service assessment programmes: the sconul experience
DESCRIPTION
Presentation delivered as Chair of the SCONUL Working Group on Performance Improvement.TRANSCRIPT
Service Assessment Programmes:The SCONUL Experience
Stephen TownCranfield University
Chair, SCONUL Working Group on Performance Improvement
Quality in Higher Education
• Quality Assurance – eg Audit, TQA, ISOs, Bologna
• Traditional patterns of Peer Review– eg RAE, Library Reviews
• Batteries of Performance Indicators– CVCP, SCONUL, HESA
• Quality Culture – eg IIP, TQM, Satisfaction Surveys
The University Context (from the Library Assessment Conference,
Charlottesville, Va, September 2006)
Universities have two “bottom lines”
1. Financial (as in business)
2. Academic, largely through reputation in• Research (the priority in “leading” Universities)• Teaching (& maybe Learning)
Library Pressures for Accountability
The need is therefore to demonstrate the Library contribution in these two dimensions:
1. Financial, through “value for money” or related measures
2. Impact on research, teaching and learning
This also implies that “competitive” data will be highly valued
The SCONUL Response
The SCONUL Working Group on Performance Improvement
• Ten years of “toolkit” development to assist in performance measurement and improvement (for both management and advocacy)
• SCONUL ‘Top concern survey’ 2005, leading to VAMP
Frameworks: Issues
• Balanced Scorecard• EFQM• Key Performance Indicators
Quality:Issues & Solutions
• Benchmarking– Process Benchmarking – Statistical Benchmarking– Peer Group Benchmarking
• Customer Satisfaction Surveys– LibQUAL+– SCONUL Satisfaction
Survey– Priority Research– Opinion Meters
• Charter Mark• Customer Relationship
Management• Investors in People• Quality Assurance
– QAA Guidelines for Assessors
– ISO 9001
• Quality Maturity Model
SCONUL Satisfaction Survey
SCONUL LibQUAL+ Results 2006
CMM‘Capability Maturity Model’
1
2
3
4
55 Optimising
4 Managed
3 Defined
2 Repeatable
1 Initial
Statistics: Issues & Solutions
• SCONUL Statistical Questionnaire• SCONUL Statistics on the Web• SCONUL Annual Library Statistics• SCONUL Statistics: Trend Analysis• Higher education library management
statistics (HELMS)• E-Measures Project
New SCONUL Statistics Measures
• 2d: Breakdown of 'unique serial titles' into:– print only (2e)– electronic only (2f) – print and electronic (2g)
• 2k 'number of electronic databases' • 2l 'number of electronic books' • 4r 'number of successful requests for full-text
articles' • 4s 'number of successful accesses to electronic
books' • 7g Breakdown of 'electronic resources' into:
– 'subscriptions to electronic databases' (7h)– 'expenditure on e-books' (7j)– 'expenditure on other digital documents' (7k)
SCONUL Statistics Web Site
Impact & Value:Issues & Solutions
• Impact– Impact Initiative (LIRG / SCONUL)– Institutional Critical Success Factors for Information
Literacy
• Value– Contingent Valuation– Transparency Costing– Staff Value Added
Conclusions of Impact Measurement
“Helps us to move library performance on from simply counting inputs and outputs to looking at what difference we really make.”
Payne, et al, 2004
SCONUL VAMP Objectives
• New missing measurement instruments & tools
• A full coherent framework for performance, improvement and innovation
• Persuasive data for University Senior Managers, to prove value, impact, comparability, and worth
VAMP Project Structure
• Phase 1 (March-June 2006)– Critical review– SCONUL Member Survey– Gap analysis & synthesis– SCONUL Conference Workshops
• Phases 2 & 3 (July 2006 - April 2007)– Development of new measures & techniques– Review and re-branding of existing tools– Web site development– Dissemination & maintenance strategy
VAMP Web site
• Showcasing approaches to performance measurement in the following areas:– Frameworks– Impact– Quality– Statistics– Value
• Providing detailed methods on how to apply the different approaches
• Sharing experience from those who have already applied the approach
• Discussion areas
Communities of Practice
“groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do,and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better”
“coherence through mutual engagement”
Etienne Wenger, 1998 & 2002
Member’s Forum(Blog?)
Techniques in Use(Wiki?)
VAMP Home Page
SimpleIntroductio
ns
DetailedTechniques
Community of Practice
Techniques
J. Stephen Town