Assessment and evaluation are not optional for school librarians who want to be valued as full-fledged instructional partners. School librarians must document evidence of practice. Classroom teachers plan, implement, and assess student learning outcomes and then evaluate the effectiveness of their instruction. If school librarians are to be…

Assessment and evaluation are sometimes difficult things to discuss, and we often think of them as once-and-done end results. However, assessing where you are in the learning process should be an ongoing activity, and formative assessments can provide valuable information about what the next (or first) steps should be to approach a learning…

The field of school librarianship has long called for stronger evidence related to school libraries and student achievement (Stefl-Mabry and Raddick 2017; Stefl-Mabry et al. 2016; Morris and Cahill 2017). This article outlines a systematic method for school librarians to document student learning and provide tangible confirmation of their…

Teaching the evaluation of information resources can be daunting for both students and educators. In an information environment in which resource types are ever-changing, how does the school librarian assess the evaluative skills of students? The assessments ought to reflect the malleable nature of online resources. To engage students in a…

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner" were released just as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) was refreshing its National Educational Technology Standards for Students in late 2007. These standards outline what students will know and be able to do with educational…

Determining the best methods of assessment for a library instruction program in a large research university can be a challenging task. Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University Library has pilot-tested three methods of formative and summative assessment for its library instruction program--attitudinal, outcomes-based, and gap-measure--and…

In attempt to answer the question of how to measure or evaluate the quality of reference service to youth, this essay examines the literature; defines the terms (reference services and tools, parental concern, library instruction); discusses move toward quality evaluation; and provides options and approaches to such measurement. (EJS)

Discusses program evaluation concepts and methods and how they can be applied to children's library services. What program evaluation is not is explained, as well as three levels of evaluation, including a variety of "threats" to the possible effectiveness of a program. Examples of program evaluation instruments are appended. (EM)

This second in a five-lesson tutorial on library evaluation focuses on the evaluation of library collections. Highlights include the seven-step evaluation process described in lesson one; quantitative methods (total size, unfilled requests, circulation, turnover rate); and qualitative methods (impressionistic, list-checking). One required and…

Describes evolving trends in testing, including such topics as formative versus summative evaluations; the use of tests as a guide to instructional decision making; the need to focus on higher level cognitive skills; and the role of computers in testing. An annotated bibliography lists 10 relevant journal articles. (CLB)

Arguing that there is a current tendency among librarians to talk more about the evaluation of bibliographic instruction than to actually do anything about it, this paper examines limitations of and considerations pertaining to evaluation and includes: (1) a brief discussion of the history of bibliographic instruction; (2) discussion of types of…

A brief history of "Psychological Abstracts" describes the development of this index over its nearly 100-year history. The various concerns and problems of both the publisher and users of the psychological literature are reported, and present and future solutions are discussed. Appended is an 18-item annotated bibliography. (Author/EJS)

In response to the changing educational landscape of the community college, reference librarians must adapt their service to fit the information needs of their patrons. One such update is synchronous digital reference, which applies instant messaging technology to library service. Todd Library at Waubonsee Community College (Sugar Grove, Illinois)…

The Bibliotherapy Education Project began as a teaching collaboration between faculty at Oregon State University's Libraries and School of Education. The project's evolution from 1999 to 2004 was previously described in this journal (McMillen 2005). The core of the project is a book evaluation tool, which builds counselor skill and knowledge in…

Many programs for mentoring of librarians exist within organizations, for specific areas of librarianship, or for particular groups of librarians. These programs generally depend on face-to-face contact and some organizational commonalities or similarity in positions. With the advent of online communication, could a more general program matching…