Evaluating Content and Collections

1
Evaluating Content and Collections

Presented by Xin Liu, Ayako Stolpe, Suzanne
Uratani LIS 650 Summer 2004
2
Overview

• Why do we need to evaluate content and
  collections (measure)?
• How can these evaluations/measurementsbe carried
  out in the different organizations?
• In libraries
• In Rowe Furniture Inc.
• Summary

3
Why do we need to measure? Part 1

• Starting with organizations in general
  numbers help us to face reality. (Magretta,
  p. 120)
• Not just any old measures
• Data in context
• Ratios and six sigma
• Is it worth doing? Cost-benefit analysis, or
  betting the odds

4
Why do we need to measure? Part 2

• Starting with organizations in general, find
  the real bottom line
• How? The foundation of any successfully run
  business is a strategy everyone understands
  coupled with a few key measures that are
  routinely tracked. (Brenneman in Magretta, p.
  138)
• What next? Keep changing measures!

5
Strategy, Measures and the Brain

• Intuition versus Analysis
• Right-brained strategy
• Left-brained strategy

6
Methods used for Collection Evaluation in
Libraries

• Use-Centered Measures
• Circulation studies
• User opinion/studies
• Analysis of interlibrary loan statistics
• In-house use studies
• Shelf availability
• Document delivery tests

• Collection-Centered Measures
• Checking lists, catalogs, bibliographies
• Expert opinion
• Compiling comparative statistics
• Application of collection standards

7
When Couches Fly

• Mission
• Be Competitive with foreign manufacturers
  through maximum utilization of present personnel
  and equipment
• Goal
• Decrease production time threefold (Couches
  produced in 30 days would now take only 10)
• Strategy
• Reconfigure manufacturing set up centered around
  employee input

8
When Couches Fly

• Specific Implementation
• Complete understanding status quo evaluation
• Making space efficiently
• Employees involvement
• What was learned
• Organizational goals can be restructured through
  examination and evaluated via feedback.

9
When Couches Fly

• Rowes transformation strategies
• Flexibility
• Transparency
• Versatility
• Unity

10
Summary Three Last Thoughts

• Success comes by implementing a plan (strategy)
  that everyone understands plus several ways of
  evaluation (measurement) that are routinely
  applied.
• (Paraphrasing Brenneman in Magretta, p. 138)
• Collection evaluation in libraries is a difficult
  and time-consuming task. You need to carefully
  choose a specific set of methods tailored to your
  library.
• While a machine can measure QUANTITY, QUALITY
  must still be decided by human beings.
• Being human, we are not perfect, often swayed
  by perception. We want to test your emotional IQ!

11
Questionnaire

• The Basics of Emotional Intelligence Include
• Knowing your feelings and using them to make life
  decisions you can live with.
• Being able to manage your emotional life without
  being hijacked by it -- not being paralyzed by
  depression or worry, or swept away by anger.
• Persisting in the face of setbacks and channeling
  your impulses in order to pursue your goals.
• Empathy -- reading other people's emotions
  without their having to tell you what they are
  feeling.
• Handling feelings in relationships with skill and
  harmony -- being able to articulate the unspoken
  pulse of a group, for example.

12
(Absolutely) the last thoughtOn Quality

• Quality is never an accident it is always the
  result of intelligent efforts.
• John Ruskin 1819-1900, English author
  and social critic