Benchmarking Library, Information and Education Services: New Strategic Choices in Challenging Times

by David Baker (Editor), Lucy Ellis (Editor), Caroline Williams (Editor), Cliff Wragg (Editor)

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780323956635
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	02/17/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	420
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

David Baker has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with 19 monographs and over 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken worldwide at numerous conferences and led workshops and seminars. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has also been active in major national projects. He has held senior positions at several institutions, including as Principal and Chief Executive of Plymouth Marjon University, and Emeritus Professor of Strategic Information Management. He has also been Deputy Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). Until recently he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Universities of Northampton and South Wales. He is Chair of the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. He is a leader in the field of library and information science.
Lucy Ellis is a consultant and research associate within higher education. Her background is as a lecturer, research scientist and project development consultant. With Professor David Baker she is Editor-in-Chief for the Elsevier Major Reference Work ‘Encyclopaedia of Libraries, Librarianship, and Information Science’ and Chandos-Elsevier Series Editor for ‘Digital Information Review’ and the ‘Advances in Information’ series. Recent books in this series include Libraries, Digital Information and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change and Future Directions in Digital Information: Predictions, Practice and Participation. She is a reviewer for Information and Learning Sciences (Wiley), Journal of British Institute of Organ Studies, British Academy grants scheme and the publisher Palgrave. Following a PhD in Experimental Phonetics she worked as a Senior Lecturer and programme leader at Plymouth Marjon University and as a project development consultant. She holds an Honorary Research Fellowship with the College of Humanities at Exeter University.
Caroline Williams as University Librarian at The University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane, Australia is responsible for leading UQ Library, with a focus on the student experience, modernizing library spaces, and support for research, including open access. Prior to UQ in the UK she was Director of Libraries at the University of Nottingham where she led a student-focused transformation strategy and oversaw an award-winning library building redevelopment and development of research data management (RDM) infrastructure. Other previous roles include Executive Director of Institute and Deputy Director of Mimas, a national data centre funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). She has also worked in a range of library roles at Manchester Metropolitan University, the Open University, and Nottingham Trent University. Caroline holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Education Research, MBA, MA in Library and Information Studies and BA (Hons). She has written and presented internationally on change management and digital transformation.
Since moving out of the sound engineering field, Cliff developed his career in the Polytechnic sector, rising through the Human Resources area (specializing in Staff Development), becoming Director of HR, and then Polytechnic Secretary (incorporating Company Secretary and Clerk to Governors). This, in turn, became University Secretary, a role he fulfilled for 10 years. In 1995, Cliff left to become a freelance management consultant for HE, and one of his early projects was to take on the development and management of a benchmarking programme, on behalf of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. He ran this programme successfully for 24 years, involving universities from around the globe. He also undertook a broad range of consultancy work for individual universities and HE organizations (such as the Leadership Foundation and the Higher Education Academy, now Advance HE). Cliff’s other interests include working as a Licensed International Tennis Official. (He worked as a Chair Umpire at Wimbledon for 20 years before concentrating on his role as a Chief Umpire and Referee.)

Table of Contents

1. Summation and understanding of institutional responses to the current environment
2. Creation of sustainable long-term strategies
3. Identification of key practical approaches to future provision
4. Information on current and future good practice
5. Collective ways of learning lessons for forward planning
6. A framework for the evaluation of systems and services
7. Improved effectiveness through shared development

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Helps leaders and managers make good strategic choices for the future of library and educational services

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Ekaterini P Papadopoulou, MA, MLIS (Seattle University)
Description: This book introduces the value of a qualitative approach to benchmarking and centers on the development and findings of the International Benchmarking Exercise. In addition to providing sample prompts and "good practice" statements, the book devotes several chapters to showcasing exemplary case samples from the Benchmarking Exercise, as well as exploring the role of qualitative benchmarking in wider contexts, including micro-credentialing and third sector organizations.
Purpose: The purpose of the book is to serve as a tool for leaders to engage in qualitative benchmarking as a way to help drive service improvement. The book provides a robust introduction to qualitative benchmarking approaches and outcomes but stops short of being a prescriptive manual for implementing the process, instead relying on examples and rich discussion of the findings of the organizations engaged in the International Benchmarking Exercise.
Audience: The book is explicitly aimed at library leaders and senior managers of library and information science services. The chapters cover examples from ed-tech and micro-credentialing, but the focus is predominantly on academic libraries. The information is rich and densely presented and is suited to managers or practitioners already somewhat familiar with benchmarking, who are looking to add a qualitative nuance to their approach.
Features: Parts 1 and 2 introduce qualitative benchmarking and the International Benchmarking Exercise. These first sections serve as a good foundation for qualitative benchmarking before Parts 3 and 4 provide detailed explorations of specific experiences, including timely examples of how the pandemic influenced planning, strategy, and decision-making. Perhaps unsurprisingly when engaging with qualitative concepts, the book relies on detailed descriptions, with very few broken-out tables or figures of the qualitative benchmarking process itself.
Assessment: This book takes a uniquely deep look at the value of qualitative benchmarking in libraries, particularly owing to the breadth of expertise collated in the International Benchmarking Survey which the book is centered around. It focuses on learning and reflects on "good practices," while providing ample real examples of how institutions are using this reflective approach to address assessment and strategic planning in a peri-COVID environment. This book is a timely publication for library managers looking to lead benchmarking, that goes beyond statistics.

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