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Article
Start making sense: Practical approaches to outcomes assessment for libraries
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
  • Julie Rabine
  • Catherine A. Cardwell, University of South Florida St. Petersburg
SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Catherine Cardwell

Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2000
Abstract

Traditionally, libraries attempted to prove their effectiveness by reporting the number of resources the library bought or subscribed to, of instructional sessions taught and of reference questions answered, among other statistics. However, libraries are increasingly expected to document student achievement using outcomes assessment. After struggling with outcomes assessment at our own institution for several years, we have found that the most effective way to handle program-level and classroom-level outcomes assessment is to create manageable, realistic assessment tools. In this paper, we describe two assessment tools that have worked for us: a brief survey given to a large number of students and an in-depth, multipart tool used with a limited number of library instruction sessions.

Comments

Citation only. Full-text article is available through licensed access provided by the publisher. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.

Language
en_US
Publisher
Pergamon Press
Citation Information
Rabine, J. & Cardwell, C. (2000). Start making sense: Practical approaches to outcomes assessment for libraries. Research Strategies, 17, 319-335. doi: 10.1016/S0734-3310(01)00051-9