Practical Evaluation Techniques for Librarians

Evaluation is essential to library management: it provides the data that underlies informed and effective decision-making. This book is a one-volume, how-to guide to library evaluation techniques, planning, and reporting. Library professionals—regardless of whether they operate in a school, public, or academic library setting—need to have effective evaluation skills in order to be accountable to stakeholders and to effect informed improvement. Practical Evaluation Techniques for Librarians provides information and guidance that is highly useful and accessible for all librarians looking to intelligently manage the strengths and weaknesses of their library as well as communicate its value to its stakeholders. Rather than focusing on data-gathering methods appropriate for researchers, the book concentrates on data collection at the local level that enables informed managerial decision-making. It describes and compares techniques that can be used with any level or type of resource—staffing, software, and expertise, for example—in any size library. Author Rachel Applegate makes it clear that accountability is everywhere and imperative, and any librarian can learn the simple techniques to benefit from evaluation.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1: Personal Techniques Surveys Interviews Focus Groups Usability Instructional Evaluation Observation: Tallies Unobtrusive Observation: Reference Testing Mystery Shopping Chapter 2: Impersonal Techniques List-Checking Citation Analysis Collection Mapping Use Analysis Availability Process Evaluation Transaction Log Analysis Chapter 3: Technique Selection and Sampling Decision Factors Summarizing and Analyzing Data Using Technology Using Consultants Chapter 4: Planning for Evaluation Library Operations Evaluation Plans (LOEPs) Chapter 5: Reporting about Evaluation Targeted Evaluation Reports Periodic Organizational Reports Reporting and Organizational Communication Afterword: How to Handle Numbers Appendix A: Study Questions Answer Key Appendix B: Formatting Data Index

About the Author :
Rachel Applegate, MLS, PhD, is associate professor of library and information science at Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN.

Review :
This insightful manual discusses how to evaluate and assess information using different techniques such as surveys and focus groups. . . . A useful guide for gathering practical information. This book can be used as a reference, as a guide, or as a text to help librarians, administrators, and future librarians and administrators evaluate libraries for managerial decision making and research purposes. This book is also of use as a guide for graduate students in library and information science who are seeking to perform evaluation studies on libraries.