The 2012 Library Assessment Conference took place October 29-31, 2012 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Once again, we were amazed and gratified by the response of the library assessment community. In 2010, conference registration opened on May 18, and by July 9 we had 200 registrants. This year, registration opened in June and by July 26 there were already 540 registrants! As was the case with previous conferences, we closed registration early and went to a waiting list.
The biennial conference's goal is to build and further a vibrant library assessment community by bringing together interested practitioners and researchers who have responsibility or interest in the broad field of library assessment. The conference provided a mix of invited speakers, contributed papers and posters, and workshops that stimulated discussion and provided workable ideas for effective, practical and sustainable library assessment.
The 2012 program offered plenary sessions from keynote speakers John Lombardi (American University), John Simon (University of Virginia), Judith Eaton (Council for Higher Education Accreditation), and Siva Vaidyanathan (University of Virginia). The program also offered presentations from more than 60 papers, 80 posters, and three full-day and two half-day workshops. Topics included teaching and learning, library space, service quality (LibQUAL+®), assessment in practice, organizational performance, value and impact, usability, qualitative assessment, digital libraries, information services, marketing and advocacy, collections, and more.
The Library Assessment Career Achievement awards were presented to four luminaries in the field—Karin De Jager, Sam Kalb, Donald W. King, and Joan Rapp. You can see video tributes for Mr. Kalb and Mr. King, as well as reading the awardee's acceptance speeches here.
Multiple pre- and post-conference workshops focused on such specific issues as communicating library value, library space assessment, LibQUAL+®, learning outcomes assessment, and managing strategic change with the use of the Balanced Scorecard.
The conference featured an evening Poster Reception with 86 peer-reviewed posters including organizational performance, methods (including space and surveys), learning, collections, and LibQUAL+®. Poster authors came from around the world and from a variety of institutions.
During the reception, experts on each of the topics judged the posters on content (benefit for practice, appropriateness of methodology, etc.) and aesthetics (logical organization, visual attraction) to select nine Judges’ Choice awards. From these nine posters, attendees had the opportunity to vote on two People’s Choice awards for the posters.
The 2012 Library Assessment Conference Planning Committee wishes to thank all of the presenters and participants for an engaging, productive, and gratifying conference.
Conference Co-Chairs:Finally, we express our deep appreciation to the sponsoring organizations and to the Association of Research Libraries, University of Virginia Library, and the University of Washington Libraries for their unstinting commitment to and support of assessment and this conference.
Sunday |
October 28 |
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10am–6pm |
Registration (Omni Prefunction) | |
Noon–4:00pm |
Workshop (Omni C) | |
Monday |
October 29 |
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8am |
Registration desk opens (Omni Prefunction) | |
9–9:30am |
Welcome & Opening | |
9:30–10:15am |
Plenary I | |
10:15–10:45am |
Break | |
10:45am–12:30pm |
Plenary I | |
12:30–1:15pm |
Bag Lunch distributed at the Paramount | |
1:30–3pm |
Parallel Session 1 Value (Paramount) What Do We Want to Know: Articulating a Research Agenda for the Value of Academic Libraries Assessment of the Use, Value and ROI of All Academic Library Services The Value of Our People: Towards a Scorecard for Human Capital in Academic and Research Libraries Data and Impact (Omni C) The ARL Investment Index Revisited: In Search of Reliable and Valid Indicators of Extensiveness of Research Libraries in the 21st Century Measuring the Impact of Electronic Library Materials on the University's Research Mission
Using Library User Surveys to Assess the Library's Impact on Student Outcomes Information Services (Omni B) Using a Mixed Method Approach to Assessing Roaming Services: A Case Study
Shop Your Way to Service Excellence: Secret Shopping for Academic Libraries
Secret Shoppers in the Library | |
3–3:30pm |
Break | |
3:30–5pm |
Parallel Session 2 Organizational Performance (Paramount) Do We Have What it Takes?: Assessing Liaison Librarians’ Skill Sets to Build Strong Partnerships and Ensure Better Outreach in a Quickly Changing Research and Learning Environment The Quality Maturity Model: Your Roadmap to a Culture of Quality One Size Doesn't Fit All? Harnessing Multiple Assessment Frameworks to Build the Value Proposition for the Organisation Teaching and Learning I (Omni C) Utilizing Cross-Campus Collaboration to Improve the Assessment of Information Literacy Library Faculty and Instructional Assessment: Creating a Culture of Assessment through the High Performance Programming Model of Organizational Transformation Collaborating with Campus Assessment Services to Evaluate Information Literacy Skills of Graduating Undergraduates New Roles (Omni B) Too Much Assessment, Not Enough R&D Assessing the Library’s Grants Program Is Experience the Best Teacher?: Field Experience and Student Learning in LIS Education Programs | |
6–8pm |
Poster Session and Reception (Omni) Poster Guide
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Tuesday |
October 30 |
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8am |
Breakfast (Paramount) | |
9–10am |
Plenary II | |
10–10:30am |
Break | |
