MANAGING OPERATIONS

Managing operations

Managing operations

Introduction

Many librarians appreciate that there is a need to improve the relevance of statistics which are used in library evaluation and management. Salverson recommends the adoption of a standard methodology to determine accurately the extent of book use in libraries[ 1]. Similarly, Carl Drott proposes the adoption of statistically sound random sampling methods in determining how to cope with the important aspects of library use and user satisfaction[2]. These are used because valid statistical inferences have great value for administrative planning and decision making on behalf of libraries.

Accurate information on book use in a library would contribute to greater effectiveness in dealing with such topics as library facilities, book acquisition cost-effectiveness in budgeting, staffing assignments, control of usage and loss of books from book collections, relating the individual library to other libraries in terms of loan service, etc. In other words, it is difficult to see how effective decisions can be made on a wide range of library problems without accurate and comprehensive information on usage of the library's collection.

Operations research is primarily concerned with the use of quantitative forms of analysis to assist the manager in decision making. It involves systematic evaluation of alternative actions as a basis for choice between them. Its application involves setting up models of the problems to be analysed, selecting inputs to the models which quantify the judgements of those responsible for a decision and deriving the models' outputs from the inputs[2].

University of Calabar Library: Operations Management Case

This study attempts to fill a gap in information on the use of library books at the University of Calabar Library using operations research methodology. The gap has the form of a lack of data on in-library book use. Up to now, there has been no fully empirical method for measuring book readership in the library. The study explains how statistical sampling theory can be applied in a practical sampling method for collecting and analysing the data on in-library book use, not only here, but at any library.

Although there have been several studies addressing similar problems, this study is inspired primarily by the interest in using a mathematical model to determine library book use. Morse proposed several models involving probability distributions of tasks and users in a library. The factors he considered included loan period, book duplication, reserve collection and reshelving[3].

Kantor has provided a synthesis of two approaches in which exposure time is related to availability. Some eight propositions were formulated. These were mathematically decomposed into eight parameters which are independently measurable and to some extent manipulable. Four of the eight parameters relate to availability rates and how they affect patrons[4].

McGrath developed an approach for deducing in-library usage of library books from out-of-library book use of the library collection[5]. He established correlations between out-of-library and in-library book use, making use of a count over a four-week period of books left on tables and desks. Once the correlations are computed, the records of books in circulation can serve to estimate - or predict with a specified ...