The Complete Collections Assessment Manual: A Holistic Approach - Paperback

by Madeline M. Kelly (Author)

Assessment is increasingly integral to building, managing, and justifying library collections. Unfortunately, assessment can also be a daunting undertaking. And though every institution is unique, as this manual demonstrates, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Spanning both concept and practice, Kelly offers a holistic assessment framework suitable to a variety of collections and contexts. With a structure that makes it applicable as both a training tool for practicing librarians and a useful course text for library students, this manual

• introduces foundational assessment methodologies then provides concrete guidance on how to contextualize those methodologies within a holistic collections assessment program;
• covers topics such as assessment goals, assessment stakeholders, selecting data and methodologies, working through project constraints, and project planning;
• includes sample assessment program structures and other useful templates;
• provides step-by-step instructions for more than a dozen specific methodologies, describing which aspect of the collection is being measured, what goals the methodology can address, technological requirements, recommended visualizations, and other helpful pointers; and
• shares best practices for communicating effectively with internal and external stakeholders about assessment projects, with sample communication plans that can be easily adapted.

Author Biography

Madeline M. Kelly is the Director of Collections at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where she oversees Acquisitions/Serials/ILL/Course Reserves, Collections Assessment, Cataloging and Metadata Services, Circulation, and Maps within the Western Libraries. Kelly has authored articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings on collections assessment, and has presented and delivered workshops on the topic regionally and nationally. In her previous position as Head of Collection Development at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, she developed and implemented a holistic collection assessment program and undertook dozens of assessment projects on an as-needed basis. At the consortial level, Kelly has served on numerous committees, including a statewide eresource assessment task force that culminated in the implementation of new holistic evaluation metrics. Kelly received her BA in English and Spanish from the University of Mary Washington and her MLS from Simmons College.