Culture of Assessment

An important goal of our assessment program is to create a culture of assessment throughout the Libraries.  The program provides opportunities for all staff to learn what assessment is and how to do it, and provides them with tools and support to do their own assessment projects, large or small, to improve their own efforts and those of their department.

Management Data & Statistics

To support evidence-based decisions, it is important to have accessible and accurate management data. The Libraries are required to report statistics to University administrators and various external organizations. Data gathering and reporting is a continual process. Many of these statistics are available through the Library Statistics page.

The Libraries contribute data to reports by:

• Association of Research Libraries
• Association of College and Research Libraries
• National Center for Education Statistics
• UTK’s Institutional Research and Strategic Analysis
• UTK’s Institutional Effectiveness

Campus-Wide User Surveys

To support strategic planning, administrative needs, and accreditation requirements, the Libraries periodically surveys users from across the campus community to understand:

• Their use of library spaces, resources, and services
• Their satisfaction with library spaces, resources, and services
• Their perceived need for library services or the importance they attach to those services

For details on the results of these surveys, see Campus-Wide User Surveys

The department also conducts and assists others in conducting surveys that provide a background for focused, small-scale assessments of individual programs or user groups.