Category Archives: service assessment

Notes from the Field: Collections and Collective Action

Last week I participated in a symposium on the changing mission of academic libraries. While not directly related to assessment or strategic planning, those practices are implicit as we explored together “the mission of academic and research libraries in the … Continue reading

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Assessment Community of Practice Focus: Faculty Survey on Undergraduate Instruction

Last week’s Assessment Community of Practice meeting focused on findings from the Ithaka S+R faculty survey, particularly those related to Undergraduate Instruction. Twelve librarians participated and we were lucky to be joined research project team members  (Rebecca Lloyd, Annie Johnson, … Continue reading

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Communities of Practice: People, Spaces, Services

Last Wednesday 20+ library staff members came together to talk and learn about usability testing conducted here at Temple University Libraries. This discussion, part of our Assessment Community of Practice,  covered a range of topics, from how usability testing is … Continue reading

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When Numbers Fail Us

The recent election demonstrated in a powerful way the limits of data, in this case a multitude of polling numbers, towards understanding, or planning, for our  future. As an assessment librarian who counts on numbers to tell a story, I … Continue reading

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Finding the Sweet Spot for Library Instruction

This month’s issue of The Journal of Academic Librarianship features the research findings of Barbara Junisbai, M. Sara Lowe and our own Natalie Tagge, Education Services Librarian at the Ginsburg Health Sciences Library.  Natalie and I talked about her compelling … Continue reading

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Speaking of Scholarly Communication: Interviews with Faculty

Last week staff from Reference & Instruction, Access Services, the Press, Digital Scholarship Center, Special Collections,  Digital Library Initiatives, and Library Administration gathered for a conversation to share findings from a series of interviews we librarians had this past spring. … Continue reading

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LibGuides Usability Testing

Temple Libraries has over 500 LibGuides, or Research Guides. The purpose of the guides is to help library users with some aspect of the research process. Most guides fall into one of three categories – those that offer links or … Continue reading

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Assessment and Games Intersect with Diamond Eyes

This spring Temple University Libraries commissioned a special project as part of the programming year’s theme of Games and Gaming. Nicole Restaino, Manager of Communications and Public Programming, worked with Drexel’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio as they developed a hybrid work … Continue reading

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Supporting the Needs of Faculty – The Research Services Forum

The Research Services Forum met last week to discuss the recent Ithaka Faculty Survey.  Ithaka S+R has conducted a survey of faculty every three years since 2000, providing libraries with a “snapshot of practices and perceptions related to scholarly communications … Continue reading

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Rush Reserves: A Collaborative Workflow Analysis

This last few months a team of library staff from Access Services, Cataloging & Metadata Services, and Acquisitions & Collection Development have been working behind the scenes to improve our process of Rush Reserves – ensuring that faculty and students … Continue reading

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