This essay served as the basis for the opening keynote speech during the Library Assessment Conference in Baltimore in 2010. It set the stage by tracing the demands for accountability in the beginning of the century and outlining progress made. It provided important background and context for the following four keynote papers delivered by Megan Oakleaf on teaching and learning, Danuta Nitecki on assessment of library spaces, Joe Matthews on performance measures, and Stephen Town on library value. This essay emphasizes some of the work the Association of Research Libraries and its partners have supported over the past decade and places ARL developments in the larger context of assessment activities across the profession and around the globe.