Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1992,39(4),153-59

PRODUCTIVIlY MEASUREMENT FOR A UBRARY

The paper formulates and applies a simpleproductivity measurement model for a library. Itis essential to measure the productivity of alibrary for better management. The proposedmethod is called objective matrix. It is multi-attribute operation oriented system which canbe easily applicable in a library. This methodincorporates participation, motivation and respon-sibility unlike the traditional output/input models.

INTRODUCTION

Assessment of productivity of anyorganisation isthemost important task, irrespective of whether it isenqaqed in profit/nonprofit and manufacturing!service activities. Despite being defined and inter-preted in anumberof ways, there is a noconsen-susonwhat exactly the term "productiviity"standsfor. Broadlyspeaking, productivity refers toa com-parison between the quantityofgoods and serv-ices produced and delivered and the quantity ofresources employed in turning out thesegoods orservices. As against the conventional concepts ofproductivity like ratio of output over input, theproductivity as a system's concept implies a broadermeaning. It represents the over-all efficiency of thesystem. It shows how a system is performing toachieve its objectives or goals.

Library is a service organisation and it must justifyits budget by the degree of service it renders. Todo this, the librarian willfind it useful to quote ameasure of the degree to which the library issatisfying its clientele. It is necessary to measurethe productivity in a library showing how far thelibrary has been successful in achieving its objec-tives.

NEED OF PRODUCTlVITY IN UBRARY

Different parties concernd with the library havedifferent perceptions or expectations regardingthe productivity of the library. This results in an ex-pectational incongruency.

Vol 39 No 4 Dee 1992

B SETHIHUKAM SINGHNational Institute of IndustrialEngineeringVihar Lake,Bombay-4000B7

For the librarian, higher productivity means lessnumber of complaints, less absenteeism, morenumber of services, more satisfaction of users,faster service, more budgetary allocation, etc.

For the library staff, higher productivity meansmore involvement in decision making, more lei-sure time, more overtime, better promotion andgrowth, sympathetic understanding of theirproblems, etc.

For users, a more productive library is consideredto provide the required service at a faster speedand lower price.

For authorities ofthe institute of which the library isa part, higher productivity means a better imageof the library in the eyes of users, more disciplinein the library, better utilization of budgetary alloca-tion, proper maintenance of the building and otherfacilities, etc.

The suppliers of books and journals associatecontinuity of supply, quick payment and maxi-mum profit with the productivity of the library.

The expectations of various parties from a librarymay not always be conflicting. They could becomplementary in some respects. This expecta-tional in congruency clearly shows that the issueof productivity as linked with library like any othercase is multidimensional. Any measure of pro-ductivity must take into account all these expec-tations in a rational manner, in total perspective.

The service provided by the library is evaluated onthe basis of its quality as well as the cost. Thecustomer interprets quality of service in terms hissatisfaction when visiting the library and the pricein terms of the benefits gained from the visit.Hence, it is necessary that the quality of service isimproved for giving more satisfication to theusers. The quality of a service is better, when the

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SETI-Il AND HUKAM SINGH

Fig- 1 Format for a Mat.llix

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Performanc e

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f. Index

Score

Ann Lib Sci Doc

PRODl)cnvlTY MEASUREMENT FOR A LIBRARY

library is more productive, i.e. the resources areused efficiently and effectively. It is in this contextthat managing the productivity or measuring theproductivity of a library is essential.

PRODUCTMTY MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

The fear of people to being measured is mainlydue to an inadequate measuring system. A goodproductivity measurement system must showhow the input is related to the output. The ac-countants/manager's measures of productivitysuch as partial productivity measure, total factorproductivity measure or total productivity meas-ure are nothing more than some figures whichhide more than what they reveal. However so-phisticated the models may be, they do not revealexactly 'who' is doing 'what', 'how' and 'why'.

A good measurement system should take intoconsideration all the critical factors which con-tribute to the productivity of an organisation. Itshould acknowledge the responsibilities asso-ciated with the factors. The measuring systemshould have an in built mechanism for correctionand improvement. The people working for certaingoal must know whether performance was 'good'or 'bad'. The characteristics of an acceptablemeasurement system are feasibility, consistency,accuracy,' fairness, understandability, timelinessand cost effectiveness. These characteristics maybe defined as follows:

Feasibility Required data are avail-able

Consistency

a rating scale for each criterion is constructedbased on the future performance goal. Thismotivates the group for better performance.Then weights for relative importance of thecriteria are set by a higher level of management.This shows 'who' should be accountable for'what' and by 'how much'. At the time of evalu-ation, the performance level is ascertained fromthe extent of achievement. The performance lev-els are of 10 discrete steps. This performancescore is multiplied by the corresponding weightand the sum of the products is defined as theproductivity index for the period. This indexhelps in monitoring and feedback of the librarysystem.

