Measuring Library Performance

Book excerpt: Measuring the performance of a library's services is one of the most crucial parts of providing a good service. This important book is the first to provide an accessible account of current thinking on the evaluation of library services, both traditional and - importantly - electronic library services. Illustrated throughout with a range of international examples across different types of libraries, this book will become the standard work on performance measurement. The book is structured to focus first of all on the intended user of the services (outcome and impact perspectives), then to look at the management of the service (output and process issues), then at evaluating the building blocks of services (input issues) and finally to draw together these strands by examining some of the broader frameworks for evaluation which have emerged. The book ends with an extensive Appendix with a description of key methodologies and suitable references. Each chapter includes suggestions for further reading as well as key references. The key areas addressed include: user satisfaction impact on users economic impact inputs evaluating processes counting the outputs acquiring content staff evaluating infrastructure benchmarking and balanced scorecard standards based approaches. Readership: The emphasis on principles and techniques in the book means that it is perfect reading for busy practitioners but it is also eminently suitable for students and researchers trying to get to grips with this tricky area.