A presentation by Olga Koz at the Kansas Library Association, College and University Libraries Section (CULS) Spring 2014 Conference. The rapid pace of change in today's higher education environment creates pressure within an academic library to implement change, new programs, strategy, and technology in order to meet the demands of its stakeholders. Studies have shown that approximately 70% of organizational innovations fail. One of the main causes for these failures is the lack of a thorough diagnostic investigation of stakeholders’ needs, university or college environment. A thorough diagnostic examination includes both an external and internal analysis using some form of assessment. The presenter, a Doctor of Management, OD consultant, and an academic librarian, briefly describes the usual library assessment tools and discuss non-traditional diagnostic methods.

1. "Library, what's library?"
Creative library assessment

2. “Library, what's library?" Disc from the Library
How does
an academic
community
view a
library?
How do
librarians
assess a
library?
Prediction

3. Looking from different viewpoints
Library
prototype
Students’
schemata
Faculty
schemata
Librarians
Systems/functionalist
approach
Managers
Interpretive

4. Digging deeper or “Working the
Onion”
Quantitative research:
Surveys, statistical
analysis, sociometry
Qualitative research:
Interview, focus groups,
ethnography,
observations, archival
materials, discourse
analysis, case study
Action
researchEthnography
Narrative
analysis
Types of tools and types of data

5. Tools
Traditional
tools
Non-
traditional tools
Our tools
Surveys
simulation
netnography
social network
analysis

6. Names Purpose Type
LibQual+ users' opinions of
service quality
survey
DigiQual user’s opinion of
digital services
survey
MINES for Libraries Purpose of use of
electronic resources
survey
Project COUNTER electronic resources
usage
ClimateQUAL staff perceptions
concerning the library
survey
Library/ ARL Assessment tools

7. Institutional Effectiveness or
Research or Assessment
Name Purpose Type
CIRP/ HERI Complex. Student
and faculty
experience
surveys
HEDS Impact of
teaching, research
practices, IL
survey
IPEDS/NCES Integrated
Postsecondary
Education Data
System
survey
NSSE Student
engagement/expe
rience
survey

8. Surveys
Science + Experience
• Library survey ≠ “library questions”
• Beware of asking about causality
What are your main reasons for using the Library
(check all that apply)?
• No complex questions or problems
• Ask 1 question at a time (double
barreled questions
• First hand experience
• Limit hypothetical questions
What will be the great source of information in your
field in 2 years?
• Sensitive answers
How many times per month do you use library
resources? vs. How many times per term have you
been asked by instructor to use library resources?
• Leading and loaded questions
Experts believe…Library is paying thousands of
dollars to …What do you see as the
disadvantages…
• No unwarranted assumption
With the budget like it is, do you think we should
buy more audio-visual materials?
Geek Comic for April 20th – A Contradicting Survey Result
about Surveys
.

9. Mission
statement
Learning
Objectives
Class
observation
forms
Assignments

10. Michael Wesch and his
Digital Ethnography
Research Team of 2011 has
released Visions of Students
Today: an exciting “video
collage” about student life
created by students
themselves.

11. Participatory approach: As a
member of faculty online and face-to-
face committees and active member
of online forums, network and
communities of practice, you have
access to first hand information for
ethnographic research
Adjunct faculty forum
Q: College required text books - Do you
teach directly from them or do you draw
support for your subject from other mediums?

12. The median
salary is
$22,041
Some 89
percent of
respondents
teach at two
or more
institutions
Report to House
Education and the
Workforce
Committee, 2014)

13. Action Research
Disadvantages: bias, cannot be generalized, hard to
get an outsider perspective, validity
Advantages: action-oriented, participatory

14. Organizational Diagnosis
The systematic and scientifically based assessment,
description, explanation, and prediction of regularly
occurring experience, behavior, and performance of
members of organizations and their interaction.

15. Presentation
Analytics Dashboards
Indianapolis Museum of Art
UMASS Amherst Libraries
Indiana U. –Purdue U.
NCSU Libraries
UMASS Dashboard
based on Tableau
software

16. Input, output, outcomes
Assessment helps distinguish between teaching (input) and
learning (outcomes)
Nelson, W.N, & Fernekes, R. W. (2002). Standards
and assessment for academic libraries: A workbook.
Chicago: Association of College and Research
Libraries.
Mission
Inputs
Outputs
Outcomes
Strategies
Actions
Goals

17. Prediction
Excellent first
year IL program
Students know
how to find,
assess, and use
information
No need in
“course or
embedded
librarians”?
Optimization
of searching
experience
Students are
able to find
information
No need for
reference
librarians
Digitization
Everything is
online!
No need in
face2face or
brick & mortar
service

18. Will a Library go supernova or just fade
away?
X-ray images of Cassiopeia A, taken
by the Chandra satellite.
CARTOON
BY TOM
GAULD

19. References
Duke, L. M., & Asher, A. D. (2011). College libraries and student
culture: What we now know. Chicago: American Library
Association.
Gordon J. Hewitt, Hewitt R.T. (2010). Ability, Assistance, and
Collaboration in Academic Library Assessment. Library
Philosophy and Practice , 479 Retrieved from
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/479
Nelson, W.N, & Fernekes, R. W. (2002). Standards and assessment
for academic libraries: A workbook. Chicago: Association of
College and Research Libraries
Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography. Doing ethnographic research
online . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Morton-Owens, E. & Hanson, K. (2012). Trends at a Glance: A
Management Dashboard of Library Statistics. Information
Technology and Libraries, 31 (3).

20. Oakleaf, M. J., Association of College and Research Libraries., &
American Library Association. (2010). The value of academic
libraries: A comprehensive research review and report. Chicago, IL:
Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library
Association. Retrieved from www.aclr.ala.org/value.
Rambler, L. K. (1982). Syllabus Study: Key to a Responsive Academic
Library. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 8(3), 155.