Report

This report includes a thorough content analysis of narrative descriptions of research libraries at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. The profile analysis has engaged qualitative methods to describe research libraries that complement the annual quantitative ARL Statistics®. The contextual information provided in this report documents the importance of the public good research libraries provide in an increasingly globalized environment by making their services more readily available; they are becoming an integral part not only of the physical but also the virtual academic experience in addition to setting standards and exploring best practices with national and international visibility, among other things.

A PDF of the report is available here arl-profiles-report-2010.pdf

Seven other PDFs of appendices, examples, and additional material are also on this website.

Print copies of the report are available for $20.00 plus shipping & handling.

Organizational performance assessment is a practice-based framework that builds on the synergy between planning and assessment, and results in the discernment of impact and value. It promotes a set of practices that enable the library to effectively integrate planning, strategy, performance, assessment, and organizational development in order to advance the parent institution’s mission. This paper discusses some foundations of organizational performance assessment, useful practices, and examples from libraries that are―living the future.

bowlby-organizational-performance-assessment-5-31-11.pdf

arl-profiles-digital-scholarship-examples.pdf

This final report of a ground-breaking study summarizes findings on 34,000 randomly captured uses of electronic resources over a 12-month period from the 21 members of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). The results show the increasing value derived from the use of digital content, the emerging use of digital resources in the humanities, and the soaring use of e-resources from off-campus locations.

mines-for-libraries-final-report.pdf

arl-profiles-frequency-explorations.pdf

This 2001 document is designed to demonstrate the use of sampling to obtain accurate information about a library collection. Two research projects are explicitly described; the sampling methodology as described can be adapted for use in other situations and projects.

sampling.pdf

arl-profiles-technical-notes.pdf

Preliminary notes about the ARL Survey of Regional and ARL Selective Depository Libraries in the FDLP.

2003fdlp-surveyanalysis.pdf

Use of the Likert scale in the ARL Survey of Regional and ARL Selective Federal Depository Libraries provides a current snapshot of Regional and Selective Depository Libraries. Regional respondents were asked to respond to 21 statements, Selectives were asked to respond to 19 statements.

2003fdlp-surveyfindings.pdf

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a not-for-profit membership organization comprising over 120 libraries of North American research institutions. ARL influences 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. This account of association priorities and activities updates the entries in the first and second editions of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science and focuses on the years 2001 to 2007.

arl-overview-2001-2007.pdf