The Assessment Project Final Report

Purpose of the NEFLIN Assessment Project

Library Assessment 101 was a free, practical, 6-part course, designed to aid library staff in defining, designing, and deploying a library assessment project.

Program Goals
1. To build capacity in NEFLIN academic libraries to conduct assessments.
2. To support assessment projects that guide library decision-making and action-taking.

Participant Requirements
Participants will be currently employed by a NEFLIN member library and will have at least two years’ experience in an academic library.

Location and Session Times
The six sessions were held at the NEFLIN Office, 2233 Park Avenue, Suite 402, Orange Park, FL.

All sessions will run from 9:00am – 4:00pm.

Dates and Session Topics

  • Tuesday, October 3, 2017. Assessment Overview.
  • Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Assessment Methods.
  • Tuesday, December 5, 2017. Assessment Test Run.
  • Tuesday, February 6, 2018. Assessment in the Field.
  • Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Assessment Results.
  • Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Communication and Dissemination.

Absences
This program takes place over the course of nine months. All applicants must state their intent to attend all six sessions listed above.

Application
Multiple applications from each library are encouraged. Those accepted will be based solely on their submission.  Participating libraries could have multiple representatives selected.

The selection committee will review each application for completeness. Completed applications will be evaluated based on expressed level of interest in attending, clarity and feasibility of intended assessment project, and potential to apply the skills learned in work contexts. There will be a maximum of twenty applicants accepted.

The application deadline was September 29. The application must be saved in Word format and then emailed to: office@neflin.org.

You will get an email confirmation within 48 hours that we received your application.  If you don’t, please contact us.

Acceptance is on an individual basis. No substitutions are permitted.

Working with another NEFLIN Assessment Project Participant
You may work with a colleague at your library on the same assessment project. If so, please include their name on the application, where indicated. You must both submit an application.

Cost
There are no fees for those who are accepted into the project.

Transportation to and from the host site, and lunch, will be on your own.

Questions
Questions? Call NEFLIN at (904) 278-5620 or e-mail: office@neflin.org.

Faculty

Megan Oakleaf, Project Designer and Lead Faculty

Megan Oakleaf is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science in the iSchool at Syracuse University. She is the author of the Value of Academic Libraries Comprehensive Review and Report and Academic Library Value: The Impact Starter Kit and has earned recognition and awards for articles published in top library and information science journals including College and Research Libraries, Portal,Reference and User Services Quarterly, and Journal of Documentation.

Megan has presented at numerous conferences, including the American Library Association (ALA), Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), and Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) national conferences, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Library Assessment Conferences, the IUPUI Assessment Institute, the Texas A&M Assessment Conference, and EDUCAUSE. Her research areas include outcomes assessment, evidence-based decision making, information literacy instruction, and academic library impact and value.


Martha Kyrillidou consults in management, evaluation, assessment and R&D activities. She helps libraries respond to customer needs through the development of user-focused services and culture that enhance the user-experience. With an understanding of trends in services, collections, facilities, and personnel she can help a library tell their story through narratives, visuals and numbers. Martha can help you with accreditation, grant writing, evaluation plans or serve as your external evaluator and data analyst for your grant and sponsored activities.

As the original architect of the StatsQUAL suite of services at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Martha is well positioned to consult and help you maximize the benefits you derive from LibQUAL+, ClimateQUAL and MINES for Libraries. She has also worked on digital library as well as special collections assessment and evaluation methods. Her work has defined the growing and dynamic library assessment community of practice across the globe.


Kristine Brancolini is the dean of the Library, a position she has held since 2006. She arrived at Loyola Marymount University just as the planning began for a new library, which was an exciting opportunity for both library staff and the entire university. The William H. Hannon Library opened in the summer of 2009 and has since been the hub of intellectual and cultural activity on campus.

Dean Brancolini has published widely in the field of library and information science, including media librarianship and digital library development. Her current research interests focus on continuing education for academic and research libraries, specifically the development of research skills and productivity, research self-efficacy and research networks. She is co-director of the Institute for Research Design in Librarianship, a three-year federally-funded program (2013-16) to train and support academic and research librarians who are novice researchers.


Amanda B. Albert is the Information Literacy Coordinator at Washington University in St. Louis. Amanda graduated with her MSLIS from the iSchool at Syracuse University in 2014. Prior to her position at WUSTL, she served as the Instructional Services Librarian at Saint Louis University.

Amanda’s current research interests include information literacy instruction, instructional design, assessment, and communicating library value. She has presented on these and other topics at numerous professional conferences including ACRL, the Distance Library Services Conference (DLS), the Library Assessment Conference (LAC), LOEX, NISO Virtual Conference, and the Southeast Library Assessment Conference (SELAC). Amanda is published in The Journal of Academic Librarianship and the Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning.