Library Assessment in Higher Education

Written specifically to address the library's role in education, this book provides guidance on performing assessment at academic institutions that will serve to improve teaching effectiveness and prove your library's impact on student learning outcomes―and thereby demonstrate your library's value.

Academic libraries are increasingly being asked to demonstrate their value as one of many units on campus, but determining the outcomes of an academic library within the context of its collegiate setting is challenging. This book explains and clarifies the practice of assessment in academic institutions, enabling library managers to better understand and explain the impact of the library on student learning outcomes, teaching effectiveness, and research productivity.

Providing essential information for all college and university librarians, this volume discusses and summarizes the outcomes of research that has been conducted to investigate assessment within the context of higher education. This updated second edition incorporates additional research, examines new trends, and covers groundbreaking advances in digital assessment tools as well as the changes in the amount and forms of data utilized in the assessment process. The chapters address assessment from a campus setting and present data that demonstrate the value of the library within that setting in terms of learning, research, and overall impact. In sum, the book presents librarians with up-to-date, practical guidelines for planning and conducting assessment.

• Demonstrates the critical nature of assessment in academic libraries in the 21st century

• Identifies and discusses in detail effective assessment practices in higher education

• Explains why and how specific methods have been useful in determining the library's impact

• Suggests methods to use to demonstrate your library's significant value in multiple areas

• Identifies ways in which any library can get started with assessment in their library

• Shows how libraries can demonstrate their support of the university's vision and mission