Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives: Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes

by Robert E. Dugan, Peter Hernon, Danuta A. Nitecki

Overview

This guidebook shows academic libraries how to use innovative new performance metrics to achieve greater accountability and higher levels of service.

Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives: Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes helps academic librarians go well beyond the basic guideposts of inputs and outputs to explore a wide range of metrics for measuring their effectiveness and improving performance. Based on their groundbreaking article, "Outcomes Assessment: Not Synonymous with Inputs and Outputs," Robert Dugan and Peter Hernon, along with coauthor Danuta Nitecki, give libraries the tools they need to see beyond their own walls and interpret both outcome and impact metrics from the perspective of the parent institution, the customer, and the stakeholder, as well as the library itself.

Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives makes a convincing argument for targeting the right audience with the right metric. The first three chapters introduce key concepts and the relevant literature, and helps libraries make the crucial distinction between assessment and evaluation. Chapters four through nine examine the four perspectives and their attendant metrics. The final chapters discuss how best to present and interpret the results.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591586654
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/27/2009
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Peter Hernon is professor of library and information science at Simmons College, Boston, MA. He is the author of 50 books, including Library Unlimited's Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives and Making a Difference: Leadership and Academic Libraries; and Praeger's Federal Information Policies in the 1990s: Views and Perspectives.

Table of Contents

Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
Information Needs
Transparency
Applying Metrics
Academic Libraries
Conclusion
Notes
2 Related Literature
Use of the Word Metric
Historical Context
Relevant Guides, Manuals, and Other Major Works
Other Lists of Metrics
Scholarly Writings
Some Relevant Web Sites and Software
Conclusion
Notes
3 Assessment and Evaluation
The Institution
Academic Libraries
Moving toward Standardized Statistical Gathering
Conclusion
Notes
4 The Library Perspective
Traditional Inputs and Outputs
E-metrics
Development of Metrics Based on Perceptions
Strategies for Using Library Metrics
Professional Development Is Needed
Conclusion
Notes
5 The Customer Perspective
Types of Customers
Excellence in Customer Service
Types of Questions Relevant to Measurement
Customer Expectations
Reliability as a Customer Expectation
Methods of Data Collection
Conclusion
Notes
6 The Institutional Perspective
Institutional Metrics (in General)
Institutional Metrics to Which Libraries Can Contribute
Conclusion
Notes
7 The Stakeholder Perspective
Accountability
Affordability
Transparency and Comparative Metrics
Advocacy
Conclusion
Notes
8 Benchmarking and Best Practices
Differentiating More between Benchmarking and Best Practices
Best Practices
Convergence
Quantitative Metrics
Qualitative Metrics
Planning for the Future
Conclusion
Notes
9 Metrics for Marketing and Public Relations
Types of Metrics
Methods of Evaluation
Strategies for Using Metrics
An Agenda for Conducting Further Research
Conclusion
Notes
10 Management Information Systems
Characteristics of Metrics
MIS Activities
The Sawyer Library
Other Applications
Supplementing the MIS
Conclusion
Notes
11 Utilizing Metrics: Interpretation, Synthesis, and Presentation
Interpretation
Synthesis
Presentation
Conclusion
Notes
12 The Joy of Metrics
Grounding of Purpose
Satisfaction of Improvement and Knowledge of Excellence
Importance of Sharing
Reward of Impact
Challenges of Engagement
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix: Metrics Analysis
About the Appendices
A. Inputs: Library Perspective (reported as numbers)
B. Inputs: Library Perspective (reported as ratios/percentages)
C. Outputs: Library Perspective (reported as numbers)
D. Outputs: Library Perspective (reported as ratios/percentages)
E. Selected Examples of Process Metrics
F. Selected Examples of Trend Metrics
G. Examples of Qualitative Metrics
H. Customer Perspective
I. Institutional Perspective
Table I-1: Librarians Should Be Aware of These Institutional Metrics and Their Implications Concerning the Library
Table I-2: Measures of, or from, the Library about Value to the Institution
J. Stakeholder Perspectives (Examples)
Table J-1: Stakeholders Directly/Indirectly Benefiting from the Library
Table J-1a: Library Infrastructure and Capacity
Table J-1b: Library Contribution to Outcomes
Table J-1c: Library Contribution to Satisfaction
Table J-2: Stakeholders with Oversight Interest in the Library
K. Selected Metrics Used by Libraries for Benchmarking and Best Practices
L. Marketing and Public Relations
M. Selected Metrics from Library Reports
N. Some Metrics Related to Scholarly Communication
O. COUNTER Code of Practice, Release 3 (August 2008)
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Dugan (Sawyer Library, Suffolk U., Ashburton, Massachusetts), Hernon (library and information science, Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts), and Nitecki's (Sterling Memorial Library, Yale U., Connecticut) text offers academic librarians a wide range of metrics for measuring library effectiveness and improving performance. Coverage includes key concepts and the relevant supporting literature; differentiating between assessment and evaluation; the perspectives of the library itself and of the parent institution, the customer, and the stakeholder; benchmarking and best practices; metrics for marketing and public relations; management information systems; and presenting, interpreting, and displaying metrics. Multiple appendices summarize the text and illustrate numerous metrics applicable to libraries. For academic and public library managers, graduate students in library and information science, the stakeholders served by libraries, and vendors supplying use data to libraries and consortia.” —Reference & Research Book News

“This book is highly recommended. . . . It will be useful to library administrators and other decision makers choosing metrics to meet institutional demands for accountability, affordability, transparency, and student learning outcomes. . . . This book is recommended for academic libraries, public libraries, research libraries, consortia, and organizations that aim to provide quality information services.” —Collection Management

“In this useful book, Dugan, Hernon and Nitecki offer colleagues an overview of the purpose and forms of metrics in libraries….Although particularly relevant to academic librarians, this book should prove very valuable to individuals in any type of library.” —The Journal of Academic Librarianship

“Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives is well worth the effort to acclimate to a brave new library language. Thus the authors succeed in making a convincing case for the merit of metrics in the administration of libraries.” —College & Research Libraries

From the Publisher