Year: 2009
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Quality measures like performance indicators and user satisfaction surveys are in widespread use in libraries and have been described in handbooks and ISO standards.Libraries using the same measures repeatedly can identify gaps and failures in their service delivery.But in many cases it will be difficult to interpret the measurement results in an individual library without a background of results in other libraries.Therefore, groups of libraries have tried to find consensus on measuring instruments like performance indicators or user surveys that can be used for benchmarking on a national or regional scale.Such projects have been started in the last decade by public libraries as well as academic libraries.In several of these projects, the performance indicators are organised according to the Balanced Scorecard, a concept originally developed for the commercial sectorThe Balanced Scorecard ‚translates'the planning concept of an institution (mission, strategic vision and goals) into a system of quality indicators that covers all important perspectives of performance: finances, users, internal processes, learning and growth.The paper describes benchmarking projects and the influence of the Balanced Scorecard concept and -by examples -tries to prove the usefulness of benchmarking data for quality management. EVALUATION OF QUALITY IN LIBRARIESQuality in libraries can have many aspects, and these aspects can change if seen from the point of view of the various stakeholders: The users (actual and potential users), funding institutions (a university, a community), policy makers, library staff, library managers, and the general public.But there are some basic issues that apply to the overall quality of service delivery in libraries:• User-orientation of the services: This does not mean satisfying every possible demand, but knowing users' needs and wishes and adapting the services accordingly.• Accuracy and reliability of the services: Users should be able to rely on an agreed standard of a service, and the service should be delivered consistently.• Speed and currency of the services: Services (reference answers, loans, document deliveries, processing of new media) should be delivered with adequate speed and should be up-to-date (catalogues, e-journals).
Source: IFLA publications
Author: Roswitha Poll
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2500694309