Home | Performance Measures and 
Evaluative Tools (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

SCOPE

The issues dealt with in this guideline include: 
Public library statistics, 
Public library performance measures 
New statistical measures 
Benchmarking [metric and process]
Measures of value and impact, 
Standardised questionnaires and standards

POLICY ISSUES

High-level policy

EU Involvement
The European Union has no legal basis for involvement in public libraries as such and touches on them only to the extent that they can demonstrate relevance to policy initiatives for which it does have a legal mandate. Examples include:

• E-Europe

• Employment

• Culture

• Research

• International Cooperation

• Trade [e.g. intellectual property rights]

• Social development

• Structural development

Introduction
Performance measures are of potential interest to many stakeholders:

• Government, whose policy it may be to collect performance data as it is in the UK;

• policy makers and funders want to know whether public libraries are effective in reaching their objectives;

• library managers want to make the best possible use of the resources allocated to them;

• the public, both as customer and supporte, , who want to know that the library will be there when they want to use it;

• advocates of public libraries;

• researchers acting on behalf of any or none of these groups.

The issue can be addressed at three levels: local, national/regional and international.

Public Library Mission and Purpose
The key questions driving the agenda for performance measurement internationally are:

• What are public libraries for?

• Who controls the public library agenda? Is it a national, regional or local matter? Should public libraries be a broad service, catering for the whole community, or do they need to sharpen their marketing to demonstrate their value to and impact on specific client groups?

• Modernisation brings in issues concerning the Internet and electronic information and links the public library agenda to such issues as e-government, social inclusion, freedom of information, employment, education and economic well-being.

• What is a good public library and how much should it cost?

• If a good public library now is different from the previous concept of a good public library, then new measures are called for.

• If there is increased competition for public funds, so public libraries need arguments to win their share. Sometimes the argument is purely political. Sometimes it is rational and evidence-based, which is where performance indicators fit. They should provide the language for rational debate.

Home | Performance Measures and 
Evaluative Tools (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4