Operational excellence experiments, practices, and strategies in academic libraries

Libraries are facing many challenges to remain relevant actors in the present cultural, educational and digital environment, and to achieve long-term success in an ever-evolving ecosystem. Looking for holistic approaches to strategic management, libraries have explored some Operational Excellence philosophies such as Lean, Agile, and Six Sigma. These approaches, originally developed in industrial and software development contexts, offer principles and tools that can be adapted to the unique context of libraries. Besides theoretical frameworks, also some empirical research has been carried out in this field, especially by academic libraries. This systematic literature review identifies and categorizes relevant research studies to provide an overview of the strategies adopted by libraries over the past decade to enhance their operations. By examining Operational Excellence within the library context, the study offers actionable insights to support the development and implementation of Operational Excellence practices tailored specifically to academic libraries.