MAC Messages Number 97:
January/February 2003

Benchmarking Update
By Merle Colglazier, Benchmarking Chapter Educator for MAC/MLA,
Bon Secours Richmond Health System, Richmond VA 23226

The Benchmarking Network (BN) Interactive Site is now live!

The BN Interactive Site is based on the hospital library survey data entered into MLA's Benchmarking Network database between December 13, 2001 and March 1, 2002. Survey data entered by 385 librarians was reviewed, edited, and analyzed; and 344 usable responses resulted. Kate Corcoran, MLA Director of Research and Information Systems, and the consultant's have done an excellent job in preparing the interactive site that can be viewed at http://www.mlanet.org/resources/benchmark/.

Participants in the MLA BN Survey can select criteria to easily compare their own survey data with other similar institutions. The interactive report results also identify the institutions that match the criteria selected when there are five or more matches. This feature of the BN Interactive Site is very useful for identifying similar institutions that may have interest in cooperating on other benchmarking activities. The BN Interactive Site is an important achievement for MLA and all the participants, and a really useful tool for everyone. Congratulations to all!

The word from MLA is that the next opportunity to participate in the MLA Benchmarking Network Survey will begin sometime this Spring. Now is a great time to start preparing your library and institutional data to include in the 2003 survey. The time period for the data to collect and report can be either the 2002 calendar year, or the last fiscal year - whichever your library prefers. There may be some minor changes made in the forthcoming 2003 Data Collection Worksheets and Data Definitions, but the 2002 worksheets and definitions can be reliably used to start collecting the new data to report. The 2002 worksheets and definitions are available on the MLA Benchmarking Networking site at http://www.mlanet.org/members/benchmark/index.html (Members Area).

Let's all participate in the 2003 survey and keep developing the MLA BN Interactive Site as a useful tool for everyone!

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