The Evaluation and Measurement of Library Services

This guide provides library directors, managers, and administrators in all types of libraries with complete and up-to-date instructions on how to evaluate library services in order to improve them.

It’s a fact: today’s libraries must evaluate their services in order to find ways to better serve patrons and prove their value to their communities. In this greatly updated and expanded edition of Matthews’ seminal text, you’ll discover a breadth of tools that can be used to evaluate any library service, including newer tools designed to measure customer and patron outcomes.

The book offers practical advice backed by solid research on virtually every aspect of evaluation, including quantitative and qualitative tools, data analysis, and specific recommendations for measuring individual services, such as technical services and reference and interlibrary loan. New chapters give readers effective ways to evaluate critical aspects of their libraries such as automated systems, physical space, staff, performance management frameworks, eBooks, social media, and information literacy.

The author explains how broader and more robust adoption of evaluation techniques will help library managers combine traditional internal measurements, such as circulation and reference transactions, with more customer-centric metrics that reflect how well patrons feel they are served and how satisfied they are with the library. By applying this comprehensive strategy, readers will gain the ability to form a truer picture of their library’s value to its stakeholders and patrons.

Author Biography

Joseph R. Matthews is president of JRM Consulting and has provided consulting assistance to numerous academic, public, and special libraries and local governments. He is editor of Public Library Quarterly and is on the editorial boards of Performance Measurement and Metrics and Library Hi Tech.