The Culture of Evaluation in Library and Information Services

Citation

Lafferty, S. (2008), "The Culture of Evaluation in Library and Information Services", Library Management, Vol. 29 No. 8/9, pp. 798-799. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917440

I received this book with some anticipation, expecting, from the title, to read a critical analysis of the culture of libraries when it comes to evaluating their operations. In this I was disappointed. John Crawford's book is an introduction to measurement and evaluation, and provides mainly descriptive information about what is happening almost exclusively in the UK.

The publisher's introduction, states that the books in this series “are aimed at the busy professional … designed to provide … practical coverage of topics that are of interest to librarians and other information professionals”. In some ways this book lives up to this aim. It provides a number of checklists such as what might be measured, general survey instruments and toolkits. It also provides some guidance as to when they might be used and describes different data collection methods and pitfalls to be avoided.

It is, however, first and foremost, introductory, not so much aimed at the busy professional as at the novice to measurement and evaluation. It provides so many URLs, however, to sources outside the book, that one begins to realise that the book cannot stand alone as an information resource. By the time the reader follows the links of interest, the book ceases to be a short, sharp introduction, and becomes an analogue front end to a very large set of electronic resources. The curse of the broken link may make the book less useful over time than it otherwise might be.

One of the greatest drawbacks of the book is its UK‐centricity. In Chapter 2 it lists and describes different authorities and library organisations in the UK only, requiring and/or gathering data from libraries. Information professionals will find little in the book to provide context beyond the UK.

Chapter 6 is headed “Current and recent research in evaluation of library and information services”. I thought at last there might be some meaty analysis of real research in the area. However, the chapter is again descriptive and linear, describing one project after another – and not all of them were research.

I found Chapter 7, “the evaluation of electronic information services”, the most interesting and best‐written chapter in the book. It refers to an international standard ISO 2789, lists a number of measures that might be used and also describes the findings from a number of evaluation exercises.

This book will be most useful to library and information professionals who are looking to be pointed to a range of criteria and tools they can use to evaluate their operations. It does not live up to its name, but it does provide a starting point in measurement and evaluation of library services.

The author's incredible assertion that “Unlike retail services, libraries operate under resource constraints and the quality of service offered has to be viewed in this light” sums up why someone should write a critical analysis of the “culture of evaluation in library and information services”. John Crawford's is not that book.