Capturing Outcomes of Virtual and In-person Library Programs & Services

Library programs and services are ever evolving, whether that be in format (in-person and virtual, synchronous and asynchronous), audience, topic, or goals. As we tailor our library programs and services to meet community needs, how can you effectively communicate the value of those programs and services to stakeholders, both in the library and in the community? How can you assess your programs and services beyond the outputs of measuring attendance, transactions, and participation? What strategies can you use to determine whether and how you’re meeting your goals--including as you continue to make changes to service design in response to pandemic safety precautions?

Capturing outcomes provides staff the chance to see the changes they inspire in patrons’ attitudes, behaviors, skills, and more.

This 4-week course will provide library staff the chance to:

• Recognize the value of outcomes as they relate to capturing and sharing progress toward program and service goals, both virtual and in-person.
• Develop outcomes measurement tools to fit specific programs and services in virtual and in-person settings.
• Utilize outcomes findings effectively to communicate with stakeholders to articulate the transformative power of the library.

In this course we will discuss strategies for capturing program and service outcomes for all ages of library patrons. Learners will leave the course with a ready-to-implement framework for articulating program and service goals, capturing outcomes aligned with those goals, and using outcomes to communicate the benefits of the library to the community.

Course Description: This four-week course will include two interactive online sessions:

• Thursday, May 20, 2021, 1:00-2:00 PT
• Thursday, June 3, 2021, 1:00-2:00 PT

Please make every effort to ensure that you are able to attend these two meetings before enrolling in the course. If this is not possible, archived recordings will be made available.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, the instructor will provide a syllabus of recommended resources to read, watch, and listen to in order to deepen understanding of the value of outcomes and how to capture and communicate them. You will also have access to a booklet of handouts that provide a step-by-step process for identifying, capturing, and communicating outcomes in your library context. You’ll have opportunities, through weekly assignment and discussion options, to put these ideas and processes into practice in a peer learning setting before applying them in your library.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1: What are outcomes, and what do they have to do with library programming & services?
  • What are outcomes?
  • Why are outcomes valuable to libraries offering programs and services?
  • Overview of types of data about programs and service
  • What various types of data can tell us about our programs and services
• Week 2: Opportunities for capturing outcomes, and writing outcomes statements
  • Identifying programs and services for capturing outcomes
  • Articulating program and service goals
  • Crafting an outcome statement
• Week 3: Collecting and analyzing outcomes data
  • Designing measurement tools
  • Outcomes indicators
  • Methods of measuring outcomes
  • Measurement tool types
  • Measurement tool design
  • Creating a plan for collecting outcomes for a specific program or service
• Week 4: Communicating Outcomes
  • Why communicate outcomes?
  • Who are the audiences for outcomes communications?
  • Infographics for communicating outcomes
  • Advocacy statements for communicating outcomes
  • Craft a library advocacy statement using outcomes information

Pre-course Assignment: None.

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2 hours per week, for a total of eight course hours. Each week's module contains various options for assignments, discussions, or online meetings. You can choose the options most relevant to your work and interests. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: Library staff interested in measuring the patron success of library programs and other services.

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at: infopeople.org/training/online_learning_details.

Are you a member of ARSL? If so, you may be able to sign up for a free seat in this course. Limit is four free seats per course. Make your request here and if a free seat is available you will be notified.

Keywords: outcomes