Benchmarking study of hospital libraries

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the current landscape of hospital libraries by collecting benchmarking data from hospital librarians in the U.S. and other countries. Since the last MLA benchmarking survey in 2002 hospital libraries have faced significant changes including downsizing, position and library elimination, and hospital mergers. This survey will provides information to inform the development and implementation of effective advocacy for hospital libraries. Methods: A web-based, anonymous survey was designed to collect information from hospital librarians representing stand-alone hospitals and hospital systems. The 57-question survey was distributed via select list servs, targeting the US and Canada but open to any country. The topic areas covered hospital/health system, library, and library staff demographics; library characteristics and scope of service; interlibrary loan and document delivery; library funding; and library budget. Hospital library benchmarking surveys, including the previous MLA surveys, were reviewed and applicable questions were added. Results: There were a total of 180 respondents but the total number of responses for each question varied. Select results are as follows: of the responding libraries, 67.2% were part of a hospital system; 24.4% had merged with or were bought by another hospital or health system and, of those, 77.1% had acquired 1-5 hospitals in the last 10 years; 77.9% were not for profits; over half (55.2%) had <5,001 FTE in the organization; 56.9% had one library; 47.7% had 1 FTE librarian, 34.9% had 2-5; 82.1% did not or were not able to use social media; 60.7% didn’t have strategic plans; 66.1% belonged to a consortium; 48.2% provided up to 250 search requests a year; 66.3% did not receive funding outside of their organization; 32.5% had budgets for print books totaling less than $1,000; 30.1% had budgets, excluding salaries, of less than $100,000 and 9.7% had budgets over $1M. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the field’s knowledge of hospital library demographics as well as the services provided. The results suggest implications for hospital librarians regarding staffing levels and the depth of services within their unique settings, especially within the context of rapidly expanding health systems.

Standards of practice for hospital libraries and librarians, 2022: Medical Library Association Hospital Libraries Caucus Standards Task Force

“…Future benchmarking studies could dive deeper by collecting specific data that would correlating the number of staff support per individual library service. The 2019 study by Spencer, Mamo, and Billman published in February 2021 is a step in this direction [ 19 ].…”

CHLA Standards for Library and Information Services in Canadian Health & Social Services Institutions 2020

“…Health and social services institution library closures and consolidations occur all too frequently, along with reduced staffing, space and budgets [42][43][44][45]. Practice that is not based on evidence risks causing harm to patients [46].…”

“…In both Canada [ 50 ] and the United States [ 51 ], recent assessment shows that hospital libraries are, for the most part, meeting but not surpassing the 2006 CHLA and 2007 MLA Standards respectively, so a complete overhaul was not deemed necessary [ 2 , 52 ]. In 2019, Spencer et al conducted a benchmarking study of hospital libraries and found that a large percentage of libraries did not have adequate staffing or budget and did not have a marketing and communications plan, or a strategic plan [ 44 ]. This confirmed the changes the Task Force proposed for the 2020 update, which emphasize the need for adequate staffing and budget, and highlighted the importance of strategic planning and assessment to show value and provide support for promotional endeavors (see Table 1 ).…”

“…Resources include current authoritative collections of print, electronic resources (eResources) and multimedia resources that support the timely provision of evidence-based practice. As technology advances, subscription costs continue to increase [ 61 , 62 ], and budgets are not always commensurate with the size of the organization [ 44 ], so health libraries must move from Holdings (“Just in case”) to Access (“Just in time”) strategies.…”

Digital Health and Professional Identity in Australian Health Libraries: Evidence from the 2018 Australian Health Information Workforce Census

“…Benchmarking aims to enable libraries to compare their performance by gathering statistics from similar sites. The hospital libraries benchmarking study by Spencer, Mamo, and Billman (2019) obtained data from 180 North American respondents about services, client groups, funding, and activity. The libraries were predominantly small, with one or two staff, yet the majority offered a wide range of services, confirming the breadth of skills noted by McLaughlin et al (2018).…”