Category Archives: Advocacy

Putting the Best Findings Forward

I think I’m getting jaded. I am beginning to wonder whether lobbying for balanced reporting of evaluation and research findings is a waste of time. With voices more influential than mine weighing in on the opposite side, I’m having trouble … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Measurement, Outcome assessment, Program evaluation, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results, Research | Leave a comment

Paved with Good Intentions

It never hurts to revisit the basics of a method that we’ve chosen to apply to a task we want to accomplish or a problem needing solved. So, the recent announcement of the Library Edge benchmarks is a good occasion … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Advocacy, Measurement, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results | Leave a comment

Data Detour

Nowadays libraries aspire to be data-driven. Almost everyone agrees that collecting and using data to improve organizational performance is a good thing. Implied in the various regimens promoting this idea (library assessment, managing-for-results, evidence-based practice, quality management, etc.) is the … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Measurement, Numeracy, Probability, Statistics | Leave a comment

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

The graphic below is a variant of one I blogged about in my prior entry. Its designers added a storm to create what might be called an inclement tug-of-war. This version of the graphic is from the Libraries Connect Communities: … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Measurement, Statistics | Leave a comment

Statistical Hearsay

I admit it. I’ve been suffering from a case of statistician’s block. No inspiring ideas for this blog have presented themselves since July. Well, actually, a couple did surface but I resisted them. Very recently, though, the irresistible “infographic” shown … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Data vizualization, Measurement | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Path of Most Resistance

The campaign to assess public library outcomes got a tremendous boost by Library Journal’s Director Summit held last month in Columbus, Ohio. It’s heartening to see library leaders getting serious about making outcome assessment integral to the management of U.S. … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Outcome assessment, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results | Leave a comment

The U Word

This week Chase Bank sent an email to its customers saying that one of their vendor’s computer systems were hacked. The bank stated that they: …are confident that the information that was retrieved [i.e., stolen] included some Chase customer e-mail … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Measurement, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results, Research, Statistics | Leave a comment

Stubborn Facts

In the book John Adams author David McCullough writes about Adams’ legal defense of British soldiers on trial for murder in 1770. In his argument to the Massachusettes jury Adams said: Facts are stubborn things. And whatever our wishes, our … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results, Research | Leave a comment

Non-Exponential Potential

A new OCLC membership report, Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community, is hot off the…er…PDF-Maker! The report is formatted more like a magazine than a study, with key findings summarized in a myriad of graphical illustrations. So, I must … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Measurement, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results | Leave a comment

Discussing Accuracy

Now that I am no longer distracted by the subject of last week’s entry I can get to the intended topic for my first 2011 blog entry. I should say, though, that I won’t be turning over any kind of … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Library assessment, Measurement, Research, Statistics | Leave a comment