Abstract
As in the field of education, assessment has been a growing subspecialty area in librarianship. The significance of assessment in the field beyond that which involves information literacy instruction and student learning, is underscored by the number of conferences and institutes devoted to educating and promoting assessment efforts and methods used in libraries. Events such as the Library Assessment Conference, the Southeastern Libraries Assessment Conference and the Assessment Institute hosted by library and library related organizations, such as the Association of Research Libraries' (ARL), Counting Opinions, and Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, are growing in prominence. In recent years, there have been discussion groups (electronic and in person) devoted to the topic of assessment by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and ARL. The increasing significance of assessment in the library science and/or information science field is also reflected by the creation of new positions for this emerging area of specialty. In a 2007 ARL study on assessment respondents indicated that nearly 60% of the assessment positions in their libraries had been created within the previous two years.2 More recently, a 2012 study concerning entry-level reference job advertisements showed that assessment appeared as a job duty for almost a third of the number (n=192) of advertisements studied. The authors note, "...this set of ads reflects the growing emphasis on assessment in the field."3 All of the aforementioned indicates that there is a growing expectation that professional librarians should either have knowledge of assessment methods or the skills to implement them. The "terminological consensus" of assessment in higher education has evolved through the years to center on multiple methods (i.e., qualitative or quantitative) for program improvement.6 Therefore a shared understanding of the purpose for our assessment efforts in libraries will enable the library profession to establish a clear nomenclature, or "terminological consensus" for assessment in the library profession. Using [Thomas A. Angelo]'s general working definition as a foundation for the assessment activities that are occurring in the field of library science, assessment for this study is defined as "a means for focusing collective attention, examining assumptions, and creating a shared culture dedicated to understanding and continuously improving the quality of library services."7 Evaluation will follow the definition provided by [Peter J. Gray], as that which "provides explicit information through objective tests and measures guided by precisely specified, if not behavioral objectives to make a value judgment".8 In summary, assessment tends to be a cyclical process involving identifying goals and objectives, developing appropriate instruments, collecting and evaluating data, sharing the results and implementing improvements. Evaluation can be more concisely described as a finite process to determine the value or worth of a program, course or initiative. This study was conducted with these definitions as guiding parameters. His results revealed that "Collection Management/Development" was the most frequently mentioned subject (26) in the course syllabi. The subjects of "Budgeting/Finance", and "Information Literacy/lnstruction" were the second most frequently identified, each with twentyfour mentions. "Organization" along with "Personnel/Staffing/Human Resources" (23) rounding out the top three frequently mentioned subject areas. "Assessment/Evaluation/Standards" appeared somewhat lower in the rankings - in sixth place - with eighteen mentions.11 He found that the list of subjects covered by these courses were very similar to a list of subjects generated by an informal survey of practitioners who felt these subjects should be included in an academic librarianship course. In addition, [Edgar C. Bailey, Jr.] noted that these subjects also spoke to the desirable skills and competencies identified for academic librarians in the library literature. Each of the 210 course descriptions was reviewed and categorized by both researchers using a numbering system. The primary categorization method was based on the following words or phrases being present in the description: "research methods", "assessment", "evaluation", "analysis", "assessment and evaluation". Secondary to this, the researchers also took into account the described goals or intent of the course. In the rare instances where the researchers categorizations differed, a common agreement was reached. Research methods courses were included in this study, as these courses provide the theoretical and practical foundation for assessment/evaluation design, implementation, and interpretation.