Evaluation Strategies And Techniques For Public Library Childrens Services

This text covers the management, personnel and public relations issues that all youth services administrators must handle, including: planning; developing policies and budgets; employee evaluations; staff relations; alternative fundraising; library services; and recruiting.

This manual has been designed as a practical guide to quantifying and measuring the results, or outputs, of public library service to children. The basic output measures presented are tailored to reflect library services to children (defined as persons 14 years old and younger) and their care givers. Six categories of measures are presented: (1) library use (children's library visits per child, building use by children, and furniture/equipment use by children); (2) materials use (circulation of children's materials per child, in-library use of children's materials per child, and turnover rate of children's materials); (3) materials availability (children's fill rate, homework fill rate, and picture book fill rate); (4) information services (children's information transactions per child and chldren's information transaction completion rate); (5) programming (children's program attendance per child); and (6) community relations (class visit rate, child care center contact rate, and annual number of community contacts). The first of three parts of the manual provides an overview of measurement and evaluation, basic information about statistics and data collection and analysis, and suggestions for managing the measurement effort in a particular library. The second part presents each output measure in detail, including the data elements needed and instructions for calculating the measure. The third part presents some techniques for collecting more subjective data, such as focus groups and user surveys, that may help to understand and interpret the quantitative output measure data. Copies of all of the blank forms needed are appended. (4 references) (BBM)

The vision of Learning Environments for Young Children: Rethinking Library Spaces and Services is about learning, families, and community, where the public library presents a community-based educational setting in which librarians serve as educators, guides, coaches, and facilitators of lifelong, active learning; access for children to enriching, satisfying, and developmentally appropriate resources and learning opportunities; diverse collections, programs, and technical resources for young children and the adults in their lives; programs and resources that encourage children's focused participation, creativity, critical thinking, cooperation, and problem solving; and a nonjudgmental, integrated, and interdisciplinary approach to lifelong learning, developing the whole person, child or adult. Included in Learning Environments for Young Children are field-tested measuring instruments that you and your staff can use to conduct a qualitative assessment of your library's children's services. These ready-to-use forms will help you collect information that will highlight the importance of early childhood services in presentations to funding sources, trustees, and other key stakeholders.

This manual explains how to forge new partnerships with agencies and organisations that focus on families and young children in order to design a family-centred environment for the library. Each chapter centres on different ways in which the library can best serve families and children.

A vision for children’s library services in the next decade. This book provides a sound background to all aspects of library provision for 6–18 year olds. It is designed to support the strategic planning and delivery of library services and programmes at a local community level or in schools. The book outlines a vision for children’s library services in the next decade and carves out a strategy for engaging with the challenges and opportunities for children’s librarians and policy makers in the Google environment. This book is accessible, informative and inspiring and offers practitioners the knowledge, ideas and confidence to work in partnership with other key professionals in delivering services and programmes. It provides an evidence base, which promotes and encourages the development of effective library services for children and young people. The case studies, scenarios and vignettes, drawn from UK and international sources, show that the key issues have an international dimension, and the similarities and differences in service provision will be of interest to many. In addition to the two editors, chapters are contributed by a range of internationally known practitioners and academics, offering a wide perspective. Case studies at the end of each section complement themes and practices from previous chapters while rooting the discussion in a specific context. The book is organized into four parts: • Children’s library services – policy, people and partnerships • Connecting and engaging – reaching your audience and catching the latest wave (acknowledging the role of technology) • Buildings, design and spaces – libraries for children and young people • Issues for professional practice. Readership: This book is essential reading for all senior library practitioners, children’s librarians and school librarians, subject co-ordinators, and managers in schools. It will also be of value for all postgraduate students on CILIP accredited library and information management courses.