Excellence and Quality in Andalusia University Library System

From 1996 onwards, then, the Quality Assessment National Plan and the adoption of its agenda by regional authorities and Universities alike has resulted in a growing acceptance by the Spanish academic community of the challenges and opportunities offered by evaluation and quality assurance activities. Academic librarians have been committed to this culture of quality from the very beginnings and in most cases have being leading the way in their own institutions. General tools like the Evaluation Guide referred to above developed to be applied in administration and services alike were of little use for libraries, so academic libraries have been the first units to develop their own evaluation guides at local and regional levels. University System in Andalusia (Spain) is formed by 10 Universities financed by regional government. The Quality Unit of Andalusia Universities convened in 2000 an Assessment University Libraries Pilot Plan to do a global analysis of the Library System. This Pilot Plan has had three steps: - During 2000-2002, a technical committee to draft a new evaluation guide for academic libraries. Based on the EFQM, because of its growing influence in the evaluation of the public sector and not-for-profit organizations across Europe. During the course of our work we were delighted to see that we concurred basically with the approach taken by LISIM. The Guide is divided into 5 parts, as follows: Analysis and Description of 9 criteria adapted to library scenario, 35 Tables for data collection, a set of 30 quality and performance Indicators, a Excellence-rating matrix, an objective tool, to determine the level of excellence achieved by the library on a scale from 0 to 10, and General guidelines for the Assessment Committees of University Departments (the basic unit of research assessment undertaken by the University) and of degree courses (the basic unit of assessment of teaching personnel). - In 2002-2004, a coordination committee drove the assessment process of 9 libraries and tested materials and evaluation methodology. The Pilot Plan has finalised with External Evaluation for 5 External Committee formed by librarians, faculties and EFQM methodology specialist. The aim of this paper is explain different parts and strong points of this process and how EFQM is suitable for all kind of librarie

Mortality of emergency abdominal surgery in high-, middle- and low-income countries

Background: Surgical mortality data are collected routinely in high-income countries, yet virtually no low- or middle-income countries have outcome surveillance in place. The aim was prospectively to collect worldwide mortality data following emergency abdominal surgery, comparing findings across countries with a low, middle or high Human Development Index (HDI). Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Self-selected hospitals performing emergency surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive patients from at least one 2-week interval during July to December 2014. Postoperative mortality was analysed by hierarchical multivariable logistic regression. Results: Data were obtained for 10 745 patients from 357 centres in 58 countries; 6538 were from high-, 2889 from middle- and 1318 from low-HDI settings. The overall mortality rate was 1⋅6 per cent at 24 h (high 1⋅1 per cent, middle 1⋅9 per cent, low 3⋅4 per cent; P < 0⋅001), increasing to 5⋅4 per cent by 30 days (high 4⋅5 per cent, middle 6⋅0 per cent, low 8⋅6 per cent; P < 0⋅001). Of the 578 patients who died, 404 (69⋅9 per cent) did so between 24 h and 30 days following surgery (high 74⋅2 per cent, middle 68⋅8 per cent, low 60⋅5 per cent). After adjustment, 30-day mortality remained higher in middle-income (odds ratio (OR) 2⋅78, 95 per cent c.i. 1⋅84 to 4⋅20) and low-income (OR 2⋅97, 1⋅84 to 4⋅81) countries. Surgical safety checklist use was less frequent in low- and middle-income countries, but when used was associated with reduced mortality at 30 days. Conclusion: Mortality is three times higher in low- compared with high-HDI countries even when adjusted for prognostic factors. Patient safety factors may have an important role. Registration number: NCT02179112 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

La biblioteca universitaria eficaz. Directrices para la evaluación del rendimiento en bibliotecas universitarias

Informe consultivo para HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCWyDENI por el Ad-hoc Group on Performance Indicators for Libraries, Joint Funding Counci

New Strategies in Library Services Organization: Consortia University Libraries in Spain

New political, economic, and technological developments, as well as the growth of information markets, in Spain have created a foundation for the creation of library consortia. The author describes the process by which different regions in Spain have organized university library consortia