Call for Proposals

Library Assessment Conference
Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment

August 4–6, 2008
Seattle, Washington

All proposals due by February 1, 2008

October 2, 2007, Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the University of Virginia Library, the University of Washington Libraries, and the Conference Planning Committee are pleased to issue this call for proposals for the second Library Assessment Conference: Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment, to be held in Seattle, Washington, August 4–6, 2008. 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.

Audience

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.

Presentation Formats

Proposals are invited for presentations in a variety of formats, including papers, posters, and panel discussions. Presentation time for papers should be no more than 25 minutes. Panels will be given 50 minutes or less, including time for questions from the audience. Poster sessions are particularly welcome from attendees and specific time will be set aside for attendees to discuss posters with the presenters. The language of the conference is English (bilingual French/English or Spanish/English posters will also be accepted). Accepted proposals will be published in the conference proceedings, and all PowerPoint presentations will be posted on the conference Web site.

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.

For further information, please contact:
Kristina Justh
Statistics and Measurement Program
Association of Research Libraries
E-mail: laconf@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 office
(202) 872-0884 fax