EVALUATING THE SCHOOL LIBRARY

LIBSCI 37 | EVALUATION
School Library:
Assess to create an
effective school library
Evaluation
FRANCHESKA
VONNE
GALI
Library and Information
Science-III
Silliman University
2021 | 5:00 P.M.

Why evaluation is needed for the school library
1
What instruments are used to conduct evaluation
in the school library
2
How evaluation is conducted among library staff,
students, and teachers
3
On our lineup for this topic
The areas we will be discussing:

One way to meet the changing
needs of users is to conduct an
ongoing evaluation of the
library program.
School librarians must strive to ensure that the
relevancy of their school library programs and
instructional impact of information literacy skills
are understood by administrators, teachers, parents,
and the community in general.
Source: Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, comp. 2015. The Library in the Life of the User: Engaging with People Where They Live and Learn. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Research. http://www.oclc.
org/content/dam/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-library-in-life-of-user.pdf .

What is Evaluation?
Evaluation is the process of judging
something on a set of standards.
Source: What is Evaluation - Meaning and definition - Pallipedia. (2015). Retrieved from Pallipedia.org website: https://pallipedia.org/evaluation/

Why assess? The primary means of
doing this is through meaningful
assessment, taking a hard look at
what we are doing.
Need for
Evaluation
Program evaluations do not need to belong, tortuous, stultifying ordeals.
On the contrary, by collecting and interpreting only meaningful data, the
process can be painless and exciting, and possibly even fun.
Program evaluations should only exist as tools that will help us increase
our budgets, improve our working conditions, and make our programs
essential to our students’ learning. A practical program evaluation used as a
starting point for long-range planning is the only thing that can improve a
school’s library program significantly and permanently.
Program assessments can help establish a link between the library program
and school success if the assessment is directly related to whole-school
goals.
Source: Johnson, D. (2013). The Indispensable Librarian: Surviving and Thriving in School Libraries in the Information Age, 2nd Edition: Surviving and Thriving in School Libraries in the Information Age, Second Edition. United States: ABC-CLIO.

Who is involved
in the Evaluation?
Library program assessment is most effective
when the librarians, building principals, and district
personnel share its responsibility.
The team should include not just librarians but
administrators, teachers, technology specialists,
parents, and possibly students. All members of
the assessment team need to be identified and
their roles and responsibilities identified.
Lewis, M. (n.d.). Enabling School Librarians to Serve as Instructional Leaders of Multiple Literacies. 24, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/pubs/slr/vol24/SLR_EnablingSchoolLibrarians_V24.pdf

How to Handle
Evaluation
Evaluations provide feedback on what is essential to the
library staff and its users. However, one of the greatest
fears about conducting an assessment is that the resulting
data will prompt suggestions contrary to best practices for
the library program.
How the library program benefits from the evaluation are
directly related to how effectively the librarian addresses
each concern. The concerns are honest views of what is
perceived and should not be taken personally.
Lewis, M. (n.d.). Enabling School Librarians to Serve as Instructional Leaders of Multiple Literacies. 24, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/pubs/slr/vol24/SLR_EnablingSchoolLibrarians_V24.pdf

Is conducting an evaluation a
challenging experience for
you?
Can I get a show of hands?

Evaluating the
Current Program
Librarians who conduct a self-evaluation of their
program will become knowledgeable about their
library program’s current strengths and weaknesses.
Honesty when observing all characteristics of the
library program is an essential requirement of a self-
evaluation.
Source: Martin, A. M. (2012). Seven Steps to an Award-winning School Library Program. United States: Libraries Unlimited.

Self Evaluation Step-by-Step
The library staff starts by
reading the vision and mission
that guide the library program's
goals and objectives.
VISION AND MISSION
01
Integrating library skills into the
curriculum
Providing flexible scheduling for
library use
Having resources that are current
and user friendly
Meeting the needs of users promptly
Each library staff member then lists
their thoughts about what portion of
the current library program is most
important. The library staff might create
the following list:
THOUGHTS
02
After comparing the lists to
embedded criteria in the vision
and mission, staff members then
consider this question: “Is what
the library staff deems
important aligned with the vision
and mission?”
QUESTION
03
The library staff then analyzes
the consistencies and
inconsistencies between what
is perceived and the vision and
mission state. Next, the
schoolwide team continues the
self-evaluation process by
mirroring the library staff’s
evaluation process.
SELF-EVALUATION
03

THE NEXT STEP IN THE EVALUATION PROCESS IS TO CONDUCT A NEEDS
ANALYSIS.
CONDUCTING A
NEEDS ANALYSIS
The best way to find out what people need is to
ask them. So, the trick to finding out what
people think is in whom you ask and how you
ask them.

