New systems or service offerings should include well-designed data systems. The evaluation reported inconsistencies in the administrative data collected within and across the RSRCs. For example, the final report describes the visitor counter at the Oshana RSRC, where patrons who use the restroom or retrieve items from a locker must exit and be counted again upon reentry, resulting in systematically overcounting library visits at that location. The weak data systems at the RSRCs limited the evaluation but more importantly, they also undermine performance management efforts taking place at the individual RSRC and central levels. Future investments in entirely new systems or service offerings like the RSRCs should develop systemwide data systems that are both appropriate given the infrastructure itself (e.g., layouts that position visit counters between the restrooms and the rest of the facility are going to skew the visit counts) and facilitate the types of planning and decision-making that needs to happen at various levels within the system. MCC recognizes the importance of data systems to performance management and nearly all of the agency’s ongoing education interventions include investments in data systems.
Lesson Learned