Assessment in Action: Demonstrating and Communicating Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success

Program Description

Higher education institutions of all types are facing intensified attention to assessment and accountability issues. Academic libraries are increasingly connecting with colleagues and campus stakeholders to design and implement assessment that documents their contributions to institutional priorities. In this day-long workshop on strategic and sustainable assessment, participants will identify institutional priorities and campus partners, design an assessment project grounded in action research, and prepare a plan for communicating the project results. This workshop is based on the highly successful ACRL Assessment in Action program curriculum.

Number of presenters: One presenter for up to 40 participants, or two presenters for up to 100 participants.

Who Should Attend

This workshop is intended for all librarians, library staff, and library administrators who seek to design and implement an assessment project that investigates the impact of the library on student learning and success. The workshop is particularly relevant for those who are interested in working with campus partners and aligning assessment with institutional priorities. Attendees are not expected to have previous experience with assessment.

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Presenters

Sara Lowe

Karen Brown is a professor at Dominican University (River Forest, Illinois) in the School of Information Studies and teaches in the areas of assessment, collection management, foundations of the profession, and literacy and learning. She is the recipient of the University’s 2002 Follett Excellence in Teaching Award. Karen served as the project analyst for ACRL’s Assessment in Action grant project, 2013-2016. She has held positions focusing on collection development, reference, and instruction at the University of Wisconsin, University of Maryland, Columbia University, and Bard College. She holds a PhD in media ecology from New York University and master’s degrees in library science and adult education from the University of Wisconsin. Learn more about Karen in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Eric Resnis

Debra Gilchrist, Ph.D, is Vice President for Learning and Student Success (retired) at Pierce College. In addition to academic and student affairs, Gilchrist leads efforts focused on regional accreditation and achievement of institutional outcomes at Pierce College, a community college in Lakewood, Washington. Prior to this position, she served as Dean of Libraries and Institutional Effectiveness. She has published and presented at numerous conferences and campuses on outcomes assessment as a tool for change, demonstrating the contributions of academic libraries through assessment of both learning and program impact and quality. She served as co-designer with Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe on two recent ACRL projects - the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education workshops and the Assessment in Action (AiA) program. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the leadership role of academic librarians to influence instructional change.

Melanie Sellar

Eric Resnis is Head of Instructional Services at Coastal Carolina University's Kimbel Library. He participated in ACRL’s Assessment in Action program both as a team leader (year 1) and as a co-facilitator (year 3). Eric is Vice President/President-Elect (2017-2018) of the Academic Library Association of Ohio, the Ohio chapter of ACRL. He regularly publishes and presents on the value of assessment in meeting information literacy outcomes, strengthening liaison roles, and demonstrating library impact towards institutional outcomes. Learn more about Eric in his ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Brandy Whitlock

Melanie Sellar is Head of Instruction and Assessment at Santa Clara University (SCU) Library and Adjunct Professor, San Jose State University iSchool. Previous to SCU, Melanie was the Senior Instructional Designer at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Education and served for five years as the Education Services Librarian at Marymount California University, where she held the rank of Associate Professor of Information Literacy. Melanie founded the non-profit organization Librarians Without Borders (LWB) in 2005 and has served nearly continuously as its Co-Executive Director since that time.

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Testimonials

Don't take our word for it. See what participants are saying!

"If you are new to assessment, the ACRL RoadShow will inspire, prepare, and jump-start you toward assessment. If you have been practicing assessment, the RoadShow reinforces and expands upon what you know and are doing."

"We are planning an assessment of information literacy skills project, and this will help us get off to a good, informed, start!"

"I went into this workshop with little to no knowledge on assessment. After the workshop, I returned to work with a bunch of ideas on how we can implement assessment practices in our library."

“The organization of the workshop around the assessment cycle made the information easy to follow and showed exactly the steps that need to go into an assessment project.”

“I was able to create outcomes for our information literacy class in the workshop. During the class, I emailed them over to be approved by my library director and they were approved and used by my library!”

"I didn't realize how much I didn't know! I also now realize we need a librarian whose entire job is assessment."

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Bring this workshop to your campus!

To schedule the AiA RoadShow, please contact Margot Conahan at mconahan@ala.org.