Publication | Closed Access
Assessing Public Library Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis
95
Citations
0
References
1998
Year
Resource EfficiencyEngineeringResearch EvaluationNew YorkRelative EfficiencyTrade-off AnalysisProductivityOperations ResearchData ScienceManagementEconomic AnalysisQuantitative ManagementComputational EfficiencyEconomicsLibrary DesignProgramming ProductivityBenchmark 23BusinessLibrary Science
Library efficiency is defined as the ability to proportionally reduce inputs without decreasing output. The study applied linear‑programming DEA to 184 New York libraries, using holdings, opening hours, serials, and new books as inputs and internal and external circulation as output. Libraries operated at only 67 % efficiency, indicating a one‑third reduction in inputs is possible, with excessive opening hours identified as the primary inefficiency driver.
Linear programming Data Envelopment Analysis is used to determine the relative efficiency of 184 libraries in New York (U.S.A.). Efficiency is defined as whether or not a library could reduce the inputs it uses equiproportionately and still produce the same output. Inputs are defined programmatically: holdings, opening hours, serials and new books. Output is internal and external circulation. The subject libraries operate at just 67% efficiency, i.e., inputs could be reduced by one‐third without sacrificing output if all libraries were as efficient as the benchmark 23 identified by DEA. Too many hours of opening is the main source of inefficiency.