OBJECTlVE MATRIX FOR A UBRARY

The people responsible for the performance in alibrary are the librarian, his staff and the atten-dants. This is the functional group whose pro-ductivity measurement is sought for. All themembers of library share the same identifiablemission. The mission of the group is to provideservice. It is difficult to establish the distinguiSh-able output.

Therefore, depending upon the current Objectivesof the library, (as derived from the supra-system'sObjectives), the productivity criteria are taken inthe form of ratios indicating performance whichcan certainly be determined. The ratios definedfor measuring productivity in a library are as fol-lows:

Earining in Rsprocedure and results Revenue Budget Ratioare repeatable Budget in Rs.

Accuracy measures whatIS sought

Fairness unbiased, trusted

Understandability - clear methods & results

Timeliness provides feedback pro-mptly

Cost effectivemeasurement

economical

OBJECTIVE MATRIX

The design of an objective matrix resembles anorthogonal format Fig. 1. The process of matrixconstruction starts with a group of workers identi-fying the criteria for productivity in their areas ofoperation. This involves their participation. Then

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Though earnings are not so important, it ispossible for this library to generate revenue whichhas been it's function over the years by way oftraining programs, collection of fines, outsidemembership fees, fees charged from industriesfor various services like Current Awareness Serv-ice, etc. The increasing awareness for becomingself supportive in terms of budgetary needs asksfor more of revenue earnings. So this is definitelya performance criteria.

Book issue (No. of times)Issue Turn-Over Ratio

Total No. of Books

Issue turn-over ratio could be defined as the ratiobetween the books issued and the total numberof books in the library. According to this criteria,more the number of issues, more useful is the

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10 1 .5 1 .5 20 1 •a 0.4 1.0 1.0

9.1 1 .41 1 .71 19 0.99 0.3 0.99 0.96

6.3 1 .33 1.93 17 0.97 p.35 0.96 0.96

7 .4 1 .24 2.14 16 0.96 p.32 0.9-7 0.94

6.6 1.16 2.36 14 0.94 p.30 0.97 0.91

5 .7 1 •06 2.57 13 0.93 10.27 0.96 0.69

4.9 0.99 2.79 11 0.91 0.25 0.95 0.67

4.0 0.9 3.0 10 0.9 0.22 0.94 0.65

3.5 0.67 J.67 6 0.67 0.20 0.93 0.73

J.O 0.63 4.JJ 7 0.63 0.17 0.91 0.72

2.5 0.6 5.0 5 0.60 0.15 0.9 0.70

1515 20 10 10 15 105

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fig-2 Objective Matrix for a library

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Index

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PRODUCfIVITY MEASUREMENT FOR A L1BRARY

library. A high issue turn-over ratio shows that a Complaints attendedgood number of useful books are procured in the Response Ratiolibrary. Total Number of Complaint

Budget (in Rupees)

Missing Books (Cost in Rupees) This ratio shows the library's responsiveness tothe user's complaints.Security

This ratio shows how the security in the library isworking. As per the supra-system of which thelibrary is a part, the ratio should be 1.5 for thebest performance and 5.0 for the worstperformance.

Number of ParticipantsParticipation Ratio -----------

Number of Training Programms

This ratio shows the average number of partici-pants in a particular year. A high ratio isdesirable for a good productivity system.

Bibliography ProvidedBibliography Service

Ratio Bibliography Demanded

This ratio shows the library's ability to cope upwith the demands of bibliography service.

Membership AcceptedPerformance Ratio

Total Membership

For a growing library the membership should al-ways grow. Hence, it is an indication of perform-ance.

Inter Library Loans ProvidedResource Sharing _

Ratio Inter Library Loans Requested

This ratio shows the library's ability and willing-ness to allow out-siders to use the facilities in thelibrary and allow its own members to share thefacilities available in other libraries.

Table 1.

Similarily, various other ratios could be estab-lished for different libraries.

