A catalogue quality audit tool
| Pages | 314-324 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120210432282 |
| Date | 01 September 2002 |
| Published date | 01 September 2002 |
| Author | Ann Chapman,Owen Massey |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Acataloguequality
audittool
AnnChapmanand
OwenMassey
Introduction
Inrecentyearslibraryserviceshave
increasinglybeenencouragedtobemore
accountabletothosewhouseandfundthem,
leadingtotheintroductionofperformance
measurementandqualitytargetsforservices
tousers.Onesuchserviceistheprovisionofa
catalogue±butjusthowcanyoumeasurethe
qualityofyourcatalogue?
Theoverallqualityofacataloguedepends
onacombinationoffactors,definedin1980
ininitialUKOLNresearchproposalsas
accuracy,consistency,timelinessand
functionality.Eachofthesefactorsneedsan
objectivelyassessedperformanceindicator,
chosentoconformtosomestandardof
qualitysuchasthesixcriteriaproposedby
Orr(1973):itmusthaveinformativecontent,
allowcomparison,bereliable,valid,accurate
andpractical.
Thisstudyconcentratesontheaccuracyof
bibliographicrecordsandthepresenceof
``dirtydata''.Inallperformance
measurement,thereisariskofmeasuring
onlywhatcanbeeasilymeasuredratherthan
whatismostimportant.Nonetheless,
mistakesareinevitableindatabasesthesizeof
librarycatalogues,andwithoutanideaof
theirprevalenceitisimpossibletogaugethe
successofeffortstoreduceerrors,letalone
answermorecomplexquestionsaboutthe
catalogue'seffectiveness.
Background
EssexCountyLibrariesapproachedUKOLN
earlyin1997forinformationon
methodologiesformeasuringcatalogue
quality.Initialworkindicatedthatnothing
suitableexistedforuse``offtheshelf''and
UKOLNandEssexdecidedtocollaboratein
developingaself-assessmenttoolforlibraries.
However,despiteearlyprogressindesigning
theaudit,Essexwasunabletoundertakethe
pilotstudyasplanned.
Approachestootherlibraryservices
suggestedmuchinterestinthetoolbutnone
hadsufficientstaffingresourcestocommitto
performingthepilotstudy.Theprojectwas
offeredasadissertationtopicat
Theauthors
AnnChapmanisResearchOfficerforBibliographic
ManagementatUKOLN,UniversityofBath,UK.
OwenMasseyhasrecentlycompletedarecataloguing
projectattheMarklandLibrary,RoyalCollegeof
ObstetriciansandGynaecologists,London,UK.
Keywords
Libraries,Cataloguing,Quality,
Performancemeasurement,Audit,Operationalaudit
Abstract
Thecurrentneedforperformancemeasurementand
qualitytargetsforservicestousersrequiressuitable
performanceindicatorsforlibrariestouse.Thispaper
looksattheself-assessmentaudittoolforcatalogue
qualitydevelopedbyUKOLNincollaborationwithEssex
libraries.Forthetoolachecklistoferrorswasdrawnup,
whichcanthenbeusedtoassessthequalityofrecords
withinacatalogueusingasampleoflibrarystock.The
toolcanbeusedtoassessthequalityofcataloguerecords
formonographsandnon-book materials(butnotserials),
forcompletecollectionsorpartsofcollectionsandfor
recordscreatedatdifferentperiods.Thispaperdescribes
thetoolandtheprocessofmakingtheassessmentand
reportsontheresultsofthepilotstudycarriedoutatthe
UniversityofBathlibraryin2000.
Electronicaccess
Theresearchregisterforthisjournalisavailableat
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalis
availableat
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
Owen Massey was awarded the Library and
Information Research Group's Postgraduate Prize
for his work on the pilot study that formed the basis
of this research.
314
Library Management
Volume 23 .Number 6/7 .2002 .pp. 314±324
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120210432282
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