Very often, what to measure can be as problematic as how to measure it. This is an area where the sharing of good practice would seem to have much to commend it

It is mostly relevant to academic libraries, but SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries; well known for it’s collection of statistical data) also has a Performance Portal launched in June 2007. This was an initiative of the SCONUL Working Group on Performance Improvement. The portal has a number of sections intended to disseminate good practice in the management of library performance. There are sections on survey tools such as LibQual. There is also one on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), although as yet there is little detail in this area of the site.

The principle seems admirable. If you have any experience of performance management in an academic or public library, please do comment on your experience of the practice.