LOEX2008: Creating an Architecture of Assessment: Using benchmarks to measure library instruction progress and success

Presented by Candice Benjes-Small and Eric Ackermann of Radford University

Curricular changes, librarian burnout, and student-reported BI overload (measured in LibQual). Instruction was course-integrated but built on one-shot classes.

Challenge of linking the 4-point Likert scale questions to specific comments and suggestions.

Evaluation Form (very short and straightforward)

1. I learned something useful from this workshop (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree). Comment lines with each choice

2. I think this librarian was a good teacher.

3. I would recommend this workshop to someone interested in library research.

Thank you!

For benchmarking, they chose to use University of Virginia’s library system use of metrics to determine success. See http://www.lib.virginia.edu/bsc/

Used these benchmarks — Number of negative comments for question 2 under 10% would constitute partial success, and under 5% would constitute total success. In Spring ‘07 they found that number of negative comments was 11.6%, so they revamped their course content. In Fall 07 and Spring 08, these figures were 5.6% and 6.3% respectively. Better, but a prompt for continuous improvement!

These kinds of quantitative data are very helpful for annual reports (and accreditation reports)! Changing the form is not something one should do lightly, since you’ll lose some ability to compare data with previous years.

loex2008