SIST-TP ISO/TR 28118:2010

TECHNICAL ISO/TR
REPORT 28118
First edition
2009-04-01
Information and documentation —
Performance indicators for national
libraries
Information et documentation — Indicateurs de performance des
bibliothèques nationales
Reference number
©
ISO 2009
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ii © ISO 2009 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction.v
1 Scope.1
2 Terms and definitions .1
3 Use of performance indicators .10
3.1 General considerations.10
3.2 Selection of performance indicators.11
3.3 Limitations of performance measurement .11
4 Descriptive framework.12
4.1 Presentation of the performance indicators.12
4.2 Description of the performance indicators.12
5 List of performance indicators for national libraries.13
Annex A (informative) Description of performance indicators .15
Annex B (informative) Mission and main goals of national libraries.78
Annex C (informative) Collecting the national part of the Internet .80
Bibliography.84
Foreword
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(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
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In exceptional circumstances, when a technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that
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simple majority vote of its participating members to publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely
informative in nature and does not have to be reviewed until the data it provides are considered to be no
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rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/TR 28118 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 46, Information and documentation,
Subcommittee SC 8, Quality — Statistics and performance evaluation.
iv © ISO 2009 – All rights reserved

Introduction
This Technical Report is concerned with the evaluation of the performance of national libraries.
For several years, national libraries have felt the need to get consensus on a common list of relevant
performance indicators for assessing the quality and performance of their services. Several groups, e.g. within
the IFLA Section of National Libraries and CENL (Conference of European National Libraries), have tried to
assess the present use of performance measurement in national libraries and discussed possible
performance indicators, preferably using performance indicators in existing handbooks and standards.
The second edition of ISO 11620 (see Reference [5] in the Bibliography) establishes a list of performance
indicators for libraries that include performance indicators for electronic library services. ISO 11620 aims at
comprising performance indicators for all types of libraries, but does not cover all tasks and services of every
type of library. This Technical Report establishes the list of performance indicators that are relevant to the
special tasks and services of national libraries.
National libraries have important tasks that differ from those of other libraries, such as the collection and
preservation of the national documentary heritage, the publication of a national bibliography and a leading role
in international cooperation. Therefore, it is important that performance indicators for national libraries
consider topics such as
⎯ the coverage of the national imprint (print and electronic),
⎯ the speed and comprehensiveness of the national bibliography,
⎯ the effort for preserving the national documentary heritage, and
⎯ the international engagement of the library.
National libraries are unique institutions in their countries, and their data are not easily comparable. The main
problems for measuring performance in national libraries are the following.
a) National libraries can have several functions (e.g. university and national library, parliamentary and
national library).
b) There can be more than one national library in one country.
c) National libraries have no specified clientele or primary user group like public or university libraries.
Therefore, output data cannot be set in comparison to “members of the population”.
d) Mission, tasks and functions of national libraries can differ between countries.
This Technical Report selects performance indicators from ISO 11620 that are appropriate to the tasks of
national libraries or can be adapted to such tasks. Additionally, it presents new performance indicators that
have been used or tested by a national library and that cover the topics not considered in ISO 11620.
This Technical Report provides standardized terminology and definitions for data to be used in the
performance indicators. Furthermore, this Technical Report contains concise descriptions of the performance
indicators, of the collection and the analysis of data needed, and of examples where the performance
indicators have been used.
Annex B describes all efforts of assessing the quality and performance of an institution by starting with the
statement of the general mission and tasks established for their national library.
Some national libraries have started creating collections based on national elements found on the Internet. As
it is too early to describe performance indicators for this activity, a short overview of methods and quality
issues is given in Annex C.
Texts in this Technical Report are partly based on ISO 11620.
Throughout this Technical Report, the names of performance indicators are printed with the first letter of
significant words capitalized, e.g. Percentage of the Collection in Stable Condition. This helps to distinguish
these names from supporting text.

vi © ISO 2009 – All rights reserved

TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/TR 28118:2009(E)

Information and documentation — Performance indicators for
national libraries
1 Scope
This Technical Report establishes the performance indicators for national libraries. It is also applicable to
libraries with regional tasks and without a defined population to be served, as many of their evaluation
problems correspond to those of national libraries.
The performance indicators are of special interest for comparison over time within the same library.
Comparisons between libraries are possible, if differences in the tasks and constituencies of the libraries are
taken into account.
This Technical Report does not include performance indicators for evaluating the outcomes or impact of
library services either on individuals, on the communities that libraries serve, or on society at this time. Since
this is an evolving area of performance measurement for libraries, such performance indicators can be added
at a later date.
This Technical Report is not intended to exclude the use of any performance indicators which have not been
specified herein.
2 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
2.1
accessibility
ease of reaching and using a service or facility
[ISO 11620:2008, definition 2.1]
2.2
active user
registered user who has visited or made use of library facilities or services during the reporting period
NOTE This can include the use of electronic library services within or outside the library.
[ISO 2789:2006, definition 3.3.2]
2.3
book
non-serial printed document in codex form
[ISO 2789:2006, definition 3.2.5]
2.4
capital expenditure
expenditure which results in the acquisition of, or addition to, fixed assets
NOTE 1 This includes expenditure on building sites, new buildings and extensions, furnishings and equipment for new
and expanded buildings, computer systems (hardware and software), etc. When applicable, local and national
sales/purchase taxes [e.g. Value Added Tax (VAT)] are included.
NOTE 2 Adapted from ISO 2789:2006, definition 3.5.1.
2.5
closed stacks
stacks normally not accessible to users
2.6
conservation
intervention techniques applied to prevent, arrest or delay deterioration
[ISO 5127:2001, definition 6.1.03]
2.7
content downloaded
content unit that is successfully requested from a database, electronic serial or digital document
[ISO 2789:2006, definition 3.3.3]
2.8
content unit
computer-processed uniquely identifiable textual or audiovisual piece of published work that may be original or
a digest of other published work
NOTE 1 Adapted from the definition of “item” in COUNTER code of practice, Release 2:2004.
NOTE 2 Descriptive records are excluded.
NOTE 3 PDF, Postscript, HTML and other formats of the same content unit will be counted as separate items.
[ISO 2789:2006, definition 3.2.9]
2.9
cultural event
event with cultural, literary, educational, or scholarly intent, e.g. exhibitions, author visits, literary discussions,
workshops, etc.
NOTE 1 Only events arranged by the library are included. Events inside the library premises organized by institutions
outside the library are excluded.
NOTE 2 User training lessons organized by the library are excluded.
2.10
database
collection of electronically stored descriptive records or content units (including facts, full texts, pictures, and
sound) with a common user interface and software for the retrieval and manipulation of the data
NOTE 1 The units or records are usually collected with a particular intent and are related to a defined topic. A database
can be issued on CD-ROM, diskette, or other direct-access method, or as a computer file accessed via dial-up methods or
via the Internet.
NOTE 2 Licensed databases are counted separately even if access to several licensed database products is effected
through the same interface.
2 © ISO 2009 – All rights reserved

NOTE 3 A common interface providing access to a packet of serials or digital documents, usually offered by a
publisher or vendor, is also to be counted as database. Additionally, the single serials or digital documents should be
counted as serials or digital documents.
[ISO 2789:2006, definition 3.2.10]
2.11
digital document
information unit with a defined content that has been digitized by the libr
...