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Re: Outcomes Assessment



Dean went into a this a lot farther than we did, but the point is much the
same. Don't spend too much time on this, the fad will pass and they'll be
on to something else.

   ---Terry

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Terry Abraham   Special Collections, University of Idaho
<http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/>


On Fri, 9 Feb 2001, Dean DeBolt wrote:

> Our library got caught up in this "outcomes assessment" several years
> ago.  At first we drafted a set of expected outcomes "the user found their
> information" or "the user received friendly service."   That was the easy
> part, but we could not create feedback to determine these.   For example,
> it was suggested that Special Collections outcome was "the user found
> the information they were looking for"... meaning that we had met our
> purpose, but if they didn't find it, we needed to look at why and solve the
> problem.
>
> For a week, we had users fill out little feedback cards.   Many said that
> they did not find the information they needed.... under "why"  they listed
> what they were looking for.     Several comments complained that we
> didn't have the archives of Czechoslovakia on microfilm; one complained
> that our Spanish archival records on microfilm were in SPANISH!
>
> If a genealogist, after looking through all of our cemetery records, didn't
> find the burial of an ancestor, that led to a negative outcome.   Some
> complained they couldn't eat or drink while working.
>
> In short, we (with the library blessing) abandoned the whole assessment
> project.  We still try to get feedback, have a suggestion box, etc. though.
>
> Dean
>
> Dean DeBolt
> University Librarian
> Special Collections and West Florida Archives
> John C. Pace Library
> University of West Florida
> 11000 University Parkway
> Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
> Tele:  850-474-2213;   Fax:  850-474-3338
>
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>