Why Assessment Matters: Defining Your Results

Why Assessment Matters: Defining Your Results
Jill Hurst-Wahl
SU iSchool
@Jill_HW

Why Do I Care About This?

Year 2013
Your boss has bee asked to justify the library. Now you have been asked to prove the library’s impact.

Circulation
# of reference requests
Size of the library
Size of the budget
# of programs
Some other “count”
Why do these no longer work?
Traditional Measures of Impact

What have you done for me (user)?
How have those around me benefitted from you?
How has my future improved because of you?
How has the organization’s future improved?
Assessing Impact on the User

Goals
What are the goals of your library?

Increase Library funding from the central administration
Pursue funding from donors and through grants and gifts for library priorities
Execute capital improvements in the Master Plan as funding becomes available
Improve services and collections for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates
Do You Need to Rethink Your Goals?

Better
Goal 2: Dramatically improve systems for finding and using scholarly resources.
Goal 3: Provide services to support the full cycle of research and scholarly exchange.
Goal 4: Strengthen the educational impact of library programs for students at all levels.

Do!
Think of one of your goals.
What do you believe the impact on the user should be today?
What will be the long-term impact?
What will be the longer-term impact?

Share!

Outcomes
Outcomes tell you how you will know if the goal has been achieved.
They are the “so what?” (So what is the impact?)
As we look at evaluation, we’ll see statements that could be phrased as outcomes.

The academic performance of students improves through their contact with the library.
By using the library, students develop life-long information seeking behaviors.
The library's instruction program results in a high level of "information literacy" among students.
Academic Examples

Employee performance improves because of the library.
Employees saved time (or money) because of the library.
New products are launched successfully.
The organization makes better decisions.
The library is integrated into all of the organization’s activities.
Corporate Examples

Outcome-based evaluation

Not…
How much has the library or library program done?
Rather…
What impact did the library or program have on the participants (users)?
How has the participant's (organization’s) life changed because of what the library provided?

What Would Indicate Achievement?
The academic performance of students improves through their contact with the library.
By using the library, students develop life-long information seeking behaviors.

How Do You Assess Them?

Observation
Anecdotal stories
Self-assessment
Client-project disposition Ask!
Focus groups
Surveys
Customer & research services
Rubric
Other data
Keep notes
Assessment Tools

Jill Hurst-Wahl
hurst@hurstassociates.com
jahurst@syr.edu
@jill_hw (Twitter)

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Why Assessment Matters: Defining Your Results

by Jill Hurst-Wahl

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