Arkansas State Library

Needs AssessmentRecommendations

Keith Curry Lance

Why a Needs Assessment?

•State Librarian Carolyn Ashcraft

•ASL’s new facilities

•ASL’s changing roles

•Changing roles of libraries & librarians

First Steps

•August 2010 focus group interviews

ASL board (5+)

ASL staff (12+--extension, network, state library services)

AR public library directors (20+)

•Sept 2010 focus group interviews

ArLA conference (35+--public, academic & school)

State government users of ASL (5—selected agencies)

Focus Group Questions

•Issues facing libraries, users?

•Info / help needed?

•Sources of info / help?

•What ASL can provide?

•Most promising means of delivery?

Key Informant Interviews & Survey

Pretesting•Public librarians (6/7)

•Academic librarians (7/9)

•School librarians (2/2)

•IT experts (4/8)

•State government users (6/8)

•TOTAL (25/34)

Library Survey Respondents

Library Type Number Percent

Public 96 37%

Academic 42 16%

School 98 38%

Other 24 9%

Total 260 100%

Library Issues

•Resource sharing mechanisms, issues, projects

Traveler, IT continuing education

•Continuing education Communication, transmission, F2F

•Visibility ASL, libraries

Recommendations

•General

•Library Community

•State Employees

General Recommendations

•Communication plan

Increase profile with library & state govt

Support ongoing 2-way communication

•Communication Strategies

• Face-to-face & virtual conversations

• More outreach-oriented communications & visits

• Communication about difficult decisions

General Recommendations

•Fiscal Strategies

Prioritize for funding

Identify ways to free up funding

Identify new funding needs & sources

Implement funding decisions (include staff CE costs as appropriate)

Plan to revisit lower-priority, funding-contingent recommendations

Library Community Recommendations

• Create stronger resource sharing infrastructure

• Make CE opportunities more available—face to face and virtually

• Raise visibility of ASL with libraries and libraries with current & potential users

Resource Sharing Recommendations

• Establish statewide reciprocal borrowing (open, ready access to all library resources)

• Provide more info about Traveler / other databases to libraries & users

• Support statewide digital archiving / preservation (online info about state via libraries)

Continuing Education Recommendations

• Online, searchable, database-driven CE calendar

• Online database of experts available to libraries

• Capacity to host / archive webinars

• Face-to-face CE in each LDD

• Funding to encourage CE participation

• In-service days for library staff

Advocacy Recommendations

• Communicate more frequently with libraries via multiple means

• Promote ASL collections / services to specific potential user groups

• Share more info about libraries with decision-makers / stakeholders

State Government Recommendations

• Marketing / PR campaign to increase state employee awareness

• ASL’s existence

• What it offers to make their jobs easier & to help them be more successful

State Government Recommendations

• Share more info about Traveler / other databases

• ASL staff availability—F2F or virutally—to take services to agencies

• ASL staff willingness to customize services to job-related needs

• Guidance about ASL to new state employees

New employee toolkit, state employee portal, info for agency handbooks

Challenges of Recommendations

• Consider new options, being open to change

• Communicate more frequently, with more open minds, in new ways

• Embrace changing technologies as useful tools for pursuing perennial goals

• Breath new life into old structures (divisions, RLSs, LDDs)

• Look beyond “silos” (divisions, library types, agencies) for partners