Benchmarking Library Information And Education Services

Benchmarking Library, Information and Education Services: New Strategic Choices in Challenging Times provides the foundations of ongoing research in the development of collections and services. The book contributes to practical outputs of general benefit to the sector, including customers, clients or stakeholders, offering ideas for how to identify comparative strengths and weaknesses and improve or enhance present practices regardless of how well institutions currently perform. The centerpiece of the book is a description, report and analysis of a major international QB exercise that culminates in a set of good practice statements. The benefits of the QB methodology are applicable to individual institutions. Because of the current global turbulence, individuals, leaders and whole institutions are keen to learn more about what is happening and how they can develop sustainable solutions to both immediate challenges and longer-term scenarios. These include an analysis of third sector organizations, e-libraries, marketing information services, vocational training in higher education, the creative arts, and the role of partnerships in organizational openness. Discusses qualitative benchmarking and it's core tenets Helps readers understand the experiences of others and compare their own experiences to learn and adapt practices Presents tactics readers can use to identify their organization’s professional identity, value and purpose Provides an idea of what the future state of library, education and public services will look like

Because of the current global turbulence, individuals, leaders, and whole institutions are keen to learn more about what is happening and how they can develop sustainable solutions to both immediate challenges and longer-term scenarios. People are looking for inspiration. This book provides it through the theme of Qualitative Benchmarking (QB), a practical tool for sharing expertise and enhancing the effectiveness of organizations, services, or teams. The centrepiece of the book is a description, report, and analysis of a major international QB exercise, culminating in a set of good practice statements. A series of surrounding chapters provide international sector-leading insights through the application of QB in different contexts. These include an analysis of third sector organizations, e-libraries, marketing information services, vocational training in higher education, the creative arts, and the role of partnerships in organizational openness. Benchmarking Library, Information and Education Services will help leaders and managers to make good strategic choices for the future. It will provide a practical tool for sharing expertise and enhancing the effectiveness of library and information organizations, services, or teams through an international base of experience and innovation, learning from others what works and does not work, especially in the digital world in which we operate. It will help to provide the foundations of ongoing research in the development of collections and services. It contributes to practical outputs of general benefit to the sector including customers, clients, or stakeholders, offering ideas for how to identify comparative strengths and weaknesses and to improve or enhance present practices, regardless of how well institutions currently perform: even the best organizations can still find areas in which to improve. The benefits of the QB methodology are applicable to individual institutions and across broader partnerships or consortia within the public sector, including beyond libraries and educational institutions. The key benefits are: summation and understanding of institutional responses, creation of sustainable long-term strategies, identification of key practical approaches to future provision, information on current and future good practice, collective ways of learning lessons for forward planning, a framework for the evaluation of systems and services and improved effectiveness through shared development. Qualitative Benchmarking - what is it? The opportunity to understand the experiences of others and to compare my own experience; to learn and to adapt my own practice What does this experience mean and how does it help me to re-think and question my own and my organization's professional identity, value, and purpose? What is the future of library, education, and public services more broadly, whether in a physical or a digital space?

. Data in the report is based on a survey of 55 North American law libraries drawn from law firm, private company, university, courthouse and government agency law libraries. Data is broken out by size and type of library for ease in benchmarking. The 120+ page report covers developments in staffing, salaries, budgets, materials spending, use of blogs & wikis, use of legal directories, the library role in knowledge management, records management and content management systems. Patron and librarian training, reimbursement for library-related education and other issues are also covered in this latest edition.

The study presents detailed data on the interlibrary loan operations of approximately 50 colleges and universities with data broken out for different types of higher education institutions and by other variables, such as for public and private institutions, and by college enrollment level. The report gives detailed data on turnaround times for various kinds of interlibrary loan borrowing and lending requests, use of technology and services, impact of distance learning and MOOCs on interlibrary loan, copyright and open access issues, the administrative jurisdiction of the interlibrary loan department, departmental cost structure, personnel benchmarks, trends in departmental budgets and other issues in interlibrary loan management.