and a description of each indicator that includes its name, background, definition, aims of the indicator, method statement (how the indicator is used), interpretation and use of results, examples of results to show the range of scores that may be possible and to help with interpretation of the results.

Chapter five provides a list of indicators that cover (A) resources and infrastructure, (B) use, (C) efficiency and (D) potentials and development. The authors state that the indicators are “designed to establish a balance between user‐orientation and cost‐effectiveness, effective organisation and the ability to cope with future developments”, and have been structured to align with the Balanced Scorecard perspectives of users, finances, processes and learning and development.

Resources and infrastructure is represented by ten indicators covering space, seats, opening hours, expenditure per capita, staff per capita etc. These indicators aim to reflect the attractiveness of the library as a place for learning and research and the quality of the collections.

A total of 12 indicators are provided for use. They include market penetration, user satisfaction, library visits per capita, collection use, etc.

Efficiency is reflected by 13 indicators that include cost per visit, user and use, employee productivity, shelving accuracy and acquisition speed.

Potentials and development has five indicators that reflect the percentage of expenditure on electronic collections, attendances at staff training sessions and percentage of institutional means allocated to the library.

Two annexes are provided that cover the calculation of costs and the main sources of the indicators. As the name of the indicator does not always clearly reflect the services that it covers, a useful index to the indicators is provided.

Although written for academic and public libraries the indicators can be adapted for use by any library. It is not intended to be prescriptive, but rather to provide a range of indicators from which to select those that are appropriate for needs and local circumstances. It provides the basis for consistency across libraries that is critical for local, national and international performance measurement, evaluation and benchmarking initiatives.