As the library literature on performance measurement rarely deals with the social and political environment in which libraries operate, the aim of this article is to discuss basic factors of influence of the social context to library performance evaluation. Libraries nowadays must prove its existence and demonstrate the quality of services. Society provides the justification for libraries existence, and without society there would be no context for measuring their effectiveness.
Librarians do not give sufficient thought to the social construct of libraries. It is necessary to find answers to questions: the definition of the concept, or construct of library effectiveness, the development of valid and reliable measures of library effectiveness and identification of the determinants of library effectiveness (Nancy van House, Thomas Childers).
Historically the library has been a holistic agency of society. The particular concern here is to view the library in relationship to its external {societal) role. This view requires an examination of three parameters that influence the organisation of the library: society and its institutions, the role of the library in meeting societal needs, the dissemination of information and knowledge.
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