Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan

Background. For a long time, Japanese public libraries were managed by local governments. However, in 2003, other organizations, including private enterprises, took over the management of libraries and introduced an outsourcing system called designated administrator system. The suitability of thi...

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Main Author: Tsuji, Keita
Other Authors: University of Tsukuba, Japan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154750
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1547502022-01-12T20:10:26Z Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan Tsuji, Keita University of Tsukuba, Japan Library and information science Background. For a long time, Japanese public libraries were managed by local governments. However, in 2003, other organizations, including private enterprises, took over the management of libraries and introduced an outsourcing system called designated administrator system. The suitability of this outsourcing system for libraries is now being debated. Objective. We conducted a causal analysis on the introduction of outsourcing in public libraries in Japan. We performed matching analysis, difference-in-differences (DD) analysis, and DD analysis with matching on library usage, in terms of three factors—gate count, number of loans, and number of reference transactions. Results. The matching analysis found that the average gate count per capita for all outsourcing libraries was higher than that for all direct management libraries. In the DD analysis with and without matching, the average gate count per capita and number of loans per capita for all the outsourcing libraries were higher than for all the direct management libraries. These differences were statistically significant at the 0.01 level. Conclusion. The results indicate that the introduction of the designated administrator system increases gate count per capita. Considering the difference in characteristics of the matching and DD analyses, the number of loans per capita may also be increasing with the introduction of the system. Published version 2022-01-06T05:12:05Z 2022-01-06T05:12:05Z 2021 Journal Article Tsuji, K. (2021). Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan. Library and Information Science Research E-Journal, 31(1), 66-77. https://dx.doi.org/10.32655/LIBRES.2021.1.6 1058-6768 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154750 10.32655/LIBRES.2021.1.6 1 31 66 77 en Library and Information Science Research E-Journal © 2021 Keita Tsuji. All rights reserved. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Library and information science
spellingShingle Library and information science
Tsuji, Keita
Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan
description Background. For a long time, Japanese public libraries were managed by local governments. However, in 2003, other organizations, including private enterprises, took over the management of libraries and introduced an outsourcing system called designated administrator system. The suitability of this outsourcing system for libraries is now being debated. Objective. We conducted a causal analysis on the introduction of outsourcing in public libraries in Japan. We performed matching analysis, difference-in-differences (DD) analysis, and DD analysis with matching on library usage, in terms of three factors—gate count, number of loans, and number of reference transactions. Results. The matching analysis found that the average gate count per capita for all outsourcing libraries was higher than that for all direct management libraries. In the DD analysis with and without matching, the average gate count per capita and number of loans per capita for all the outsourcing libraries were higher than for all the direct management libraries. These differences were statistically significant at the 0.01 level. Conclusion. The results indicate that the introduction of the designated administrator system increases gate count per capita. Considering the difference in characteristics of the matching and DD analyses, the number of loans per capita may also be increasing with the introduction of the system.
author2 University of Tsukuba, Japan
author_facet University of Tsukuba, Japan
Tsuji, Keita
format Article
author Tsuji, Keita
author_sort Tsuji, Keita
title Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan
title_short Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan
title_full Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan
title_fullStr Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan
title_full_unstemmed Causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in Japan
title_sort causal effect of the outsourcing of library management on public library usage in japan
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154750
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