Evaluating benchmarking as a methodology for the enhancement of quality in academic libraries

Benchmarking can be defined as a methodology where business processes, performance metrics and best practices are compared. Usually, the comparison is done between two organizations, but one can also choose different settings for comparison, e.g. when benchmarking is performed statistically, the num...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Balagué, Núria|||0000-0003-0319-2143, Saarti, Jarmo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:288581
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/288581
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Academic libraries
Quality management
Benchmarking
Service development
Best practices
Biblioteques universitàries
Servei de Biblioteques de la UAB
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Descripción
Sumario:Benchmarking can be defined as a methodology where business processes, performance metrics and best practices are compared. Usually, the comparison is done between two organizations, but one can also choose different settings for comparison, e.g. when benchmarking is performed statistically, the number of organizations compared can be much larger- for example, all the libraries in one country or even in the world. The main function of benchmarking is to enhance one's own practices and processes; if one can achieve a win-win situation, this is usually the most motivating kind of approach. We have been practicing benchmarking between the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Library (Spain) and the University of Eastern Finland Library (Finland) for about ten years. The aim of our paper and presentation will be 1. To take a critical look at benchmarking as a process in quality enhancement, 2. To summarize the findings emerging from our benchmarking project and 3. To devise a model sheet for the most fruitful approach to benchmarking between academic libraries. The results also reveal the best practices of benchmarking in these institutions; recommendations are given to the further development of the library benchmarking and co-operation between libraries.