Library Services Needs to Strengthen its Performance Measurement of the Collection Services Workflow

What Office of Inspector General Evaluated

The objective of this evaluation was to assess  was to assess Library Services' capability to perform end-to-end monitoring of the effectiveness of the collections storage process and its stages, including the acquisition, processing, and storing of collection materials, across different collection formats (e.g., monographs and serials, manuscripts, music, etc.) through the use of performance measures.  

What Office of Inspector General Found

• The Library's new strategic plan provides focus and direction to Library Services' efforts to improve the collection services workflow.
• Library Services needs to broaden its capability to perform end-to-end monitoring of the collection services workflow
• Library Services needs to strengthen its capability to identify, measure, and track its inventory of unprocessed collection materials
• Library Services needs to establish performance targets based on complete and accurate data
• Library Services needs to establish key performance indicators that will help it measure the efficiency and effectiveness of its collection services workflow
• Library Services needs a cross-organizational approach to performance measurement that facilitates collaboration
• Library Services needs to track costs associated with outcome-oriented performance measures in fulfillment of strategic goals and objectives
• Library Services needs to track capacity utilization to measure the effectiveness of its collection services workflow
• Building a collection services workflow approach should be a Library-level priority in the Library Services directional plan 

What Office of Inspector General Recommended

• Library Services develop and implement performance measures for the collection services workflow that measure desired outcomes aligned with the first goal of the Library’s new strategic plan to expand user access and the goal’s first objective to increase the discoverability and availability of collection materials, including measures for analog and electronic collection materials of cycle time and the age of Library Services’ inventory of unprocessed materials.
• Library Services utilize baseline and trend data in measuring progress in fulfillment of the first goal of the Library’s new strategic plan to expand user access and the goal’s first objective to increase the discoverability and availability of collection materials.
• Library Services broaden its capability to perform end-to-end monitoring of the collection services workflow by mapping business processes that are key to meeting user needs.
• Library Services create a more precise definition of “arrearage” that it applies consistently across all areas within Library Services to help ensure that it has a complete and accurate inventory of unprocessed analog collection materials.
• Library Services create a complete and accurate inventory of unprocessed electronic collection materials.
• Library Services use complete and accurate data to establish an outcome-oriented target for reducing the size of its inventory of unprocessed analog collection materials (e.g., using a ratio of unprocessed analog materials to analog collection materials overall) and use the target to measure performance.
• Library Services use complete and accurate data to establish plans to set an outcome-oriented target for reducing the size of its inventory of unprocessed electronic collection materials (e.g., using a ratio of unprocessed electronic materials to electronic collection materials overall).
• Library Services establish outcome-oriented measures focused on its performance related to meeting user needs associated with the collection services workflow.
• Library Services develop key performance indicators that measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the collection services workflow.
• Library Services track allocation of resources associated with outcome based performance measures for all stages of the collection services workflow for analog and electronic collections materials.
• Library Services establish a capacity utilization performance measure that tracks the effectiveness of its collection services workflow.
• Library Services establish a Library-level priority in its directional plan to measure the effectiveness of the collections storage workflow, as described in the second, third, and fourth findings of OIG’s report, in fulfillment of the Library’s user access goal (and others as appropriate) to include: defining the overall initiative, linking it to the Library’s and Library Services’ goals and objectives; articulating the desired longer term impact of the work; determining the timespan of the initiative and its key components; setting output and outcome measures, and targets for those measures, to track progress of the work over time; and identifying ownership/accountability for reaching targets.