Evaluating the Performance of Librarians by 360-Degree Feedback Method in the Libraries of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran

360-degree feedback seems to be a more comprehensive view of appraising capabilities, behavior, competence, and performance of individuals in the organization than other methods of performance appraisal. This study endeavored to appraise librarians’ performance in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, through 360-degree feedback.

This study was conducted with a survey-analysis methodology. The population consisted of 43 librarians, 43 superiors, 43 colleagues, and 80 users; accordingly, census sampling method was employed. Each librarian was assessed by one supervisor, all colleagues, two users, and a self-assessment questionnaire was filled by each librarian. The data was collected by pre-prepared questionnaires by Farajpahlou et al. To analyze the data, Student's t, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Duncan, analysis of variance tests were used.

Librarians’ performance in total (4.37), and status of their performance in moral-value (4.47), functional (4.37), and process (4.34) skills were higher than average level. There was no significant difference between the results of four groups in the moral-value index and functional skills, but there was a significant difference between the users and other assessors in the process skills.

Given the low mean in the process index, it seems necessary to take effective steps by librarians to improve communication with users. These results could be used by managers and librarians to identify the strengths and weaknesses of librarians’ performance.