10:30am–12:30pm |
Parallel Session 3 Space (Paramount) TEALS (Tool for Evaluation of Academic Library Spaces) Project: Evaluating Physical Library Spaces
Practical Research for Library Space and Service Design
Designing and Assessing Library Services Multidisciplinary Rethinking and Redesign of Library Space
Teaching and Learning II (Omni West) Project RAILS: Rubrics, Results, & Recommendations Impact of Library Instruction in Different Academic Disciplines: An Analysis of Student Transcripts and Course Syllabi Rolling it up: The Evolution of an Information Literacy Assessment Plan Assessment of Information Literacy as a Student Learning Outcome: Overcoming Barriers and Achieving Standards User Assessment & Behavior (Omni East)
Collaborative Ethnographic Needs Assessment of Doctoral Students in the Humanities Increasing the Impact & Value of a Graduate Level Research Methods Course by Embedding Assessment Librarians & Library Assessment Student Information Seeking Behaviors: A Case Study in Collaboration Research Support Services for Scholars: Understanding Evolving Research Practices | |
12:30–1:25pm |
Bag Lunch distributed at the Paramount | |
1:30–3:30pm |
Parallel Session 4 Communicating Value (Paramount) Telling the Story: Library Assessment for University Leadership Making the Case for Institutional Investment in Libraries: The Value of Evidence-Based Narratives The ICOLC Balanced Scorecard Pilot: The Value of Collaborative Parallel Play Consortia Value: The Orbis Cascade Alliance Special Collections (Omni West)
Data Driven Decision Making: A Holistic Approach to Assessment in Special Collections Repositories Understanding the User’s Mental Model: An Evolving Design and Assessment Strategy for Archival Collection Description Assessing Special Collections: How Do We Get from Where We Are to Where We Need to Be? Methods for Measuring Return on Investment for Digitized Special Collections Discovery (Omni East)
Beyond Usability: Building Discovery Tool Requirements through User Stories “It’s All in the Metadata”: Towards a Better QA for Ebooks “Feels Like You’ve Hit the Lottery”: Assessing the Implementation of a Discovery Layer Tool at Ryerson University Did We Get What We Paid For? An Institutional Assessment of User Behavior, User Expectations, and System Performance of Web Scale Discovery Tools. | |
3:45–4:30pm |
ARL Survey Coordinators Discussion (Omni A) | |
4:30–5:15pm |
ClimateQUAL® Discussion (Omni A) | |
6–6:30pm |
Conference Awards (Paramount) Library Assessment Career Achievement | |
6:30–8:30pm |
Conference Reception at the Paramount Theater | |
Wednesday |
October 31 |
|
7:30am |
Continental Breakfast (Omni) | |
8:30–10am |
Parallel Session 5 Teaching and Learning III (Omni A) Charting Success: Using Practical Measures to Assess Student Learning in a Peer2Peer Research Model The A-Team: Making a Plan Come Together Across Campus Conversations with Students: Assessment Leads to Adjustment Assessment in the Organization (Omni B) Assessing Assessment: A Framework to Evaluate Assessment Practices and Progress for Library Collections and Services The Assessment Needs of a Data-Driven Organization Collaborative Measures Building using the Balanced Scorecard in North American Libraries Collections / E-Resources (Omni C) Multi-Institution Circulation Patterns in a Cooperative Interlibrary Loan Program Mining eResource Data to Reveal Hidden Assets - How One School Dug Deeper into MINES to Illustrate the Value of eResources. MINES for e-Books Mixed Methods (James Monroe) Quest for Continuous Improvement: Applying Feedback and Data Gathered through Multiple Methods to Evaluate and Improve Use of a Library's Discovery Tool Herding Cats, Knitting Fog, and Nailing Pudding to the Wall: Toward a Mixed-methods Approach to Evaluating Social Media Marketing in Libraries Defining User Experience in Libraries | |
10–10:30am |
Break | |
10:30am–noon |
Parallel Session 6 Institutional Data (Omni A) Mining Library and University Data to Understand User Populations and Behavior Game of Clones: Using Analytical Research Data to Identify Institutional Peers and Collections Needs NCES Datasets and Library Value: An Exploratory Study of the 2008 Data LibQUAL+® (Omni B) Tracking Academic Outcomes: What LibQUAL+® Tells Us about How Users View Information Literacy Outcomes Closing the Loop: Are Libraries Communicating Assessment Results to Students? York University Libraries Implementation of LibQUAL+® Triads LibQUAL+® Triads Pilot: Results from the University of Manitoba Libraries Collections / E-Resources (Omni C) User-defined Valued Metrics for Electronic Journals Applying Performance Measurement to Safeguard Budgets: Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement of Electronic Journal Packages. Electronic Collection Assessment and Benchmarking to Demonstrate the Value of Electronic Collections | |
Noon–1:45pm |
Affinity Lunch Discussions (Omni Meeting Rooms) Accreditation, Higher Education Standards and Libraries Benchmarking with Other Libraries Communicating Assessment Results Managing Library-related Data Qualitative Methods Space and Facilities Assessment Value and Return On Investment | |
2:30–4pm |
Plenary III State of Assessment Quality Frameworks in Academic Libraries: Organizing and Sustaining Library Assessment Activities Library Assessment Today: More than Numbers Closing Panel Robert Fox, University of Louisville | Thursday Workshops |
8:30am-3:30pm - Library Space Assessment: Bringing the Focus to Teaching and Learning (Omni A) 8:30am-3:30pm - Working Effectively with LibQUAL+® (Omni B) 8:30am-3:30pm - Getting Started with Learning Outcomes Assessment: Purposes, Practical Options, and Impact (Omni C) 8:30am-Noon - Successfully Managing Strategic Change with the Balanced Scorecard (James Monroe) |