Assessment and Accountability in Reference Work

Assessment and Accountability in Reference Work explores the issue of library assessment methods and the impact of accountability on the delivery of reference services. It is a call for librarians to actively adopt performance measures and learn how to work with the results. This fascinating book explores a wealth of assessment methods that librarians can use to collect data and create standards that are valid, practical, and useful in accounting for reference services. Some of the methodologies described include quantitative measures, qualitative measures, patron surveys, questionnaires, interviews, case studies, peer review, unobtrusive testing, and even updating the library's policies and procedures manual as a way to evaluate services. A variety of assessment methods for reference services are applied to all types of libraries. Chapters in Assessment and Accountability in Reference Work describe how a small town library defends the relevancy of its services at a town meeting, how a special library documents the value of its services to cost-conscious management, and how academic libraries can become involved in university- and college-level assessment programs. Librarians seeking to develop their own assessment methods will benefit from practical advice on assessing diversity in the library, and helpful suggestions for improving reference services through training workshops, peer-coaching, and changes in organizational climate. A valuable bibliography of additional resources on assessment and accountability assembled by the editors completes this well-rounded work. All librarians concerned with finding the best way to justify the value of their reference services will find Assessment and Accountability in Reference Work a valuable introduction to the assessment methods that will fit the individual needs of their libraries.

Table of Contents:
Contents Introduction Part I: Requirements and Methodologies Federal Register: Rules and Regulations 1988: 602.17 and 602.18: Focus on Educational Effectiveness Reference Services: Research Methodologies for Assessment and Accountability All the World is Data and We But the Ciphers in It . . . William Shakespeare 1992 Part II: The Ecology of Assessment: The Environment of the Library The Small Town Library: Discovering Relevancy Assessment and Accountability at Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Special Libraries Assessment or Marketing the Special Library Part III: Patterns of Assessment Assessment in Higher Education The Librarian's Role in Academic Assessment and Accreditation: A Case Study Teaching High Schoolers About Libraries: A Message to Teachers A Program With a View: The Inner City High School Library Accountability for BI Programs in Academic Libraries: Key Issues for the 1990s Part IV: Taking Human Beings Into Account Humanism and Automation: Working With People in the Library Automation Process Assessing and Evaluating Diversity in the Reference Department Facing Personal Evaluation: A Mentoring Program Supports Professional Staff Undergoing Tenure Review Privacy and Accountability at the Reference Desk Part V: Reference Evaluation Reference Evaluation: An Overview Wrong Questions, Wrong Answers: Behavioral vs. Factual Evaluation of Reference Services How's the Water? The Training of Reference Librarians What Do Faculty Want? Part VI: Connections With the Rest of the Library Reference Librarians and Technical Services Librarians: Who's Accountable Evaluating OPACs, or, OPACs Are Reference Tools, Too All I Need is the Computer: Reference and Bibliographic Instruction in the Age of CD-ROMs Interactive Multi-Media and Electronic Media in Academic Libraries: Policy Implications Open vs. Closed Stack for Academic Library Periodical Collections Is the Sky Falling? Or Using the Policies and Procedures Manual as an Evaluation Tool Accountability in Book Acquisition and Weeding Part VII: Bibliography Reference Notes Included