PERFORMANCE SCALES

Performance scales are located in the body of thematrix and range from 0 to 10. Each criterion isrepresented by a column. Levels of performanceattributable to each ratio are located in the rowsmarked 0 through 10.. Level '0' is the lowest levelof accomplishment in the recent years where thenormal operating condition existed. Level '3'corresponds to the current or average level ofperformance with a look at the recent history ofperformance. Level '10' is the realistic estimateof result which can be attained in the forseablefuture with the same resources. Level '0', '3'are benchmarks. Level '10' is, the challenge. Theestablished goal objective must be optimistic onewhich should motivate the library people. Theobjective matrix established shows the variousratios corresponding to various levels of achieve-ment. The most important thing in the construc-tion of the matrix is that the whole team .mustdecide what is current, pessimistic or optimisticlevel of performance. Take, for example, the ratioof earning and budget. The current level of per-formance is 4 and the lowest 2.5. It is decided thatthe best ratio of performance criterion should be10. So 2.5 is entered at '0' level, 4 at level '3'and 10 at level '10' in the column under the pro-ductivity criterion of earning and budget ratio.Similar ratios for level '0', '3' and '10' are de-cided for all other criteria. Then the figures forintennediate levels are established proportionately.

Weightages

All the ratios or objectives are not equally impor-

% Productivity (Gain/Loss)Year Index

1988198919901991

385165225250

57 (loss)36 (Gain)11 (Gain)

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SElHI AND HUKAM SINGH

3.7 0.92 4.2 8 0.9 0.24 0.94 0.78

10 1.50 1 .5 20 1.0 0.4 1.0 1.0

9.1 1 .41 1.71 19 0.99 0.37 0.99 0.98

8. J 1 .3J 1.9J 17 0.97 0.J5 0.98 0.96

7.4 1 .24 2.14 16 0.96 0~J2 0.97 0.94

6.6 1 .16 2.36. 14 0.94 0.30 0.97 0.91

5.7 1.08 2.57 1J 0.9J 0.27 0.96 0.89

4.9 0.9-9 2.79 11 0.91 0.25 0.95 0.B7

8 J.O 10 8 ~ 8 0.854.0 e8 0.87e 0 0.B7 0.20 0.93 8

3.0 0.B3 4.33 7 O.BJ 0.17 0.91 0.72

2.5 O.B 5.0 5 0.8 0.15 0.9 0.70

2 3 2 2 J 3 3 2

15 20 10 10 5 15 10 15

\JO \ 60 \20 \20 \'5 \45 \ JO\30 \

Figure - 3 Index for 1991 250

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Perrar••nee (1991)

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PRODUCfIVITY MEASUREMENT FOR A LIBRARY

tant for the library as a whole. Different ratiosqualify for differentweightages which is assignedby the people in responsible positions. In thiscase the weightages are assigned by the librar-ian. The issue turnover ratio gets a weightage of20 while the bibliography ratio gets a weight of 5.

PRODUCTMTY INDEX

At the end of the year, the values of various ratiosare calculated and entered in the matrix in therow entitled 'performance'. The appropriate fig-ures are rounded off in the main body. The scoresare noted down at the bottom in the boxes. Theproducts of the scores and weights are enteredin the 'value' row. Then the values are summedup to arrive at the 'productivity index' for thatparticular year. The productivity index of thelibrary for last four years as found out is given inFig. 3 and Table 1.

DISCUSSION

The index as measured for various years showthat it achieved a highest figure of 385 in 1988anda lowest of 165 in 1989. The loss of productiv-ity in 1989 has been 57% and there is a gain of pro-ductivity in the subsequent years, the reasonsfor non-achievement or bad performance were

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found out and subsequent actions have led togradual improvements. It is true that the reasonsfor poor performance were found out and theactions were taken without the help of objectiveindex in the earlier years. But there is no doubtthat with the help of objective index the problemscould be located easily and an appropriate actioncould be found for better achievement. Instead offollowing a method of scratch here and fiddlethere, the help of the objective matrix would havebeen more Objective.

CONCLUSION

The establishment of an objective - matrix is easy.Because its inherent strengths are found in par-ticipation, motivation and accountability of themembers of the group, it proves a good feedbackand monitoring systems. It does not only find theproductivity figure for a particular year but alsohighlights the reasons for non-achievement ot itsgoal and the measures to be taken for improve-ment. It directly pinpoints particular individual orindividuals for their negligence or irresponsi-bility. Such measurement system definitely helpsthe library to a great extent though it may not bea cure tor all productivity ailments and an elixirto stimulate productivity performance.

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