Benchmarking through Performance Indicators for Norwegian Academic Libraries

Abstract

How can leadership and strategic planning in academic libraries be based on statistical evidence - evidence based leadership? In this paper, the authors present how the National Library of Norway has led the way in developing indicators for the public and the academic libraries. These indicators may be used either longitudinally or for benchmarking within or between libraries. The authors will also give examples of how libraries can find indicators to support benchmarking. The indicators chosen as examples in this papers were mainly economic indicators.