Efficiency analysis of GCC academic libraries: an application of data envelopment analysis

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore and measure the relative efficiency of the academic libraries within the GCC countries in terms of their abilities to transform their allocated resources into a specific level of outputs using a non-parametric frontier method - data envelopment analysis (DEA). Design/methodology/approach - In order to estimate the overall efficiency score, as well as the technical and scale efficiency of the academic libraries within the GCC countries, online questionnaire is first addressed to academic libraries' managers and directors. Second, three output measures - circulation, number of books added, and number of registered members and three input factors - number of books held, number of library staff, and the actual allocated budget are used in the analysis for the academic year 2010/2011. Third, the output-oriented version of DEA model is deployed to assess the performance and resource utilization efficiency of 11 academic libraries from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings - Among the 11 academic libraries analyzed, five libraries are rated fully efficient whereas inefficiency of the other six libraries is attributed to pure technical inefficiency rather than scale inefficiency. The results also shed light on the area of improvement required for inefficient libraries. Research limitations/implications - The sample is small due to the culture of high tendency toward secrecy and confidential in the GCC region. Moreover, follow-up research using panel data derived from GCC countries is required to investigate the impact of policy changes on libraries performance as an attempt to test and generalize the current results. Originality/value - The paper is original in its application where the current study, as far as authors are aware, represents the first attempt to apply DEA approach for evaluating academic libraries performance in this part of the world.