Performance Evaluation of the Libraries based on Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis Approach (DEA): The Case of Public Libraries in Mashhad

Resource management is one of the most important issues in libraries. Performance evaluation of libraries using performance indexes like efficiency is influential in this field. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the public libraries using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to improve the resource management. In this paper were evaluated 53 public libraries efficiency in the city of Mashhad (1390 census data) using DEA in variable returns to scale model (VRS) with input-oriented approach and with two inputs (the number of books and area of space) and three outputs (proportion of the population of users, number of members to population ratio and the number of members users) in four groups (city, region, district and neighborhood scales). We used DEAP2.1 and ArcGIAS10 software to analyze the results. The results showed that respectively, 56, 39, 45 and 75 percent of libraries in city, region, district and neighborhood positions are inefficient in comparison with other libraries in the same group and there is a capacity for improving the efficiency in these libraries about 16, 3, 14 and 42 percent. Based on high capacity for efficiency improvement in some libraries (especially in neighborhood position) and remarkable capacity for surplus books in some libraries, it is necessary that in charge librarians and managers prepare the field for improving the resource management in libraries with comprehensive planning and with attention to all aspects for maximum utilization of librarie's capacity and also for transferring the surplus capacity of some inputs to libraries with above efficiency,