What are some evaluation
instruments that you know?

Evaluation Instruments
An essential source of information
about the library program comes
from the patrons it serves.
Therefore, short, easily understood
surveys designed for parents,
students, teachers, and principals
should be given to a random sample
of these groups in every building.
SURVEYS AND FOCUS
GROUPS
01
Focus groups of students,
teachers, and parents can also
provide good data (e.g.,
discussions, sound recording,
taking notes, holding meetings).
FOCUS GROUPS
02
It is vital to have a good
inventory of the resources
that make up the library
program. Simple spreadsheets
that allow quick data analysis,
such as professionals per
student, are excellent to report
such data.
COUNTING THINGS
03
These guides, checklists, and rubrics offer a description of the services of an effective library. Check to see if your state has specific
guidelines for school library programs.

The purpose of gathering data, of course,
is to help identify both the strong and
weak areas of the library program.
Therefore, the data gathered by the
surveys, inventories, and rubrics should be
carefully tabulated and examined for
patterns that indicate a high degree of
agreement in particular areas.
DATA ANALYSIS
04
The written report has at its
heart the findings of strengths
and weaknesses of the
program, recommendations for
improvement, and the data used
to draw those conclusions.
THE WRITTEN REPORT
05
Good assessment tools are not
used to evaluate work at the end
of a given period. Instead, they
should serve as a guide and
reminder for day-to-day
activities.
FOLLOW-UP
06

A common means of assessing a school library program (and by
inference evaluate its impact on student learning) is comparing
an individual library program to a state or national set of
program standards. In addition, checklist elements are
segmented to help school librarians, administrators, and district
supervisors easily see the shared responsibilities of all
stakeholders at the school, district, and state levels.
STANDARDS AND
CHECKLISTS
07

Evaluation Areas
Some areas for evaluation are discussed here.
CURRENCY
How recent is the information available in this
item? The importance of currency varies with the
topic selection.
DEPTH OF COVERAGE
How much information is available in this source?

Evaluation Areas
AUTHORITY
How trustworthy is the information?
EASE OF USE
How much effort will it take for students or
teachers to find the information they need?
Some of the ease of use is a function of the
format; some is a function of the item itself; some
is a function of the user.

Evaluation Areas
LOCATABILITY
How much effort would it take students or
teachers to locate the information found?
PERMANENCE
How durable is this information?

Evaluation Areas
Some areas for evaluation on the library items are discussed here.
OWNERSHIP/ACCESS
How much effort would it take students or
teachers to locate the information found?
UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS FOR THIS
FORMAT
What are the unique characteristics or special
features of this item particular to this format?
And is that characteristic important for the topic
chosen?

Hold up. Aside from the
school library itself, which
persons are also evaluated?

GOAL-BASED EVALUATION
PERFOMANCE EVALUATION
What Are Goals?
Goals are statements of what the librarian hopes to
achieve during a specific period. Goals do not detail how
a task is undertaken, only the outcome the librarian
wishes to achieve.
Staff
Evaluation
Performance review is the annual process in
which a librarian and their supervisor discuss,
document, and evaluate their job performance. It is
the formal procedure by which the librarian and the
supervisor improve communication, promote team
effort in the unit, foster the librarian's professional
development, and determine performance/merit
level.
Job knowledge, skills, and overall performance
Initiative and creativity
Leadership and teamwork
Interpersonal relations
Supervisory/Managerial skills (when applicable)
Each supervisor will evaluate library staff from a
different viewpoint, and each librarian brings a
unique situation to the evaluation process. There
are, however, five criteria that are likely to be
applicable in evaluating the job performance and
goal attainment of each librarian.

