LILRC Webinar: Collaboration and Relationship Management in Assessment

As is the case with every activity associated with allocation of resources, assessment is always political. Those involved with an assessment project must interact with internal and external stakeholders before, during, and after their undertaking. Managing these relationships can be complex, and sometimes daunting. This session will address the issues involved in collaboration and communication during assessment and present some strategies to support this important aspect of assessment.

Presenters:

Rachel Fleming-May is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Prior to earning her Ph.D. in 2008, Rachel worked as a public and academic librarian for several years. Rachel’s teaching and research interests include academic libraries and librarianship, information sources and services, and library assessment. She has been involved in two assessment-related Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grants : Experience Assessment and Values, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries —  LibValue, and her research has been published in venues including The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, The Library Quarterly, Library and Information Science Research, portal: Libraries and the Academy,  and College and Research Libraries.

Regina Mays is an Associate Professor and Head of Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy at the University of Tennessee Libraries. Her experience as Program Manager of the IMLS grant-funded study Lib-Value began a continuing interest in strategic assessment planning, evidence-based decision-making, user experience, and demonstrating library value. A stint as Coordinator of Strategic Planning and Assessment took her love of strategic planning to the next level. In her current position, Mays heads a crackerjack team using leading-edge data science to achieve innovation and excellence in the areas of evidence-based decision-making and demonstrating library value.

Rachel and Regina are co-authors of Fundamentals of Planning and Assessment for Libraries.