Measuring a library : a study of activity reports from two libraries.

During the late twentieth century, political and societal changes gave rise to an increased interest in performance evaluation in public organizations. This development also affected libraries in the public sector. The main concern for this master thesis is performance measurement in libraries. In this study two different types of libraries are investigated, one public and the other academic. My aim is to find out if and how performance measurement appears in the libraries annual activity reports. In interviews with library leadership the usability of the measurements are examined. I also compare the results from each library to find common features concerning performance measurement. The theoretical framework consists of themes and ideas from Library and Information science literature that address measurement issues in library organizations. The result of the study demonstrates that measurements appear in a quite simple but varied way, and describe a wide array of organization activities. It further illustrates that the leaders are mainly interested in using measurement for political purposes. Finally, the study shows that there are important differences in the performance accounts of the two libraries. In terms of common features, both libraries rely heavily on their status as non-profit organizations.Uppsatsnivå: