A Review of the Literature on Assessment in Academic and Research Libraries, 2005 to August 2011

Hufford, Jon

doi:10.1353/pla.2013.0005

Cited by 41 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Chapman, DeRidder, and Thompson (2015) note that generalizability for evaluating digital libraries across institutions is difficult due to wide differences in software and platforms. In digital library evaluation, there has been a heavy focus on analytics, costs, user studies, the user interface, software, and citations (Hufford, 2013;Saracevic, 2000;Zhang, 2010). Monitoring usage trends for complex services and infrastructure is more difficult.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

How are we Measuring Up? Evaluating Research Data Services in Academic Libraries

Coates

Carlson

Clement

et al. 2018

Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication

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INTRODUCTIONIn the years since the emergence of federal funding agency data management and sharing requirements (http://datasharing.sparcopen.org/data), research data services (RDS) have expanded to dozens of academic libraries in the United States. As these services have matured, service providers have begun to assess them. Given a lack of practical guidance in the literature, we seek to begin the discussion with several case studies and an exploration of four approaches suitable to assessing these emerging services. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM This article examines five case studies that vary by staffing, drivers, and institutional context in order to begin a practice-oriented conversation about how to evaluate and assess research data services in academic libraries. The case studies highlight some commonly discussed challenges, including insufficient training and resources, competing demands for evaluation efforts, and the tension between evidence that can be easily gathered and that which addresses our most important questions. We explore reflective practice, formative evaluation, developmental evaluation, and evidence-based library and information practice for ideas to advance practice. NEXT STEPS Data specialists engaged in providing research data services need strategies and tools with which to make decisions about their services. These range from identifying stakeholder needs to refining existing services to determining when to extend and discontinue declining services. While the landscape of research data services is broad and diverse, there are common needs that we can address as a community. To that end, we have created a community-owned space to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and existing resources.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

How are we Measuring Up? Evaluating Research Data Services in Academic Libraries

Coates

Carlson

Clement

et al. 2018

Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication

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“…Jon Hufford's review article on the literature of assessment in academic libraries provides a valuable and wide-ranging overview of library assessment from the year 2005 to 2011. 6 The focus of this review is on studies and reports showing the library's relationship with institutionally relevant goals, such as student outcomes in learning and retention.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Relationship of Library Usage to Student Outcomes

Stemmer

Mahan²

2016

CRL

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This study connects library user surveys, a common library assessment technique, to institutional data to demonstrate the value an academic library brings to student learning and student outcomes. Using regression techniques, the study identifies multiple significant correlations, both positive and negative, between student use of the library and student learning and outcomes as measured by retention, graduation, and grade point average (GPA). The library factors associated with student outcomes change over the course of the four-year undergraduate experience. Methods used in this study could be a model for other institutions seeking a means for assessing the library's relationship to student learning and outcomes.hile libraries were once "the heart of the university," their value is no longer taken for granted. Librarians are increasingly facing the task of demonstrating the value they provide to the university communities they serve. Universities are expected to provide information on assessment and evaluation of their educational efforts. In this environment, it is not surprising that the academic library, as a creature of higher education, finds itself working to identify measures to more clearly demonstrate the library's value by its influence on institutionally relevant outcomes-faculty productivity or student outcomes.This study gathered data from user surveys on three different areas of library influence-resources, services, and place (or space)-and how these areas relate to student success across the undergraduate years. This research has developed a model of library usage that considers multiple variables at various points in time during the undergraduate experience. Specifically, how does the student's reported usage of the library's services and resources relate to their success after controlling for exogenous characteristics?The Spellings Commission Report of 2006 influenced American higher education to more closely examine accountability and assessment.

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“…Published evidence of library impact on student learning has been historically disconnected from institutional outcomes, and generally focuses on individual librarian/faculty collaboration, rather than programmatic approaches (Oakleaf, 2011). Hufford (2013) contends, in a 2005-2011 review of the library assessment literature, that, while traditional library inputs and output measurements remain valuable, libraries are increasingly focusing on institutional priorities and assessing student-learning outcomes programmatically, to uncover institutional impacts.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Complexity of Student Learning Outcome Assessment Practices Across Multiple Libraries

Ziegenfuss

Borrelli

2016

EBLIP

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Objectives -The purpose of this collaborative qualitative research project, initiated by the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), was to explore how librarians were involved in the designing, implementing, assessing, and disseminating student learning outcomes (SLOs) in GWLA member academic libraries. The original objective of the research was to identify library evaluation/assessment practices at the different libraries to share and discuss by consortia members at a GWLA-sponsored Student Learning Assessment Symposium in 2013. However, findings raised new questions and areas to explore beyond student learning assessment, and additional research was continued by two of the GWLA collaborators after the Symposium. The purpose of this second phase of research was to explore the intersection of library and institutional contexts and academic library assessment practices.Methods -This qualitative research study involved a survey of librarians at 23 GWLA member libraries, about student learning assessment practices at their institutions. Twenty follow-up Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 2016, 11.2 10 interviews were also conducted to further describe and detail the assessment practices identified in the survey. Librarians with expertise in library instruction, assessment, and evaluation, either volunteered or were designated by their Dean or Director, to respond to the survey and participate in the interviews. Interview data were analyzed by seven librarians, across six different GWLA libraries, using constant comparison methods (Strauss & Corbin, 2014). Emerging themes were used to plan a GWLA member Symposium. Based on unexpected findings, after the Symposium, two GWLA researchers continued the analysis using a grounded theory methodology to re-examine the data and uncover categorical relationships and conceptual coding, and to explore data alignment to theoretical possibilities.Results -Seventeen categories and five themes emerged from the interview data and were used to create a 3-part framework for describing and explaining library SLO assessment practices. The themes were used to plan the GWLA Assessment Symposium. Through additional qualitative grounded theory data analysis, researchers also identified a core variable, and data were reevaluated to verify an alignment to Engeström's Activity and Expansion Theories (Engeström, 2001(Engeström, , 2004. Conclusions -The findings of this multi-phased qualitative study discovered how contextual, structural, and organizational factors can influence how libraries interact and communicate with college departments, and the larger institution about student learning outcomes and assessment. Viewing library and campus interaction through the activity theory lens can demonstrate how particular factors might influence library collaboration and interaction on campuses. Institutional contexts and cultures, campus-wide academic priorities, leadership at the library level, and changing roles of librarians were all themes that emerged from this study t...

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A Review of the Literature on Assessment in Academic and Research Libraries, 2005 to August 2011

Cited by 41 publications

References 69 publications

How are we Measuring Up? Evaluating Research Data Services in Academic Libraries

How are we Measuring Up? Evaluating Research Data Services in Academic Libraries

Investigating the Relationship of Library Usage to Student Outcomes

Exploring the Complexity of Student Learning Outcome Assessment Practices Across Multiple Libraries

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