Transcript Library Assessment For Mortenson Associates October 16, 2007

Library Assessment For
Mortenson Associates
September 12, 2008
Bob Burger, Professor
Emeritus, Ph.D., CPA
University of Illinois Library
Outline









Why assessment?
The assessment paradigm
Types of assessment
Assessment instruments
ARL New Measures Program
Building an Assessment Program
Culture of Assessment
Key challenges
The Customer Centered Library
Why Assessment?






Is our library accomplishing its goals and how
well are we accomplishing them?
Are we a good library or a bad library?
How can we improve?
What is needed to improve?
Can we justify the expenditure of current
resources?
How can we justify additional resources?
Why Assessment continued

Peter Drucker suggests several steps:
What is our business and what should it be?
 Create clear goals and objectives.
 Identify priorities, set deadlines, make individuals
responsible for results.
 Define measurements of performance.
 Build feedback from results into their system.
 Perform audits of objects and results and take
corrective action when needed.

The Assessment Paradigm





Resources > Capability > Utilization > Impact
Resources: input measures
Capability: processing measures
Utilization: output measures
Impact: outcome measures
Assessment paradigm continued



Input measures: resources allocated (annual
budget, size of collection, number of staff)
Process measures: transform resources into
activities (quantify time or cost to perform
specific task or activity such as ordering,
receiving, cataloging)
Output measures: how inputs and processes
utilized (annual circulation, number of reference
questions answered, number of users served)
Assessment paradigm continued

Outcome measures: difficult to assess, relates to
both individual served and to community
Types of Assessment







Satisfaction of the customer.
Satisfaction of the worker.
Workflow effectiveness and speed.
Service delivery effectiveness and speed.
Cost benefit analysis.
Legality of actions performed.
Social justice and ethics.
Assessment Instruments







Surveys
Focus groups
Web usability studies
Secret shopper
Specific testing
Best practices
Service level agreements
Assessment Instruments continued

Balanced Scorecard (an array of assessment tools
in four areas)
Financial – How does the library look to
stakeholders?
 Customer – How do customers see the library?
 Internal – In what areas must the library excel?
 Innovation and learning – Can the library continue
to improve and create value?

ARL New Measures Program








User satisfaction
Market penetration
Ease and breadth of access
Library impact on teaching and learning
Library impact on research
Cost effectiveness of library operations and services
Library facilities and space
Organizational capacity
ARL New Measures Program


LibQUAL+™ is a rigorously tested Web-based
survey that libraries use to solicit, track,
understand, and act upon users' opinions of
service quality.
The DigiQUAL™ project is modifying and
repurposing the existing LibQUAL+™ protocol
to assess the services provided by digital
libraries.
ARL New Measures Program



MINES for Libraries™ is an online transactionbased survey that collects data on the purpose of
use of electronic resources and the
demographics of users.
Collectively all three are under the name
StatsQual
See
http://www.arl.org/stats/initiatives/index.shtm
ARL New Measures Program


Assessment conference proceedings
http://www.libraryassessment.org/archive/
Building an Assessment Program






Leadership
Who does it (individual, committee)
Infrastructure (measurement and evaluation
skills, data collection methods, sampling, analysis
software)
Library culture (political process, positive
deviance)
Environment and constituencies
Rewards and incentives
The Customer Centered Library



All services and activities are viewed through the
eyes of the customers
Customers determine quality
Library services and resources add value to the
customer
User-centered libraries “collect data and use them as the basis for
decision-making rather than rely on subjective impressions and
opinions”
(Stoffle, Renaud and Veldof, “Choosing Our Futures”, C&RL, 1996)
Culture of Assessment




Mission, planning and policies are customer
centered
Performance measures and time frames in
strategic planning documents
Assessment part of normal work processes; all
staff encouraged to participate
Continuous communication maintained with
customers through needs assessment and other
measurements
Culture of Assessment


All library programs and services evaluated for
quality and impact; assessment will focus on the
processes, procedures, and services rather than
on individual
Staff have the opportunity and resources to
improve their skills to better serve users.
Library leadership role



Customer-centered
Strong support from University Librarian AND other
library administrators and managers
Willing to commit resources/staff for assessment




AND PROVIDE TIME TO DO IT
Evidence of data-based decision making
“Walk the Talk”; make assessment visible in library
Help shape organizational culture
Key Challenges









Library leadership
Customer centered library
Organizational culture and structure
Identifying responsibility for assessment
Library priorities
Sufficiency of resources
Assessment skills and expertise
Analyzing and presenting results
Using results to improve libraries
Library Assessment

QUESTIONS?

COMMENTS?

Thank you for your interest and attention!

Bob Burger
[email protected]
