Business intelligence in academic libraries in Jordan: Opportunities and challenges

Data plays a major role in helping to understand clearly the changing needs of academic library users, and in helping libraries to innovate their services and procedures accordingly. Data needs to be transformed into information for decision-making and strategic planning. Business intelligence offers powerful analytical tools, such as visualization and data-mining tools, which lead to informed decisions and hence transform the user’s experience, bringing it to a more advanced level. This research investigates the concept of business intelligence from the perceptions of information department staff at academic libraries in Jordan. The opportunities and challenges associated with it are also discussed and explored. As indicated by the results, information department staff agree that business intelligence improves decision-making, helping decision-makers to make the most accurate and timely decisions for the library. The results also indicate that an appropriate infrastructure is important for the successful implementation of business intelligence in academic libraries in Jordan.