Developing a SCM-based Evaluation System for the Korean Academic Library Consortium

Abstract

Academic resource sharing among universities is desperately needed for overcoming a national shortage of information resources. However, there is no appropriate evaluation system to reflect the overall performance of resource sharing and joint efforts of library consortia. The Supply Chain Management (SCM) concept is the systemic, strategic coordination of business functions, which includes collaboration with partners for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole. This concept is not yet familiar in the library field, but will be useful to apply a comprehensive evaluation system for academic library consortium performance. This study describes how evaluation systems based on the SCM concept can be developed for academic resource-sharing services. In this study, the meaning and status of academic resource sharing services among university libraries in Korea will be discussed, along with their current performance evaluation systems. Also, the Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) as a supply chain evaluation system will be analyzed to review the corresponding applicability in academic resource sharing services. Based on this information, an evaluation system which includes evaluation factors and methods for the performance of academic resource sharing services will be developed. Based on SCOR performance measurement index level 1, the evaluation factors for academic library consortium were developed. Customer response, flexible countermeasures, partnership, human resource development, and cost minimization were selected as major performance evaluation factors, and 14 sub-indices were proposed. Evaluation methods and some examples of the application which included Likert scale questions in surveys, quantitative analysis using statistics, and quantitative questions in surveys also were proposed.