Quality Services in Academic Libraries

There is great consistency throughout these articles, research projects, management schemes, and standards, in and out of librarianship. Does the repetition suggest that the lessons have not yet been learned? Rather, it may be that there is no new silver bullet or shortcut for academic libraries. Experience reveals that one may have the formal process without getting good results and vice versa; the determining factor is whether the library staff, managers, and stakeholders define certain fundamental assumptions about the nature of the enterprise. All the above have in common the following underlying components: • The careful definition of goals or of some kind of criteria against which success can be assessed •A focus on meeting the needs of the users, as defined by the library and the institution •Leadership: a commitment from the top, conscious efforts at ensuring communication, the provision of training and resources for the process of evaluation, the active support of a process to promote shared values •The involvement of all levels of staff in goal setting, evaluation, and the improvement of processes and services •Integrating a process of evaluation that is continuous and adaptive, whether that process is based on the framework of TQM, strategic planning, or another model