Category Archives: service assessment

The Year in Assessment at TULUP: A Celebration

This week I submitted the Libraries’ annual report on assessment activities to the University’s Office of Assessment and Evaluation . It’s a requirement that I don’t particularly relish, as I often feel our approach to assessment at the Libraries is … Continue reading

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The User Experience of Request and Retrieval

Earlier this year, a group was formed to consider ways to improve the user experience of requesting and retrieving items from the Charles Library BookBot. The group was composed of Brian Boling, Carly Hustedt, Karen Kohn, John Oram, Jackie Sipes, … Continue reading

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Working Together for Improvement: The Digital Access Workflow

When the library closed its physical doors in March, new doors of the digital sort opened up. Yet the disruption of access service for physical materials, lasting several months,  has yielded a re-working of processes for how we get our … Continue reading

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The Future on Pause: Reflections on the “How We’re Working at Charles” Project

Last week the Assessment Community of Practice gathered virtually to hear more about the Envisioning our Future project. The session was hosted by research team members Karen Kohn, Rebecca Lloyd, Caitlin Shanley, and myself.  The project was conducted as part … Continue reading

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Supporting Online Learning and Research: Assessing our Virtual Reference Activities

Today’s post is contributed by Olivia Given Castello, Tom Ipri, Kristina De Voe and Jackie Sipes. Thank you! The sudden move to all-online learning at Temple University presented a unique challenge to the Libraries and provided a great opportunity to … Continue reading

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A New Day for Assessment Practice?

It is difficult to believe that in early March we convened the Assessment Community of Practice, joining Margery Sly and Matt Shoemaker to talk about changing needs for assessment measures as we develop new library services. The new Charles Library … Continue reading

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When a Marker is More than a Marker 

User experience is all around us. In libraries, we often think the assessment of user experience relates to web interfaces, or building way finding and navigation. We might, ask, “Is the language that we use on the website clear to … Continue reading

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Furniture feedback in Charles Library

When we opened Charles Library in August of 2019, we knew right away that we needed to increase the seating capacity in the building. During the day, a walk through the upper floors of the building gives the impression that … Continue reading

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We Don’t Want to Work with Mummies

At Charles Library we are experiencing a more open office environment. I saw an  extreme version at the Penn Museum this weekend ; the conservator’s workspace is actually in the gallery, on view several hours a day. But the office … Continue reading

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Celebrating 10 Years at Ginsburg: A Time for Review

The Ginsburg Health Sciences Library is celebrating its 10th birthday and used the occasion to conduct an intensive review of current operations and planning for the future. Barbara Kuchan, Director of the Health Sciences Libraries, worked with a team (Patrick … Continue reading

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