Library Assessmentwhat to expect when you’re assessing

ALEX WERNER, ASSESSMENT COORDINATOR

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT TYLER

LAUREL CRAWFORD, COORDINATOR OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS LIBRARIES

What Assessment Is NOT

Criticism

Evaluation

The story of everything running smoothly

Arbitrary

Going away

What Assessment SHOULD Be

The review of current practices

Planning for changes in the year to come

Setting goals for success

Reflection on the changes over the course of the past year

A way to ensure the best possible service for patrons

What Assessment IS

Time consuming

Additional work

Not something most people are trained in

Overwhelming

Important…despite all of these things

Definition of Assessment

“

”

Case Study: MSU Libraries

Motivation

• External reports• Internal concerns• New ways to show our worth• Problems with current assessment– Focused solely on statistics– Questionable use of time

Questions

What are we doing?

Outputs?

Where does it live?

Apples to apples?

Technology?

“Purposes” Inventory

• Annual report• Institutional effectiveness report• Strategic plan• SACS accreditation• Official surveys of libraries• Operational improvements• Individual research goals

Statistics Inventory Survey

Q1: Do you collect the following? (Give frequency and reporting mechanism)– Room head count– Reference transactions• F2F• Email• Chat• Consultations• Other

– Number of presentations and tours

Statistics Inventory SurveyQ2: Other types of statistics taken? Q3: Potential future assessments?

• Number of holds in consortia• Security problems• Additions and deletions from branch

collections• Expenditures by type• Number of collections used/number of

boxes pulled• Grant activity• Number of tickets handled• Printer page counts• Room usage• Software used by patrons• Files digitized

• Point of use surveys• Print use statistics• Follow-up customer satisfaction surveys• Social media statistics• Guest logins• Distance learner use of library• Duration of computer use• Web traffic to digital collections• Monthly top searches

Statistics Inventory

• Comprehensive list• Create definitions• Identify “core” measures

Public Desk Statistics Input Screen

Lessons Learned

• Hashing out problems before implementing was critical to success

• Standardization, ease of use, consistency, availability

• Some new qualitative and quantitative assessments• Staff buy-in and training was a problem• Retained quantitative focus• Still in development: qualitative, connect to SLO’s

Examples of User Error

• Not remembering to input stats at all• Not choosing the correct form • Not accurately time stamping—is this important?• Inaccurately ticking—confusion over ticks per person or per

question (should be per person)• Confusion over directional/operational vs. reference questions• Duplication of stats in more than one system, or in main system

by more than one aspect (by type AND by method, for example)• Disagreement over importance of frequency

Assessment GETTING STARTED

Acceptance

More Bargaining

Denial Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Assessment

Improve

Report

Plan Implement

Document

Assess

Assessment

Assessment Plan Review

What are we currently assessing?

What does/does not work?

What do we already know?

What have others done?

What do we want to know?

What are the resources?

Who is going to do the work?

5 Time Saving Tips

► Communicate

► Schedule

► Assess what matters

► Don’t assess your assessment

► Don’t reinvent the wheel

Questions?

Photo Credits

Slide two: Schulz, Charles. Peanuts. “C.” Educational Jargon. http://educationaljargonschs.wikispaces.com/Assessment.

Slide three: Consultant-in-a-box. “Take the Assessment Now.” http://www.consultant-in-a-box.com/assessment-tools/.

Slide four: Gurr, Tony. Back to school – assessment for dummies. 08/09/2011. http://allthingslearning.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/back-to-school-assessment-for-dummies/.

Slide six: Body. “New Standards.” Education Aotearoa. http://www.educationaotearoa.org.nz/all-stories/2010/9/23/rating-well-new-zealands-public-schools.html.

Slide twenty: Bertolini, Adrian. Educator’s Guide to Innovation. http://guidetoinnovation.ning.com/profile/AdrianBertolini.

Slide twenty-one: Shulz, Charles. Peanuts. James Hardiman Library. “Avoid Library Fines.” The HardiBlog. http://hardimanlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/02/avoid-library-fines.html.

Slide twenty-one: Watterson, Bill. Calvin and Hobbes. Lindsay Potts. American History. http://lindsaypotts.weebly.com/enduring-skills--understandings.html.

Slide twenty-two: Boyhowdy. Cover Lay Down. “20 Questions: A Coverfolk Mixtape.” http://coverlaydown.com/2014/02/20-questions-a-coverfolk-mixtape-in-celebration-of-a-life-of-wonder-and-amazement/.

THANK YOU!