Application of Selected Software Tools for Data Collection and Analysis in Library Management and Their Effectiveness Assessment: Results of the Research Conducted at Polish Academic Libraries

2. Software Tools For Data Collection And Analysis In Library Management And Their Effectiveness Assessment In View Of The Survey

Library performance measures have been widely discussed in literature (Poll & te Boekhorst, 2007; Poll, 2007). This paper focuses on the application of selected software tools for data collection and analysis in library management at Polish academic libraries. It is based on the results of the on-line survey conducted in February and March 2009 at Polish research libraries. Directors of all the academic libraries associated in the Conference of Directors of Academic Libraries in Poland were invited on a dedicated professional discussion list to fill in the on-line survey form accessible on the server of Cracow University of Technology (CUT) Library. The on-line survey was conducted between 24th February and 6th March 2009. Out of 65 members registered on the list 38 members filled in the form.

A questionnaire [see Appendix 1] had two tracks of questions. Selection of the track depended on the answer for the first question about the so far application of any software to managerial process. Separate tracks with different, though similar, questions were prepared for software users and non-users. Respondents were directed automatically to an adequate track so that they were not aware of the existence of another track.

Out of 38 respondents 15 declared that they used some software to support their managerial activities whereas 18 respondents did not use any special software. Thirteen, however, declared the use of statistics derived from their library systems (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Software tools used at Polish academic libraries to support library management