TYPES OF ASSESSMENT
RUBRICS FOR ASSESSMENT
Can be:
Summative - at the end
Formative - during
Direct - demonstration
Student
Evaluation
Assessment, or finding ways to determine whether
our students are learning what we intended them to
know, is a crucial part of instruction. By illuminating
where students are learning and where they are not,
assessment “provides important feedback that
librarians can use to improve their teaching”
(Oakleaf & Kaske, 2009, p. 276). We can use
assessment data to revise our instruction better to
meet the goals better, leading to better teaching and
learning.
By what criteria we should judge performance.
Where we should look and what we should look
for to judge performance success.
How the different levels of quality, proficiency,
or understanding can be described and
distinguished from one another.
Examples
Worksheets
Tasks and Demonstrations
Pre- and Post-Tests
Graphic Representations
Pro/Con Charts
Annotated Bibliography
Short Writing Exercises
Using Rubrics for Assessment
Rubrics tell us (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 173):
Indirect - reflection
Formal - planned
Informal - unplanned

One way to address this challenge in the library is to
demonstrate the positive results of teaching by collecting
formative assessment data. For example, librarians can
validate their impact on instruction using pre-and post-tests and
assessments, graphic organizers, checklists, rubrics, and
reflections, combining these with the students’ final products.
Teacher
Evaluation
Educators undergo regular performance
evaluations. School librarians are both
teachers and librarians, and this dual role brings
evaluation challenges.
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for
the 21st Century Learner require students to self-assess, so should school
librarians engage in ongoing reflective practice and self-assessment. The
AASL Publication, A 21st-Century Approach to School Librarian
Evaluation, presented as a workbook, includes a rubric that organizes the
work of the school librarian into three parts with fourteen headings:
1. Teaching for Learning
1.1 Building Collaborative Partnerships
1.2 Role of Reading
1.3 Addressing Multiple Literacies
1.4 Effective Practices for Inquiry
1.5 Assessment in Teaching for Learning
2. Building the Learning Environment
2.1 Planning and Evaluating
2.2 Staffing
2.3 Learning Space
2.4 Budget
2.5 Policies
2.6 Collection and Information Access
2.7 Outreach
2.8 Professional Development
3. Empowering Learning through Leadership
3.1 Leadership and Best Practices (AASL, 2012, 16-17)

Evidence-Based
Practice
Evidence-based practice focuses on data collection and
analysis for improvements in practice. Evaluations
conducted as part of evidence-based practice are
generally narrow in scope, conducted by school-level
evaluators, and result in practice recommendations. The
data collected and analyzed for purposes related to
evidence-based practice can come from a variety of
sources, depending on the aspect of practice being queried
such as the online circulation and cataloging system
(OPAC) records and instructional patterns, by class, grade,
or subject (evidence in practice – data for decision-
making).

Evaluation is a critical aspect of an ongoing cycle of continuous
improvement. In addition, evaluation helps to align the library’s
programs and services with the school's goals.
The evaluation demonstrates to students and teachers, library staff,
and the broader educational community the benefits derived from
school library programs and services.
Evaluation gives the evidence needed to improve programs and
services and helps library staff and library users understand and value
those programs and services. Successful evaluation leads to the
renewal of programs and services and the development of new
programs and services.
School library evaluation:
IFLA School Library Guidelines
(2nd revised edition)
Source: IFLA. (2021). The IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines 2002. Retrieved from Ifla.org website: https://archive.ifla.org/VII/s11/pubs/school-guidelines.htm

Sample
School
Library
Checklist
Source: IFLA. (2021). The IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines 2002. Retrieved from Ifla.org website: https://archive.ifla.org/VII/s11/pubs/school-guidelines.htm

Sample
School
Library
Checklist

THANK YOU!

References Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, comp. 2015. The
Library in the Life of the User: Engaging with
People Where They Live and Learn. Dublin,
Ohio: OCLC Research. http://www.oclc.
org/content/dam/research/publications/2015/
oclcresearch-library-in-life-of-user.pdf
1 2 IFLA. (2021). The IFLA/UNESCO
School Library Guidelines 2002.
Retrieved from Ifla.org website:
https://archive.ifla.org/VII/s11/pu
bs/school-guidelines.htm
3
Lewis, M. (n.d.). Enabling School
Librarians to Serve as Instructional
Leaders of Multiple Literacies. 24, 2021.
Retrieved from
https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.a
asl/files/content/pubs/slr/vol24/SLR_
EnablingSchoolLibrarians_V24.pdf
4
Martin, A. M. (2012). Seven
Steps to an Award-winning
School Library Program. United
States: Libraries Unlimited.
5
What is Evaluation - Meaning and
definition - Pallipedia. (2015).
Retrieved from Pallipedia.org
website:
https://pallipedia.org/evaluation
/
6
Johnson, D. (2013). The Indispensable
Librarian: Surviving and Thriving in
School Libraries in the Information Age,
2nd Edition: Surviving and Thriving in
School Libraries in the Information Age,
Second Edition. United States: ABC-
CLIO.

EVALUATING THE SCHOOL LIBRARY

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