Academic library assessment: new duties and dilemmas

Abstract

Two studies sponsored by the Digital Library Federation (DLF) aimed to discover the assessment practices, priorities, and concerns of academic libraries, and to propose next steps for addressing significant unresolved issues. One study surveyed and convened selected library directors to discern their priority assessment needs and design research to meet the most critical unmet need. The outcome of this study was a survey of how students and faculty perceive and use the entire information landscape. The second study examined the assessment practices and concerns of leading digital libraries. The problems identified indicate that current assessment efforts are often inefficient and ineffective because of inadequate skills, poor planning, cumbersome governance, and a fundamental frame of reference ill‐suited to assessment. Libraries urgently need to synthesize and disseminate what they have learned from experience, organize assessment as a core activity, and audit and modify the beliefs, behaviours, and assumptions operating within their organization.