Ramping up assessment at the UNLV Libraries
| Pages | 396-413 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830510621801 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Author | Jeanne Brown |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
THEME ARTICLE
Ramping up assessment at the
UNLV Libraries
Jeanne Brown
Architecture Studies Library and Libraries Assessment Committee,
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Abstract
Purpose – Sets out to describe the development of an assessment program at UNLV Libraries and
current assessment activities.
Design/methodology/approach – Assessment activities are first placed in organizational context,
distinguishing between assessment initiated by departments, and assessment done library-wide.
Common expressions of resistance to assessment are noted, followed by the library and campus
context relating to assessment. The impact of technology and of the LibQual þsurvey is discussed.
Findings – Assessment activities at UNLV Libraries have strengthened and diversified over the last
several years, thanks to several factors including the guidance of its dean, the development of
technology and human infrastructure, the impact of implementing the LibQual þsurvey, and other
factors. Signs of its place in the Libraries can be seen in the Libraries’ Strategic Plan and a recent
review of the Strategic Plan’s effectiveness and continued relevance.
Practical implications – Provides insight into the factors affecting the implementation of an
assessment program.
Originality/value – This article is useful to those interested in the formation of a “culture of
assessment.”
Keywords Assessment, Decision making, Academiclibraries, Databases
Paper type Case study
“Ramping up” sounds like a smooth uniform gradient, doesn’t it? More accurate would
be “jacking up” – but it did not sound mellifluou senou gh for a title! “Jacking up” more
accurately describes the changes in assessment at the UNLV Libraries since Lied
Library opened in January 2001 – it has been a jerky, uneven, laborious task.
Organizational placement of assessment
Assessment can be viewed fro m both the library-wide persp ective and the
departmental perspective. Although the section below is not comprehensive, it does
give a flavor of where assessment is happening in the UNLV Libraries.
Library-wide assessment
Assessment, in the sense of an organized library-wide effort, has taken several
organizational paths at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries, just in
the ten plus years that this author has been at UNLV. The first incarnation was an ad
hoc group of three librarians (head of Public Services, Architecture Studies librarian,
and head of Special Collections) appointed by the dean to respond to concerns raised
about the library by faculty during a campus accreditation visit. This gro up in
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
LHT
23,3
396
Received 1 February 2005
Revised 30 March 2005
Accepted 25 April 2005
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 23 No. 3, 2005
pp. 396-413
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830510621801
1995-1996 drafted and brought to completion a campus-wide survey of both faculty
and students.
The original group of three was expanded by two in 1998 and became a standing
committee, co-chaired by the head of the Architecture Studies Library and the head of
Special Collections. This group took on as its responsibility the standardization of
annual report formats throughout the library, and conducted a campus-wide survey in
1999. This Assessment Committee made departmental annual reports a keystone in its
approach to assessment, seeing it as a first step to an assessment “program”. They
recommended, and the Libraries have since followed, a standard narrative annual
report format, and created a Uniform Statistics Data Collection Form to gather
statistics on use and patron contacts.
The group continued, with some changes in comp osition, until 2003. Its
responsibilities were amorphous and to a large extent self-determined. During this
period, accomplishments included an assessment plan (for 2001-2006) and a matrix of
assessment activities in the Libraries (see Appendices 1-3 and Table I for more
information). The assessment plan was organized into the following categories:
purpose of assessment, summary of Libraries’ assessment activities 1996-2001, flaws
in Libraries’ assessment activities 1996-2001, goals for current assessment plan,
assessment needed to determine success of the strategic plan, additional areas to be
addressed, and action plan (by year). The matrix has columns for the assessment
activity, a designation of the type of assessment (e.g. external survey), beginning and
completion dates, contact person(s), and comments – including the URL for posted
results.
In 2003 the Assessment Committee was reconstituted as the Research and Analysis
Committee, chaired by the head of the Architecture Studies Library. In a letter to the
Library faculty and staff, Dean Kenneth Marks noted that “two conclusions have
become fixed in my mind as a result of the work of the past eighteen months with the
ACRL @your library Task Force ... First, academic librarians do not know enough
about their patrons. Second, there is a disconnectedness between knowing library
customers, strategic planning, and assessment of library activities”. The Research and
Analysis Committee was charged with building a knowledge base concerning
segments of the Libraries’ patron population, identifying library needs for each
segment, sharing information with the Strategic Planning Committee, and conducting
regular periodic analyses (e.g. patron surveys) and evaluation of the Libraries’
activities in order to identify gaps in meeting customer needs.
Departmental assessment
The Libraries’ departments/units engage in assessment activities independently of the
Committee. The Research and Information department has in fact recently designated
one of its librarians as the “Assessment and Training Librarian” – although it should
be noted that assessment is one of many tasks for the librarian, including desk service
and collection development. The Assessment and Training Librarian’s assessment
duties include identifying statistics and assessment activities related to R&I servi ces
and collections. She has, in addition to gathering statistics, developed a form for
collecting data on off-desk reference activities, and has recently developed a short
survey to determine who the primary users of the reference desk service are and
whether they receive the information they need when they come to the reference desk.
Ramping up
assessment
397
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