For immediate release:
January 24, 2008

For more information, contact:
Kristina Justh
Statistics and Measurement Program
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
laconf@arl.org

Reminder: Call for Proposals: Library Assessment Conference—Deadline February 1, 2008

Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the University of Virginia Library, the University of Washington Libraries, and the Conference Planning Committee have issued a call for proposals for the second Library Assessment Conference: Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment, to be held in Seattle, Washington, August 4–6, 2008.

Proposals for poster sessions are particularly welcome and specific time will be set aside at the conference for attendees to discuss posters with the presenters. The language of the conference is English, but bilingual French/English or Spanish/English posters will be accepted as well. LibQUAL+® participants are encouraged to submit proposals that highlight their use of LibQUAL+® data, as it relates to one of the conference topics listed below.

Conference Goal & Audience

The conference goal is to support and nurture the library assessment community through a mix of invited speakers, contributed papers and posters, workshops, and engaging discussion. The conference is designed for library and information professionals and researchers with responsibility for or an interest in the broad field of library assessment with an emphasis on (but not limited to) North American academic libraries.

Conference Topics

Conference presentations are sought in all areas of library assessment, including the following:

Digital libraries		Return on investment (ROI)
Information resources & collections		Services
Learning & teaching		Space planning & utilization
Management information		Usability
Methods & tools		Usage & e-metrics
Organizational issues		User needs
Performance measurement & measures		Value & impact

The Conference Planning Committee is especially interested in contributions that show how assessment results have been used to improve library services and add value to the user community.

Proposal Submission Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures

1. All proposals will be submitted via the conference Web site http://www.libraryassessment.org/.
2. Proposals will include a title, author(s), format, and abstract (maximum 500 words) describing the proposal.
3. Authors will provide a separate biographical statement (50 words).
4. The Conference Planning Committee will evaluate all proposals based on:
• their relevance to effective, sustainable, and practical library assessment;
• the significance of their contribution to the body of work associated with library assessment; and
• clarity of expression.
5. Proposals must be submitted by February 1, 2008.
6. Those submitting proposals will be notified of their status by March 15, 2008.
7. Presenters will be guaranteed a registration place and will be expected to pay registration fees.

Conference Planning Committee

Conference Co-Chairs

Steve Hiller, University of Washington
Martha Kyrillidou, Association of Research Libraries
Jim Self, University of Virginia

2008 Conference Planning Committee

Colleen Cook, Texas A&M University
Francine DeFranco, University of Connecticut
Margaret Martin Gardiner, University of Western Ontario
Debra Gilchrist, Pierce College
Irene Hoffman, OCLC
Kristina Justh, Association of Research Libraries
Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University
Joan Stein, Carnegie Mellon University
Stephen Town, York University
Stephanie Wright, University of Washington

Additional Information

The conference Web site http://www.libraryassessment.org/ will provide complete information about the conference, including plenary and keynote speakers, workshops, registration, and accommodations.

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/.