Slide 8 of 36
Notes:
In 1993, Holly Muir, a young reference librarian, lost her job when her employing corporation downsized. She decided to start her own business, identified a need, and put her ideas to work by founding Library Benchmarking International. With business plan in hand, she wrote 5 books to guide librarians through the benchmarking process, started a newsletter for corporate librarians and other interested in improving their operations, and began conducting workshops.
In 1996, SLA published “COMPETENCIES FOR SPECIAL LIBRARIANS IN THE 21st CENTURY. Three of the 11 professional competencies deal with knowledge and skills that include benchmarking:
1.7 Uses appropriate business and management approaches to communicate the importance of information services (conducts benchmarking studies)
1.9 Evaluates the outcome of information use and conducts research related to the solution of information management problems. (seeks opportunities for improvement and strives to be “best in class” on key services)
1.11 Is an effective member of the senior management team and a consultant to the organization on information issues (participates in benchmarking and re-engineering teams).
Personal competencies include item 2.1 Is committed to service excellence (seeks out performance feedback and uses it for continuous improvement)..
