Assessment Group

Proposed Charge for Assessment Group

The Assessment Group is charged with planning and implementing an assessment program for the Library’s electronic resources and services. The goal of this program is to provide information to stakeholders about the use of these resources and the needs and information seeking behavior of Library users. The program should be as efficient, practical, and transparent as possible. Initially the group will focus on electronic resources and look at services later.  When appropriate, staff from the Law, Theology, and Medical Libraries will be invited to participate as they see fit.

Specifically, the Assessment Group will:

• Conduct an environmental scan of:

• Recent library literature

• Commercial products, e.g., Scholarly Stats, Serials Solution 360COUNTER

• Relevant activities of organizations such as ARL, ACRL, COUNTER, and NEASC

• Exemplary academic library assessment programs, such as the University of Washington Libraries, the University of Virginia Library, and the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

• Draft an assessment program plan outlining what statistics about use of electronic resources will be collected and what user surveys, focus groups, or usability tests will be conducted. This plan will include the rationale for selecting these measures, a description about how these quantitative and qualitative measures will be analyzed and reported, and a recommended frequency for each type of data collection. Post the program plan on the Library’s web site.

• Implement a program by collecting, analyzing, and reporting selected use statistics, and user assessment activities. Ensure that any user surveys meet the requirements of the Institutional Review Board.

• Provide Library Administration with data and recommendations as requested.

• Assess the program and recommend how the Library should move forward in creating a sustainable assessment program which will incorporate assessment into regular workflow.

Structure

The Assessment Group is composed of volunteers from the Web Committee. Initially, members include Dan Benedetti, Tim Lewontin, Danny Piekarski, Linda Plunket, and Sarah Struble. Additional staff may be added as needed. The chair will be selected by the group at their initial meeting. The chair will be responsible for scheduling meetings, creating and distributing agendas, conducting the meetings, reporting to the University Librarian, writing an annual report, and ensuring that all appropriate documents are archived. Minutes will be taken on a rotating basis. The Assessment Group will report to the Web Committee and the University Librarian, as appropriate.

Communication

The Group will maintain a web site or blog of assessment activities, documents, and findings, as well as provide face-to-face opportunities for library staff to discuss the program as it develops and give feedback and suggestions.

Resources

Library Administration will respond in a timely fashion to requests from the Assessment Group for needed resources. BU Libraries has arranged to participate in an ARL service, “Effective, Sustainable, and Practical Library Assessment”, which will provide support in developing an assessment program.  The Assessment Group will be one of the primary groups interacting with the ARL visiting officers.

Timetable

The program plan should be developed over the spring and summer of 2008. Implementation should begin in the fall of 2008.

5/08