The Development, Design, and Implementation of a Library Assessment Framework

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Common in the language and actions of libraries is the desire to develop and foster a culture of assessment and evaluation. However, most employees in a library have had limited or no experience in designing, conducting, analyzing, and disseminating library assessments. Those who do have experience tend to draw from their personal discipline background that emphasizes one type of method over another. Typically, when these assessments happen, the efforts are one-off or siloed assessments. To create and foster a culture of assessment a framework is needed to guide and support all library assessments. A library assessment framework helps library employees see where their assessment fits into the overall library strategic planning and improvement processes. It informs them regarding what assessment services are available for supporting their efforts. In short, a library assessment framework helps all library employees contribute to the culture of assessment. This article describes the tools used to develop a library-wide assessment framework, the components of an assessment framework, and how the assessments tie into library and university aims and goals. Example templates are provided in Appendices.