For immediate release:
May 5, 2008

For more information, contact:
Kristina Justh
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
kristina@arl.org

Service Quality Evaluation Academy Now Accepting Nominations for 2009

Deadline October 27, 2008

Washington DC and Ottawa Ontario—The 2009 Service Quality Evaluation Academy, co-sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), is now accepting participant nominations, with a deadline of October 27, 2008. The academy is an intensive five-day program that focuses on both qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting and analyzing library service quality data. The program emphasizes basic concepts and skills in measurement and data analysis that will be applicable to service quality evaluations. Time is also spent on relevant software skills, including the use of ATLAS.ti to analyze the content of interviews or responses to open-ended surveys and the use of SPSS for quantitative data analysis.

Date & Location

March 16–20, 2009
Hotel Monteleone
New Orleans, Louisiana

Academy Instructors

Colleen Cook, Dean and Director of the Texas A&M University Libraries, holder of the Sterling C. Evans Endowed Chair, and Chair of the ARL Statistics and Assessment Committee

Bruce Thompson, Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Research Scholar, Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, and Adjunct Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

Dawn Thistle, Director of Library Services at Assumption College and Member-at-Large of the College Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)

Who Should Attend

The academy is designed for librarians across library types and organizational structures, with a strong commitment to service quality assessment efforts. It is most appropriate for those who have direct responsibility for their library assessment efforts and show high potential for developing new and innovative assessment tools.

Nominations & Application

Library directors are invited to nominate candidates for the 2009 academy class. Directors can nominate an organizational team, but must rank order individual team members when doing so. To maximize training impact and ensure the geographic diversity of the participants, first-ranked nominees will be admitted before second-ranked nominees. Library directors and deans can be nominated by their provost or president.

Each nomination should include the following materials from the nominees to complete their application package:

• nomination letter from library director;

• a half-page description of possible assessment project including research questions of primary interest, or a brief statement (250 words) of interest emphasizing assessment activities; and

• curriculum vitae.

The application deadline is Monday, October 27, 2008.

Selection of Candidates

Members of the Selection Committee, composed of ARL and CARL library directors, will review candidate nominations and the selection of participants will be based on the following criteria:

• assessment experience as illustrated by applicant’s statement of interest, or viability of proposed assessment project;

• demonstrated commitment to service quality assessment efforts; and

• support of the participant’s institution as demonstrated by the nomination letter from the library director.

Fee

The participation fee for this five-day event is $1,500 per participant. This covers the cost of tuition, all program and instructional materials, and daily refreshments (lunch and dinner are on your own).

Send all nomination packets and inquiries to:

Kristina Justh
Customer Relations Coordinator, Statistics and Measurement Program
Association of Research Libraries
21 Dupont Circle, Suite 800
Washington DC 20036
Phone: 202-296-2296 x136
E-mail: kristina@arl.org

More Information

For more information, see the academy Web site:
http://www.arl.org/stats/statsevents/sqacademy/

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 on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is the leadership organization for the Canadian research library community. The Association’s members are the 27 major academic research libraries across Canada plus Library and Archives Canada, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI), and the Library of Parliament. CARL members are the backbone of Canada’s intellectual holdings in all disciplines. CARL is on the Web at http://www.carl-abrc.ca/.