Evaluation Projects

[hsmith]

I want to evaluate staffing allocations. I've been at my library for 3 months now, and I have heard from trustees as well as leadership that they feel we're off balance and a bit heavy.

Do we have too much staff? Are they in the right places to have the kind of community impact we want, that's expected? Are we efficient?

We need an answer because apparently it's a question that's been hanging out there for quite some time, and it's caused doubt about our funding levels. Once we have a clear answer, I think we can rebuild confidence as well as increase impact.

Can't wait to get started!

[DonnaBrumby]

Project Description: Toward strategic planning, assess community needs and resources related to the public library.

Question/Problem Statement: Are there services or resources the community needs and/or wants that the library could address?

Statement of Why: The library exists to benefit the public. We need to plan for and provide services the public needs and values. Community assessment can identify potential for reassigning staff and funding to add new services or evolve current services.

[Vbell]

Hello everyone!  My name is Valerie Bell from Athens Regional Library System in Athen Ga. (go bull dawgs!). I’m looking forward to meeting you all. Below is information about my project. 

DESCRIPTION:  The Athens Regional Library is about to embark on our strategic direction planning process. We will need to assess current services and staff environment. 
QUESTION/PROBLEM STATEMENT:  We want to structure our survey questions in a way that will elicit the factual response — not the easy or routine answer.  We also want to structure the questions j a way that will yield  a clear direction for the outcome measurement process. We need this for both customer satisfaction current/new service surveys and staff work environment or work satisfaction surveys. 
WHY:  we have a multigenerational community and staff. We are attempting to create an environment that exceeds the expectations of both staff and customers and all of our stakeholders. 

[senaloyd]

Hello!

Please share the following information about your evaluation project:

1 - a brief description of your project
2 - your question/problem statement (what is the question that needs to be answered OR the problem that needs to be solved?)
3 - your why statement (why does the library need this answer/solution? What will the library be able to do after it has this answer/solution?)

Thanks!
Linda

Project Description:
 
Carson City Library has been contracted to operate (within the last 6 months) the Adams Hub for Innovation (a business incubator and co-working space located in downtown Carson City).  The library has contributed to the workforce discussion regionally, and was selected as the best equipped City department to take on this task.  *Library/Hub will be going through a strategic planning process starting in the next month or two.
 
Question/Problem Statement:
 
Are there workforce development/business retention and space needs that the library’s Adams Hub for Innovation could address?  Survey regional businesses.
 
Why:
 
Answering this question will impact the strategic planning process, as well as the specific OKR’s of the Adams Hub for Innovation.

[roycummings]

We're currently redesigning our website.

Project Description:
We need to survey stakeholders to determine/measure the usefulness of a newly redesigned website.
 
Question/Problem Statement:
What is the question that needs to be answered or the problem that needs be solved?
1. Does the website allow users to find information that’s most relevant to them?
2. More specifically: Does navigation and terminology help users quickly find relevant information within the website?
 
Statement of Why:
Why does the library need this answer/solution? What will the library be able to do after it has this answer/solution?
Having this answer will ensure we’ve built a website that will help stakeholders quickly find information they need.

[AmberBrookins]

Chattahoochee Valley Libraries would like to evaluate the possibility of eliminating overdue fines on all collection materials, allowing broader access to the library’s services for all members of the community. Overdue fines bring in about $250,000 in revenue each year. The three rural county libraries keep all the proceeds of their overdue fine collection which can make up as much as 10% of their annual budgets. Is the possible increase in active customers and circulation enough of a benefit to offset the decrease in revenue? Removing overdue fines from our collection will allow many cardholders to return to the library and begin using the services we offer to them. The bulk of overdue fines charged are never collected and those patrons do not return to CVL. Staff time is used collecting fines and could be reallocated for other services. A large amount of unrecoverable debt could be removed from the database and this removal can be used in a marketing push to bring people back to the library.

[astanley]

1- Georgia HomePLACE, in partnership with the Digital Library of Georgia, wishes to apply for grants to conduct a comprehensive statewide collections assessment for public library archives and special collections.

2- What do Georgia's public libraries need in order to best collect, preserve, process, and provide access to their unique archives and special collections holdings? And how do Georgia's public libraries compare to the national data presented in the 2017 OCLC report, "Advancing the National Digital Platform: The State of Digitization in US Public and State Libraries"? (https://www.oclc.org/research/publicatio...tform.html)

3- Assessment findings will guide next steps for supporting collections care, including preservation, processing and access, in partnership with DLG and in alignment with the following GPLS' strategic objectives:

"Research options and recruit pilot sites for new resource sharing ideas;"
"Provide support and funding opportunities for proof-of-concept projects that have scale-able, statewide potential;"
"Develop and manage partnerships with other agencies, including other units of the University System of Georgia, to provide and support enhanced library programs and services strategy;"

and LSTA objective 4, "Establish or enhance electronic and other linkages and improved coordination among and between libraries and entities for the purpose of improving the quality of and access to library and information services."