Public Libraries
Mohammad Zarei Mahmoudabadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: In this paper, a decision-making model based on fuzzy approach for prioritizing the cities of Yazd province in terms of public libraries performance is presented. Since the purpose of this research was balanced and comprehensive evaluation of public library performance and ...
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Background and Objectives: In this paper, a decision-making model based on fuzzy approach for prioritizing the cities of Yazd province in terms of public libraries performance is presented. Since the purpose of this research was balanced and comprehensive evaluation of public library performance and to provide a comprehensive view for managers in this field in the future, the main criteria of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model and an integrated Balanced Scorecard–Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchical Process (BSC-FAHP) model were presented. Despite the relatively large amount of research on the evaluation and ranking of libraries and related approaches, evaluation and ranking with the exact criteria of this important social institution has been less studied. To fill this gap, in this study, a new BSC framework for evaluating public libraries was analytically proposed and used. Methodology: This study was conducted using a descriptive analytical study design and quantitative techniques and followed a practical application.The research population is the public libraries of Yazd province which were evaluated based on four BSC perspectives (namely: financial, customer, internal processes, and growth & learning) and 14 sub-criteria for the purpose of balanced evaluation. The model was carried out in steps: problem definition, fuzzy computations and ranking of alternatives (Yazd province's cities) in terms of the performance of public libraries, and the hierarchy structure used for problem definition included 4 levels of: goal, criteria, factors and alternatives. At first, using a survey of experts and researchers and summarizing the results of a questionnaire and an extensive review of the research literature and with the aim of comprehensive and balanced evaluation, the criteria and important factors of public library performance were determined. Then the relative importance of criteria and factors were determined based on the experts' opinions and the literature results. Evaluation data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire, which by fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) method and with the help of some macro software such as Super-Decision and Excel were analyzed. Findings: The results of this research show that based on paired comparisons, the weights of financial, customer, internal processes and learning and growth criteria were 0.262, 0.192, 0.295 and 0.251, respectively. So, the main criterion of "internal processes" with a final weight of 0.295 and the factors of "reduction of additional costs" and "customer satisfaction" with a relative weights of 0.360 and 0.344, respectively, are the most important in evaluating the performance of public libraries. Based on the calculations, after reviewing the incompatibility paired comparison matrices and re-weighting, the maximum incompatibility rate (IR) of the paired comparison matrices of criteria and factors equal to 0.087 (less than 0.1) has been obtained; Therefore, the judgments made are consistent and their use in the continuation of the evaluation and selection process is appropriate. Finally, The results show that Yazd city with a final weight of 0.227 and then Meybod city with a final score of 0.169 are the best cities of Yazd province and Ashkezar and Bahabad cities with a final score of 0.054 are the worst cities of Yazd province in terms of public libraries performance. Yazd public libraries are ranked first in two factors: "reduction of additional costs" and "customer satisfaction", which has a relatively higher weight than other evaluation factors. Due to the high relative weight of these two factors, this city has been able to occupy the first rank among the public libraries of Yazd province in terms of comprehensive and balanced performance. Discussion: Unfortunately, today some librarians and public library administrators have a limited and traditional view of libraries evaluation; While today, in line with scientific growth and progress in the field of performance assessment, we should definitely see a change in attitudes and approaches in this area. Given the fact that in the real environment, the decision maker faces risks and uncertainties, and also for the purpose of balanced and sustainable performance evaluation, in order to provide a comprehensive view for library managers in the future, new, innovative, and multi dimensional approaches to performance evaluation should be used. This research has initiated a novel idea to integrate explicit criteria in the libraries evaluation process, especially when there are so many performance criteria that may confuse decision makers. Theoretically and methodologically, this study helps to provide new insights to administrators in this field to select top libraries based on accurate criteria, because very few studies have been done before. In addition to the advantage of this study, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process considers the metrics of balanced scorecard separately and their interactions are neglected. This could be a good direction for future research. In addition, the proposed balanced scorecard of this study can be integrated with other Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) tools such as Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).
