Slides presented as part of a panel presentation given at the American Library Association's annual meeting in 2015. The panel discussed evaluating public programs at libraries. and how to keep improve keeping track of statistics.

1. About Princeton Public Library

2. Public Programming Evaluation
Variety of methods used to evaluate programs at PPL
• Discussion at monthly team meetings about what worked that month and
what did not work in terms of programs
• Annual retreat where we do a “Pause, Play, Rewind” exercise and
evaluate each ongoing programming for effectiveness
• Establishing goals and objectives each year and continually evaluating
internally to see if programs are meeting our goals and objectives
• Surveying attendees for feedback
• Department wide statistics form that is filled out for each program

3. Princeton Public Library’s Statistic Collection Form – the basics

4. Princeton Public Library’s Statistic Collection Form – tracking impact

5. Princeton Public Library’s Statistic Collection Form – other details

6. Sample Response to PPL Statistics Collection Form

7. Princeton Senior Resource Center offered this program with
us as a partnership. It is their 1st stab at more policy based
programming and we had excellent response from the 30+
seniors in attendance. The discussion about retirement policy
in NJ was lively.
Random Impact Statements from our database
A 4th grader was helped with math, a 2nd grader was helped with reading and
math, a 3rd grader was helped with spelling and math, and a 2nd grader was
helped with math and reading. (YS Homework Help program)
The film
Purgatorio was
an excellent lead
in for the follow-
up discussion
about the
different people
and their life on
the border of the
US and Mexico.
Great way to
start the series
on immigration.
This program was a press conference to
announce that Princeton is one of three
towns chosen to participate in pilot program
with the Mayor's Wellness Campaign to
encourage people to start talking about their
end of life wishes. PPL is one of the partners
and will host continued programs in the fall in
support of this program as part of the
Currents: Conversations that Matter series
funded by the NEH.

8. Benefits to this form for Program Evaluation
• Easily able to sort attendance statistics to meet many
needs and requests for a variety of reasons
• Ability to track impact of individual, annual and
recurring programs on an ongoing basis
• Helps plan for staffing needs
• Tracks essential information such as number of
volunteer hours, source of funding, and outreach
• Assists with grant and report writing