FOLIOz
Facilitated Online Learning as an Interactive Opportunity in Australia & New Zealand

Managing for Service Quality (MSQ)

The Balanced Scorecard

What is the Balanced Scorecard?

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a performance measurement and management system that “allows an organization to focus on a relatively small number of carefully chosen measurements” (Self, 2004). These measures are “aligned with the mission and strategies, and they provide a quick but comprehensive picture of organizational performance” (Self, 2004).

The origins of the BSC can be traced back to 1992 when Kaplan and Norton designed it for private business. Subsequently it has been increasingly used by governmental and non-profit organisations, including their libraries (Self, 2004; University of Virginia Libraries). However, see the article by Abels et al (2002) for a critique of its supposed limitations in a library context (in hospitals and academic health sciences centres in this case).

The BSC scrutinises the organization from four perspectives:

  • User; includes measures such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, and market share in target segments.
  • Finance; includes measures such as operating income, return on capital employed, and economic value added
  • Internal processes; includes measures such as cost, throughput, and quality. These are for library processes such as acquisitions, production, and request fulfilment.
  • Learning and the future includes measures such as employee satisfaction, employee retention, skill sets, etc.

Each perspective has one or more strategic objectives, or goals, associated with it. Four to eight measurements, or metrics, are devised for each category or perspective. Each metric has a specific and unambiguous target or set of targets.

References

Abels,E.G., Cogdill,K.W. & Zach,L. (2002). The contributions of library and information services to hospitals and academic health sciences centers: a preliminary taxonomy. Journal of the Medical Library Association; 90(3):276-84. Available at: [Accessed August 2009]

Kaplan,R.S. and Norton,D.P. (1992) The balanced scorecard – measures that drive performance. Harvard Business Review; 70 (1): 71-9.

Self,J. (2003) From values to metrics: implementation of the balanced scorecard at a university library. Performance Measurement and Metrics; 4 (2): 57-63. Available to ALIA members only via ProQuest at: [Accessed August 2009] Please note you will need to log in to the ALIA website at: to access this link.

Self,J. (2004) Metrics and management: applying the results of the balanced scorecard. Performance Measurement and Metrics; 5 (3): 101-105. Available to ALIA members only via ProQuest at: [Accessed August 2009] Please note you will need to log in to the ALIA website at: to access this link.

University of Virginia Library (2008). Balanced Scorecard. University of Virginia Library: Charlottesville, VA. Available at: [Accessed August 2009]

What you need to do:

  1. Below you are presented with an incomplete version of a Balanced Scorecard for a Library service. Listed directly underneath are ten suggested metrics. For each of the given metrics you have to identify in which of the four perspectives (U,F,I,L) the metric belongs.
  2. You fill your metrics into the appropriate perspective of the grid. Examples are given to help you get started.
  3. Record the pairings of perspective and metric in your portfolio (e.g. A = Users, B = Learning, C = Finance etcetera).

User / Finance
Metric W: A score of at least 4.25 (out of 5.00) on the customer survey from each of the major user groups. / Metric X: No increase in cost per use of electronic serials each year
Internal Processes / Learning and the Future
Metric Y: All library servers will be operational and accessible at least 98% of the time. / Metric Z: Rank in the top 5 libraries included in the Regional Library Unit League Tables.

Metric A: Process 90% of Australia/New Zealand published in-print books within one month.

Metric B: Satisfy turnaround targets for information enquiries 90% of the time.

Metric C: Accurately shelve/re-file 85% of all materials by the end of the day following discharge.

Metric D: Positive scores (4 or 5) on topic of internal communications statements from 80% of respondents in the biennial staff work-life survey.

Metric E: Positive scores (4 or 5) on training statements from 80% of respondents in the biennial work-life survey.

Metric F: Retain 95% of employees.

Metric G: Annual percent change in unit cost for interlibrary loans will be equal to or less than annual percent change in overall library operating expenditures.

Metric H: A salary ranking in the upper 40% of all libraries in the Region, and 60% of salaries above the mean salary for librarianship jobs in the County.

Metric I: Rank in the top quarter of Regional libraries in percentage of collections pounds expended on electronic materials (Tricky – this is NOT Finance!).

Metric J: The Library should continue to account for at least 4.00% of the total Education and Training budget expenditure.

Further Reading

Cribb,G. & Hogan,C. (2003) Balanced Scorecard: linking strategic planning to measurement and communication. Bond University. Available at: [Accessed August 2009]

Matthews,J. (2006) THE LIBRARY Balanced SCORECARD. Public Libraries; 45 (6): 64-71. Available to ALIA members only via ProQuest at: [Accessed August 2009] Please note you will need to log in to the ALIA website at: to access this link.

Poll,R. (2001) Performance, processes and cost: Managing service quality with the balanced scorecard. Library Trends; 49 (4): 709-717. Available to ALIA members only via ProQuest at:

[Accessed August 2009] Please note you will need to log in to the ALIA website at: to access this link.