Collections Work Group Minutes

July 26, 2002

On Friday, July 26, the Collections Group Assessment committee met at the UofL Ekstrom Library. Present were David Horvath (convener) Charlene Davis, Charles Brown, Tanzi Merritt. We were joined by guests Gay Perkins from WKU and Melissa Laning from the UofL. Other committee members include Cecelia Tavares and Ida Cornett.

The group began by discussing the group's charge and the past assessment efforts by the KVL Collections group. These efforts have largely been "satisfaction" surveys designed to determine our users feelings about individual databases based on content. We did a survey for the Encyclopedia Britannica and for the 2001 cycle of database evaluation previous to releasing the RFP for our latest contracts. We also conducted Focus Group discussions for the later.

Gay Perkins, who coordinates assessment activities at WKU, discussed her work and the kinds of things that are involved in assessing institutional effectiveness and the importance of using an assessment approach that includes mission and desired outcomes. She also distributed copies of a single-page Library Assessment Five-Column Model from a book "The Department Head's Guide to Assessment Implementation in Administrative and Educational Support Units" by Karen W. Nichols and James O. Nichols.

Melissa Laning, Leader of the Assessment Team at the UofL, discussed her groups efforts with assessments including database evaluation, satisfaction with library services, information literacy class evaluations and web usability. She also described UofL participation in the ARL Emetric project to define and standardize what and how we count electronic resources. This project http://www.arl.org/stats/newmeas/emetrics/index.html hopes to help develop standardization in measures with libraries and participating vendors.

Tanzi Merritt, Reference Librarian at KYVL and also the coordinator of the KYVL Information Literacy workgroup described her other responsibilities of collecting KYVL use statistics and using the existing CMS platform at KVL for survey related tasks. There is also a question whether it would be possible to use these course related modules for surveying non KVU registered people.

The group recommends that the KVL seriously look into the acquisition and use of some of the web based software now available for administering and analyzing surveys of various kinds. The UofL has evaluated two products, SurveyMonkey ( http://www.SurveyMonkey.com ) and Zoomerang ( http://www.zoomerang.com ). Both these services are inexpensive, multi-featured and allow for the downloading of data into local databases/spreadsheets. They may likely simplify the task of administering survey instruments relating to KYVL collections and services.

The committee also discussed the importance of assessment for other aspects of KVL work: 1. How do know what effects the changes in KYVL interface, and access is having on users? 2. How effective have our vendors been at providing training and support? How are KVL users taking advantage of the training and support that is offered? 3. What is the quality of database content and search results for our users? (how can this be used in our prioritization of for selection, cancellation, etc) Database assessment should be completed by March 2003 to again coincide with the database cancellation/purchase cycle. It was agreed that a focus group approach would be most effective for #3 and planning for them should begin as soon as The Collection Group approves the plan. A combination approach may be ideal for training and support issues.

Next meeting: The group tentatively plans to meet on August 23 at 2:00 at Ekstrom Library. Charlene will try to convene a meeting of the whole Collections Work Group to discuss assessment options.

Submitted by
David Horvath

Last updated: Wednesday, 11-Sep-2002 13:03:41 EDT