Stay Calm and Cover Your Assessment: Creating a Culture of Assessment on a Shoestring

Academic libraries engage in assessment for a variety of reasons. Improving processes, responding to customer needs, fulfilling accreditation reporting requirements, and demonstrating impact and value to the institution are just a few. Many academic libraries find themselves in the position of being required to prove they are fulfilling a mission that contributes to the academic success of students and their value to the institution. Assessment is no longer a choice for libraries, it has become an expectation. Although most libraries are already doing some form of assessment, there seems to be little effort in many institutions to build a culture of assessment, where staff understand and participate in the process. In many organizations, assessment is often initiated and driven by library administration. Despite good intentions, many initiatives ultimately fail due to lack of staff buy-in