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Arkansas State Library
Needs AssessmentRecommendations
Keith Curry Lance
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Why a Needs Assessment?
•State Librarian Carolyn Ashcraft
•ASL’s new facilities
•ASL’s changing roles
•Changing roles of libraries & librarians
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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)
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Focus Group Questions
•Issues facing libraries, users?
•Info / help needed?
•Sources of info / help?
•What ASL can provide?
•Most promising means of delivery?
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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)
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Library Survey Respondents
Library Type Number Percent
Public 96 37%
Academic 42 16%
School 98 38%
Other 24 9%
Total 260 100%
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Library Issues
•Resource sharing mechanisms, issues, projects
Traveler, IT continuing education
•Continuing education Communication, transmission, F2F
•Visibility ASL, libraries
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Recommendations
•General
•Library Community
•State Employees
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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