LibGuides: Library Value Toolkit V2: Benchmarking

Task Force Recommendations

What do we think you should keep in mind?

Recommendation 1: If you are part of a network of libraries, share your data gathering methods and tools and try to conform to any community standards. Better to be prepared.

Recommendation 2: Be sure to participate in any benchmarking surveys that your library has been invited to complete. This will benefit the whole community.

Recommendation 3: Use benchmarking reports to be in control and know the landscape when managing and promoting your services. Don't assume that your senior management is unaware of what is happening at other health libraries!

Benchmarking

This section identifies resources about benchmarking and its importance in generating data to compare your services with other libraries. The emphasis is on comparative benchmarking.

What is Benchmarking?

To quote from the introduction to the CHLA - ABSC Benchmarking Toolkit from 1998:

"...we can learn from observing the way others do things and these observations can, in turn, offer opportunities for adopting the best practices we find. By comparing our libraries with other libraries in a bench marking partnership, opportunities for doing things differently become evident."

Benchmarking is valuable for smaller health libraries with limited resources as it provides comparable data to present to administrators.

See the HSICT Levels of Health Library Services at the bottom of this page.

Benchmarking: how do Canadian hospital libraries compare?
By Penny Logan. JCHLA / JABSC 30: 131-132. 2009. Canadian health libraries participated in the 2007 MLA benchmarking survey. This paper provides some of the results.
Benchmarking Canadian Health Facility Libraries. CHLA 2013 Presentation
Presentation at CHLA/ABSC 2013 Conference. Ada Ducas et. al, University of Manitoba Libraries. Published 2015 in JCHLA. See article.
Benchmarking Canadian Health Facility Libraries. JCHLA_2015
Ducas A et al. JCHLA 2015
HSICT Levels of Library Services

Benchmarking Tool Kit
Published by CHLA/ABSC in 1998. Limited copies are available to purchase. Although our work has changed, many of the basics have not. Tools can be adapted and updated.
The Medical Library Association Benchmarking Network: Results
Results of the 2002 MLA Benchmarking Survey. J Med Libr Assoc 94(2) 2006. Appendix includes the survey instrument.
MLA 2007 Benchmarking Survey
Results are accessible to MLA members only.
MLA Benchmarking Data Worksheet 2004
Medical Library Association Benchmarking Network. An example of an in depth benchmarking covering many categories of health libraries. The 2007 survey worksheet is only available to MLA members.
Using Standards to Make your Case
Carla J. Funk. New Library World. Vol. 109 (5/6) 251-257. 2008. Describes case studies on how standards and benchmarking have been used. Emphasizes the importance of standards and benchmarking in promoting quality library services and the importance of associations in developing, facilitating and promoting tools for their membership to use for advocating services.

Use the HSICT Levels of Library Service simplified poster below as a guide for benchmarking your service. This is a guideline to see where your service might fit. Libraries are unique & may not exactly fit one level. Mandate, budget & human resources will affect the delivery of bronze, silver or gold services. Check out the Top Documents for an excel format of this list!