Factors involved in the process of decision-making in medium and small libraries. Results of the Decimal Project

Abstract

The article presents the research results of the DECIMAL European project. The aim of the project is to produce an integrated decision support module for library management systems used in small and medium size libraries. The quantitative and qualitative research carried out in United Kingdom, Italy and Spain has been based on a combination of different methods: literature review, interviews, questionnaires and discussion groups during both presentation workshops held. Two basic research lines are discerned: the first one involving the real use of performance measures and indicators in management and evaluation of the library activities, and also their potential interest in the case they have not been applied to the present, and the second one involving the type of decisions most frequantly made in libraries and the issues that influence decision-making process (information sources used, organizational culture, training, satisfaction level).
The article has been centered in the results obtained in Spanish libraries, but the general results are also mentioned in order to be compared. The conclusions of the study have resulted in the user requirement specification, as a first step in the design of the decision support module. The project has concluded with a prototype evaluation phase organised as an iterative testing of the prototypes and successive software modifications. The development of four versions of the module has resolved the problems identified earlier in the evaluation process.