Library Assessment

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. * 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

Are you new to library assessment? Are you tasked with conducting an assessment project and don't know what methods to use, or which ones are the most effective (or practical)? The methodological issues addressed in Putting Assessment into Action are based on the real world, practical experience of librarians who participated in the first cohort of the Assessment in Action project.

Classroom Assessment Techniques for Librarians provides the tools librarians need to quickly and meaningfully assess student knowledge in the classroom. The authors, Melissa Bowles-Terry and Cassandra Kvenild, share 24 tried and true assessment tools, along with library-specific examples, to help librarians assess students ability to recall, analyze, and apply new knowledge. The assessment tools in this book actively engage students by asking them to think, write, and reflect. Librarians can use results of these assessments as a starting point to define and measure information literacy learning outcomes as well as to improve their teaching skills and instructional design. This collection of assessment techniques can be adapted to multiple learning environments, including traditional one-shot library instruction, online instruction, and for-credit courses. This book is essential for academic libraries, and will prove useful to school libraries with strong information literacy programs, as well as library and information school collections.

Snapshots of Reality is a practical book for instructional librarians. The chapters in this volume assume that classroom-based assessment does not have to take away from invaluable instruction time, nor does it have to be some overwhelmingly complicated task. Formative assessments are "bite-sized" assessments that help the librarian get a snapshot of the students' level of understanding in relation to the learning target(s). These mini-assessments are usually learning tools themselves and can be assessed quickly enough that the librarian can adjust his or her teaching on the spot to meet the immediate needs of their learners. This very practical book explores the adaptation of formative assessment theory into something that works for the library one-shot and more advanced instructor-librarian collaborations. It also includes 48 FAST (Formative Assessment Snapshot Technique) ideas and a guided planning template to help librarians seamlessly bring formative assessment into the library classroom.