ABSTRACT
Educational needs assessments (hereafter NAs) are inattentive to cost considerations and are frequently dominated by elite stakeholder groups. In this article I make a case for adopting a cost-utility approach, illustrating the argument with data generated in a NA of central library services in a Canadian school district. Using survey data from eight stakeholder groups, I found that (1) NAs based on the service preferences of a single stakeholder group can be misleading; (2) service preferences can be integrated into a single set of priorities, even when there are disagreements, by using the stakeholder group as the unit of analysis and assigning weights that privilege input from knowledgeable respondents; and (3) that the ranking of service operations produced by user preferences was not significantly correlated with the ranking produced by integrating preferences with costs. Cost-utility analysis would be more helpful if the utilities represented rigorously determined benefits of the services assessed, as well as stakeholder perceptions of the value of these benefits. Cost-utility analysis in NA will not reach its potential until cost considerations are routinely included in educational program evaluations.
Subject(s)
Libraries/economics , Needs Assessment , Schools/economics , Canada , Community Participation , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Humans , Libraries/supply & distributionSubject(s)
Internet/trends , Libraries/economics , Libraries/supply & distribution , Budgets/trends , Internet/economics , Libraries/organization & administration , United States , United States Environmental Protection Agency/economics , United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration/economicsSubject(s)
Astronomy/history , Bibliographies as Topic , History, 16th Century , Libraries , Rare Books , Astronomy/methods , Astronomy/trends , Europe , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Libraries/economics , Libraries/ethics , Libraries/history , Libraries/supply & distribution , Libraries/trends , Rare Books/history , Religion and Science , United StatesSubject(s)
Information Systems/supply & distribution , Libraries/supply & distribution , Science , Technology , Bibliometrics , Asia , China , Singapore , ThailandABSTRACT
Two surveys of the universe of health science libraries in the United States have been completed by the Medical Library Association's Committee on Surveys and Statistics over a five-year period. This paper compares, for 1969 and 1973, summary data on the universe, and the distribution of libraries, resources, personnel, and salaries.
