Measuring the Effectiveness of Queen Elizabeth II Library Document Delivery Operations Before and After the Implementation of Relais International’s Enterprise Document Delivery Software

Warner, Patrick (2007) Measuring the Effectiveness of Queen Elizabeth II Library Document Delivery Operations Before and After the Implementation of Relais International’s Enterprise Document Delivery Software. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 2 (2). pp. 55-66.

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Abstract

Objective ‐ To compare the performance of the Queen Elizabeth II Document Delivery operation before and after the implementation of Relais International’s Enterprise document delivery software. Methods ‐ This paper employs methodology established in the Association of Research Libraries’ 1998 publication, “Measuring the Performance of Interlibrary Loan Operations” and repeated in ARL’s “Assessing ILL/DD Services: New Cost‐ Effective Alternatives,” published in 2004. In both studies, three measures were used to evaluate the efficiency of document delivery operations: fill rate, turnaround time and direct costs. Both studies offer ARL benchmark or mean scores for each efficiency measure. This paper compares Queen Elizabeth II Document Delivery (QEII/DD) scores for each efficiency measure with those reported in both ARL studies. Results ‐ Data for the two periods under review, 1999‐2000 and 2004‐2005, indicate that borrowing fill rates remained relatively stable, showing only a 3% drop in the latter year, while lending fill rates showed a significant increase (11%). Turnaround times for filled QEII/DD borrowing returnable requests were faster on average by 4.2 days or 24%. Turnaround times for QEII/DD non‐returnable borrowing requests also show improvement:a filled non‐returnable request was faster on average by 1 day or 12%. The average cost of a Evidence Based Library and QEII/DD borrowing request has remained stable: $22.82 in 1999‐2000 and $22.61 in 2004‐2005. In contrast, the average cost of a QEII/DD lending request has increased slightly: from $11.08 in 1999‐2000 to $13.12 in 2004‐2005. Conclusion ‐ Both the implementation of Relais document delivery software and the delivery of returnables (loans) by courier between consortium members have allowed the QEII/DD unit to post modest gains in both fill rates and per unit costs and more substantive gains in turnaround time.

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