The Quality Library A Guide to Staff Driven Improvement, Better Efficiency, and Happier Customers by Sara Laughlin and Ray W. Wilson

The Quality Library A Guide to Staff Driven Improvement, Better Efficiency, and Happier Customers by Sara Laughlin and Ray W. Wilson

This book is about library processes and how to analyze them using numbers and charts. There is a focus on changing the process before criticizing the person which I find to be an interesting philosophy.

This book was hard for me to follow because it is focused on numbers and charts more than qualitative processes. At times it seems very bureaucratic. However, even if you do not get the numbers, it does show you how to track a process from beginning to end in a library. There are some simple diagrams like the quality circle in the book which is a circle of study, act, plan, do.

The back of the book has two appendixes. One of these is a list of common library processes. The other is a list of common measurements used to track library activities. I found the list of common measurements to be quite interesting. It includes qualitative measures like customer satisfaction, new ideas implemented, community skills developed in addition to the pure numerical measures like circulation of books, head count, and number of reference questions answered.

The most useful part of the book was the opening chapter. It included a way to map a library as a system. This map included mission, vision, values, measurements, inputs, outputs, and feedback loops. This book will help you understand a different way of looking at a library; the viewpoint of the library as an efficient system.