About Princeton Public Library

Public Programming Evaluation

Variety of methods used to evaluate programs at PPL

• Discussion at monthly team meetings about what worked that month and what did not work in terms of programs

• Annual retreat where we do a “Pause, Play, Rewind” exercise and evaluate each ongoing programming for effectiveness

• Establishing goals and objectives each year and continually evaluating internally to see if programs are meeting our goals and objectives

• Surveying attendees for feedback

• Department wide statistics form that is filled out for each program

Princeton Public Library’s Statistic Collection Form – the basics

Princeton Public Library’s Statistic Collection Form – tracking impact

Princeton Public Library’s Statistic Collection Form – other details

Sample Response to PPL Statistics Collection Form

Princeton Senior Resource Center offered this program with us as a partnership. It is their 1st stab at more policy based programming and we had excellent response from the 30+ seniors in attendance. The discussion about retirement policy in NJ was lively.

Random Impact Statements from our database

A 4th grader was helped with math, a 2nd grader was helped with reading and math, a 3rd grader was helped with spelling and math, and a 2nd grader was helped with math and reading. (YS Homework Help program)

The film Purgatorio was an excellent lead in for the follow-up discussion about the different people and their life on the border of the US and Mexico. Great way to start the series on immigration.

This program was a press conference to announce that Princeton is one of three towns chosen to participate in pilot program with the Mayor's Wellness Campaign to encourage people to start talking about their end of life wishes. PPL is one of the partners and will host continued programs in the fall in support of this program as part of the Currents: Conversations that Matter series funded by the NEH.

Benefits to this form for Program Evaluation

• Easily able to sort attendance statistics to meet many needs and requests for a variety of reasons

• Ability to track impact of individual, annual and recurring programs on an ongoing basis

• Helps plan for staffing needs

• Tracks essential information such as number of volunteer hours, source of funding, and outreach

• Assists with grant and report writing