The aim of this book is to address the barriers that libraries face when considering assessment activities. The purpose is not to add to the body of knowledge on library assessment; rather the underlying assumption behind the work is that there is no need to undertake special data gathering in order to make assessments. The premise is that libraries can make better use of the huge amounts of data already collected, including usage statistics, survey results from both libraries and their parent institutions, and from feedback.
In this context, library assessment is defined as the process of determining and communicating how a library is performing with the overall aim of driving improvement. According to the authors there are three key features of library assessment: a focus on stakeholders, the goal of improving services for stakeholders, and communicating the results and outcomes. This philosophy puts stakeholders at the front of library assessment and the book focuses on the various tools and techniques from social sciences and statistics to do this assessment.
The work is written by librarians for librarians who have library data available to them but, due to lack of skills, lack of time or lack of money are not able to make full use of that data. The authors, Selena Killick and Frankie Wilson, are both practising librarians with extensive experience in library assessment activities. There are contributions from twenty-six librarians from around the world including the USA, UK, Australia, Portugal and Singapore. To create context, the book starts with a short history of library assessment, with notes on terminology used and references for further investigation. Chapters then focus on individual topics and contain an overview of the topic and a series of case studies related to that topic. Topics covered include use of standardised library surveys including LibQUAL+, the design, implementation and analysis of in-house surveys, the use of operational library statistics and statistics for advocacy, mining qualitative feedback including the creation and use of feedback databases, the use of emerging technology, and finally holistic library assessment techniques.
The book is a useful guide to most types of library assessment techniques especially as it is designed to make better use of what is already available in most libraries. The case studies also provide some example of the application of these techniques in the real world and can be adapted to different needs and various types of libraries. The book is recommended to librarians on this basis.