Reference Assessment and Evaluation

Tom Diamond, Mark Sanders, Tom Diamond, Mark Sanders

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136445996
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Learn effective ways to assess and evaluate reference services in YOUR library

Innovation and the constant evolution of technology continually spur academic librarians to find superior ways to deliver high quality reference service to students, faculty, and researchers. Reference Assessment and Evaluation offers librarians and administrators a plethora of fresh ideas and methods to effectively assess and evaluate reference service in any academic library. Leading experts share their own best practices in delivering digital reference, training staff and student workers, and providing instruction through case studies from academic libraries of all sizes.

Because of fiscal pressures, the need to attract the best and brightest students and faculty to the academy, and increased competition from Internet search engines, the evaluation and assessment of reference service remains one of the most important challenges for academic libraries. Reference Assessment and Evaluation provides practical tips and clear examples on assessing and evaluating several diverse aspects of reference services. This book discusses in detail case studies from various colleges and universities on wide-ranging issues such as virtual reference evaluation, merging reference desks, peer evaluations, library instruction, and staff development. Academic libraries of all types will find opportunities to modify these innovative ideas to remain at the forefront of reference service.

Topics in Reference Assessment and Evaluation include:

• a case study of the library at the University of Colorado at Boulder's efforts to implement a drop-in research consultation program for students enrolled in the introductory writing course
  
• coordination of an annual professional development program for specialized instruction targeted at faculty and staff members at Colorado State University
  
• peer observation between the reference staff members of Augustana College Library and St. Ambrose University Library
  
• the merging of San Jose State University's government publication desk with the reference services deskalong with the public library's reference desk
  
• Valparaiso University's main library's training and use of student assistants
  
• analyzing user and librarian satisfaction within virtual reference transactions
  
• evaluation of the University of South Alabama's Baugh Biomedical Library's chat reference service
  
• evaluation of the University of Texas at Arlington's virtual reference service
  
• library technology's impact on reference desk statistics
  
• statistical analysis of reference desk data for staffing needs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
  
  

Reference Assessment and Evaluation is timely, important reading for academic references librarians and supervisors.

Index

Page numbers followed by f indicate figures; those marked with t indicate tables; those marked with g indicate graphs.

Academic communities, of STU, 88

Academic Reference Libraries (ARL), 108–109

ACRL, Guidelines for Instruction

Programs in Academic

Libraries of, 24

Agreement for Ownership and

Operation of Joint Library

Building and Grant of

Easement document, 56

Albanese, A.R., 147

Aldrich, D., 48

Allscheid, S.P., 128

Aluri, R., 36

A.M. Willis Library, of UNT, 153

Amata, B., 49

Annex, of UNT, 153

Arizona State University (ASU), 149

ARL. See Academic Reference

Libraries (ARL); Association

of Research Libraries (ARL)

“Ask a Librarian,” 130

Ask Jeeves, 151

Assessing Quality in Digital

Reference, 112

Assessment, higher education, first

steps in, 22–23

Association of Research Libraries

(ARL), 21

Association of Research Libraries

(ARL) survey, 145

ASU. See Arizona State University

(ASU)

Atwood, M., 81

Augustana College, Welfare

Committee at, 34–35

Augustana College Library, 2

Reference Coordinator at, 35

St. Ambrose University Library

and, peer observation

between, study of, 33–46. See

alsoSt. Ambrose University

Library, Augustana College

Library, peer observation

between, study of

Backhus, S.H., 124

Baldwin, D., 70

Banks, J., 151

Baruth, B., 147

Baugh Biomedical Library, at University

of South Alabama, 2

chat reference service at, evaluation

of, 107–125

background of, 109–111,110t

introduction to, 108

literature review in, 108–109

methodology in, 112–123,113t, 115t,117f,118f

Beile, P.M., 71

Bertot, J.C., 147,148,150

Bicknell, T., 36,37

Bischof, S., 147

Bopp, R., 5–6

...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Evaluating the Drop-In Center: A Service for Undergraduates
• Forward Progress One Step at a Time: Workshops, Assessment, and the Reference Connection
• Floating and Idea: Peer Observations Across the Mississippi
• Merged Reference Desks in a Merged Library Environment: The Impact of Merging Government Publications
• Student Assistant Training in a Small Academic Library
• Comparing Virtual Reference Exit Survey Results and Transcript Analysis: A Model for Service Evaluation
• Evaluating a Chat Reference Service at the University of South Alabama's Baugh Biomedical Library
• The University of Texas at Arlington's Virtual Reference Service: An Evaluation by the Reference Staff
• Changes in Library Technology and Reference Desk Statistics: Is There a Relationship?
• Staffing Needs of the Reference Desk at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga: A Statistical Approach
• Index