ALCTS CaMMS Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group

ALA Annual Program Announcement: Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group -- "Assessment 101"

  • 1.  ALA Annual Program Announcement: Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group -- "Assessment 101"

    Posted Jun 06, 2012 08:58 AM

    Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group

    “Assessment 101”

    Monday, June 25, 2012 - 8:00am to 10:00am

    Anaheim Convention Center, 209B

    The Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group is pleased to announce the first of what we hope will be a series of meetings focused on assessment.  The first session will be held at the ALA 2012 Annual Conference in Anaheim. 

    The cataloging and technical services communities have long struggled with making evidence-based decisions about their particular areas of librarianship.  Without robust and tested metrics for evaluating technical services operations, and without a strong contingent of assessment experts existing within our ranks, it has been difficult to define and develop a broad culture of assessment for cataloging.

    To help foster the growth of assessment expertise within our community, the Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group will be dedicating several meetings to the topic.  At Annual 2012, we will sponsor a seminar-style presentation on the essentials of assessment.  This session will be lead by Joyce Chapman, Project Librarian for the Triangle Research Libraries Network.  Joyce will provide attendees with an understanding of the basics of assessment theory, help managers acquire an understanding of assessment best practices and techniques, and facilitate a group discussion on why, how, and when assessment techniques could be most beneficial within the specific context of cataloging and technical services.

     This initial “Assessment 101” session will set the stage for future Heads of Cataloging IG meetings, starting with Midwinter 2013, where we will invite speakers who have implemented an assessment project within their cataloging/metadata/TS unit to share their experiences and best advice.

     Speaker Bio:  Joyce Chapman is Project Librarian for the Triangle Research Libraries Network's "Content, Context, and Capacity" grant, where she leads quantitative and qualitative project evaluation efforts.  Previously, Joyce was a Libraries Fellow at North Carolina State University.  In this role, she conducted research to assess the cost and value of metadata creation and maintenance workflows, and led data analysis and visualization initiatives to help staff better understand how patrons use library spaces and services.  Joyce serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice.  She received her Masters in Information Science from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009.

     A copy of Joyce’s presentation will be posted on the Interest Group’s homepage on ALAConnect after the conference:  http://connect.ala.org/node/66155.  Please contact Chris Cronin (croninc@uchicago.edu), Chair of the ALCTS Heads of Cataloging Departments Interest Group, with any questions.