Benchmarking in American Academic Libraries

Reduced funding and customer demand for the best possible service require libraries to strive for continual improvement.  Benchmarking is a useful tool for evaluating current performance and finding new solutions.  Benchmarking can be done to find a new procedure or improvements to an existing procedure.  Benchmarking can also be used to set a standard or goal for service or productivity.  This paper will outline the steps necessary to carry out a benchmarking project