Higher Education and Assessment: Library and Information Science Research

How best to evaluate modern library services' success? This book argues that an ethnographic and human-centred design approach enables library professionals to gather rich evidence-based insights into what is really going on in their libraries, allowing them to look beyond what library users say they do to what they actually do.

Offering step by step guidance that's transparent and easy to follow, this book introduces the concept of outcome-based planning and evaluation (OBPE) and explains how it can be a streamlined, effective method of getting library users'feedback; defines “outcomes” and shows why public libraries should use them to plan and evaluate services; shares methodologies for assessing community needs and interests, including key informant interviews, surveys, focus groups, and environmental scans; demonstrates how to use community assessment data to create outcome statements that not only guide the creation of new library services, but also provide targets for measuring the effectiveness of those services; offers techniques for designing services that directly serve the community while also achieving the outcomes the library has targeted; and provides tips for sharing the results with stakeholders and maximizing successful outcome-based programs to leverage the library's role in the community.

Illustrates how to use data to support value, collection use, benchmarking, and other best practices.

Presents an overview of evaluation and the types of metrics, linking them to strategic planning and infrastructure, examines qualitative versus quantitative measures, shows how to decide which metrics are relevant to one's own institution, covering benchmarking, best practices, peer group filters, and those metrics that offer a high return on investment Includes pointers for launching and maintaining successful library evaluation through flexibility and smart delegation among library staff, and offers advice on marshaling data to effectively communicate the value and impact of a library and its services, no matter the audience

Ward identifies the challenges and proposes solutions to shaping physical collections for today’s academic library.

Consortia and other library partnerships are now sharing ever larger fractions of their collections, and this book gives library staff the tools necessary for a smoothly functioning ILL system.

This manual includes 34 ALA policy statements and documents, 17 new or updated for this edition, addressing patron behavior, internet use, copyright, exhibits, use of meeting spaces, and other common concerns At-a-glance lists summarizing key issues such as access, challenges and censorship, access by minors to controversial materials, and advocacy

Offers guidance for determining how to delegate responsibility for weeding, plus pointers for getting experienced staff on board Gives advice for educating the community about the process, how to head off PR disasters, and what to do with weeded materials Includes a dozen sample collection development plans, easily adaptable to suit a library's individual needs

Provides practical guidance to ensuring that your users can access and personalise the online resources they are entitled to use with the minimum of fuss.

Includes complete analysis of the librarian's technological toolbox for teaching, security, databases, and more; expert advice on how to compare and evaluate competing technology solutions; mobile devices and technology, social media, streaming media, and privacy; makerspaces and other technology programing; updated content on open source catalog systems, discovery layers, and related elements of library management systems; a new section on learning management systems (LMS); websites, web-based services, and free information resources; improved guidance on usability; new technology predictions for the future, with tips on how to stay up to date with the latest developments; and a glossary of useful terms.

Spanning all types of libraries, from public to academic, school, and special, this book illuminates the major facets of library and information science for aspiring professionals as well as those already practicing in the field.

This important book deepens our understanding of how academic libraries can better serve students' needs, and also serves as a model for other researchers interested in a user-centered approach to evaluating library services.

Offers snapshots of innovation in action at a range of libraries. Among the topics covered are: the importance of creating organizational structures that lead to innovation, strategies for getting library staff and other stakeholders on board and engaged, complete with a step-by-step toolkit for achieving innovative outcomes, ways to expand the library beyond its walls to deliver exceptional and innovative services to library users, money-saving initiatives that use technology to improve users' experience, and innovative uses of library spaces.

Discusses the importance of accessible, welcoming, and responsive library environments that invite open and equitable participation, and which factors are preventing many libraries from ramping up community engagement and user-focused services; challenges, developments, and emerging opportunities in the field, including new ways to reach users and harness curiosity; and the concept of the library as classroom, a participatory space to experiment with new professional roles, new technologies, and new ways of interacting with patrons.

This dynamic collection helps readers to envision the purpose and value of future libraries and to see change as a rare opportunity to create truly new roles for librarians.

Walks readers through the steps needed to create a sustainable, service-oriented model by explaining how a service culture reaches beyond the individual leader with positional authority and extends to all individuals, showing ways to build rapport and trust within an organization, and how to balance encouragement with accountability

Focuses on putting ideas into action, this title points the way towards new ways to think about metrics by reexamining customer self-driven services, identifying and assessing community needs, and realigning library services accordingly

Examines how library services meet user needs in the twenty-first century by considering key questions such as: Should librarians be on call waiting for users or out in the community promoting the library? Should we assign staff to help users one-on-one or is it more effective to assign them to build and use tools to teach users how to find and evaluate information? Will we continue to purchase commercial reference sources or just use Wikipedia and other free resources on the web? And how do we evaluate the effectiveness of reference services?

Takes a critical look at trends affecting library practices regarding information service delivery, and how factors such as public policy, economics, and popular culture will continue to affect those trends in the future, addressing such topics as privacy, censorship, and reference ethics, the effects of the “born digital” library user on the purpose and function of reference, and strategic challenges for reference in the coming decade