Managing your Library and its Quality: The ISO 9001 Way

Citation

Calvert, P. (2012), "Managing your Library and its Quality: The ISO 9001 Way", The Electronic Library, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 557-557. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471211252247

Libraries are service organisations. This simple statement would have been contested by many in the profession until fairly recently (and maybe by some even now) yet the increased emphasis on the customer has brought attention to the sharp end of service provision rather than the traditional view of the library as a repository. How to manage service quality has therefore become a matter of concern for library managers, and one option is to refer to what the authors call “the ISO way”. It is, after all, an international standard and one that has been successfully used by many organisations around the world.

There are two parts to this book. The first provides an introduction to quality management issues, including some history of ISO 9001. This includes a general introduction to the use of ISO 9001 and it says which libraries should use ISO 9001 and why. The second (longer) part works through the main components of ISO 9001:2008, offering practical examples of how to implement its clauses in libraries. This part of the guide gives practical guidance on the implementation of a quality management system using ISO 9001. The examples are taken from around the world and this book has a truly international tone to it. Key concepts are explained, often in terms of how they can be understood in a library. The authors then give suggestions how each constituent part can be implemented in a library. I found it curious that not a great deal was said about section 4.2 of the standard, as this section covers document and data control, though this is not offered as a criticism.

The authors make a good point that ISO 9001 offers not only a useful approach to managing service quality but it is also an excellent guide to knowledge management and so logically should be utilised by members of the information management profession. It is a clearly organised and readable book that achieves what it sets out to do. It should be read by senior library managers and all those responsible for managing service quality, especially in academic libraries. Students of information management will also be able to use this book. There is an extensive bibliography that will assist all those who wish to learn more on the subject.