For immediate release:
December 13, 2007

For more information, contact:
Martha Kyrillidou
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
martha@arl.org

Call for Participation: Effective, Sustainable, and Practical Library Assessment

Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) invites libraries to participate in its Effective, Sustainable, and Practical Library Assessment service in 2008.

ARL Visiting Program Officers Steve Hiller, University of Washington Libraries, and Jim Self, University of Virginia Library, are working with Martha Kyrillidou, ARL, to assist libraries in developing effective, sustainable, and practical assessment programs that demonstrate the libraries’ contributions to teaching, learning, and research.

This service includes a site visit to each participating library, a report to each library with recommendations on assessment, and follow-up assistance in implementing the recommendations.

The service is available to all libraries interested in enhancing their assessment activities. It will most benefit libraries interested in:

• Starting an assessment program
• Prioritizing assessment activities
• Using assessment and usage data to improve services and resources
• Establishing benchmarks, performance standards, and cost analyses
• Participating in LibQUAL+®
• Acting on past LibQUAL+® data
• Preparing for institutional regional accreditation within the next few years
• Moving assessment from project-based to ongoing and sustainable
• Developing an organizational “culture of assessment”
• Evaluating current assessment efforts and needs

Steve Hiller and Jim Self bring extensive experience and knowledge from their own libraries, which are well known for their assessment programs, as well as from assessment evaluation visits to 30 libraries since 2005. ARL brings a strong commitment and support for library assessment programs and services.

Cost and Contact Information

The cost for participation is $3,500 plus travel expenses for the two project leaders. Libraries interested in participating should contact Martha Kyrillidou martha@arl.org. For information on additional assessment services offered by ARL, see http://www.arl.org/stats/.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is located on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.