Re-framing assessment: A patron-centered approach

摘要

The Strategic Plan is a standard blueprint guiding library assessment activities. Many, if not most, Strategic Plans are organized along library departmental lines and/or library functions, and use language with which librarians frame their efforts—not language with which patrons would necessarily resonate. In an effort to drive home the concept that it is “impact on the patron” which should be the touchstone for all we do, the UNLV Libraries Dean and Assessment Librarian have created a framework which turns the Strategic Plan document on its head, making it patron-centric. From six goals, the UNLV plan was revised to focus on three goals of primary concern to the patron: Delivery/Access, Discovery, and Use. Objectives from the former iteration of the Strategic Plan were mapped to the new frame. Reactions have been positive, once staff saw themselves in the new configuration. An advantage to this approach is that the focus is on the patron and the goal, not any one department.