Library Objectives and Performance Measures and Their Use in Decision Making

Social epistemology and information science

“…By contrast, numerous factors beyond the control of information services have an impact on social utility (cf. Hamburg et al, 1972, p. 110). A library can (by providing access to the necessary information) help a patron learn how to build a house but it has very little control over whether the patron actually builds one (cf.…”

“…Baker & Lancaster, 1991; Evans, Borko, & Ferguson, 1972). In fact, some scholars (e.g., Hamburg, Ramist, & Bommer, 1972, p. 111) have even claimed that knowledge acquisition is not the main objective of information services. In this section, I defend the view that knowledge acquisition actually is the main objective of information services and, thus, that social epistemology is critical for information science (cf.…”

Library Quarterly Management Literature, 1931–2004

“…Morris Hamburg, Leonard E. Ramist, and Michael R. W. Bommer write cogently about library objectives and performance measures, particularly their use in decision making [89]. Most current library objectives are found wanting because of their lack of specific criteria and measurability.…”

Towards an inclusive methodology for the measurement of in house use

“…This was followed some five years later by an influential journal paper by Orr (1973) which has been cited consistently by subsequent writers ever since. The work of Hamburg (1972) and Kantor (1984) continued the development of performance measurment during the next two decades. The growing interest in performance measurement is reflected in the literature and by 1989 the British Journal of Academic Librarianship had dedicated a whole issue to publishing the papers given at a conference on performance measurement organized the previous year by the Library and Information Research Group.…”