Analysis of the efficiency of public libraries by CBA

Abstract

The efficiency expresses the effectiveness of embedded resources and benefits obtained by them. Monitoring of the effectiveness indicator has crucial importance in economic theory, where the main objective is to provide and ensure a sufficient quantity of goods and services with proportionate costs for their production. The issue of efficiency in public services is very important, particularly for the reasons a tendency to reduce government spending on public services and there is also the continuous development, growth and expansion of needs of the public in accordance with the dynamic development of the society. Services of public libraries are among the mixed public services, which are financed from public funds and it is very difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. The paper deals with the evaluation of the efficiency of two selected libraries: City Library in Tabor and the Municipal Library in Prague. For analysis is used method CBA. For determine the benefits of the various services are used results from research of the Municipal Library in Prague, entitled "Methodology of measuring the value services of libraries", that was held in 2011 - 2013. It is a research which has not been yet implemented in this segment. It uses a unique approach to evaluate the benefits of individual services. The aim of this paper is to determine which services are provided efficiently. Mutual comparison of public libraries allows to glimpse into their economy, find the differences between the level of unit costs of individual services and the differences between efficiency. Documents will enable to assess by public libraries their economic situation, the amount of expended financial resources, or the direction of orientation for further development activities.