Georg Romero
Library Director
Cabrillo College Library
April 15, 2010
Presentation focus is on services
◦ Free-range audience, hard to capture
◦ Challenging
Not on classes or workshops
◦ Captive audiences
◦ Easier
In 2005:
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Almost nothing available on assessing
services, plenty on assessing classes
Focus was on starting & having SLOs
This was all new to most of us
In 2010:
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A little more information available
 Timely SLO survey from 2009 (June Turner, Palo Verde)
 Some services covered at some colleges (Cabrillo,
Cuyamaca, Los Medanos)
 A few sessions like this one
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Focus is now on measurement, & actions
taken
Not so new to us…
So, how did we begin, in 2005?
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Challenge: how to attribute specific learning
outcomes to transaction services?
Assumption: SLOs not intentionally onerous
Decision: we will make this useful for us!
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Key: campus SLO Coordinator appointed
Early step: creation of campus “core”
competencies
Key: decision to measure service operations
against the core competencies, rather than
requiring individual SLOs
◦ Affected: Library, Student Services, Learning
Centers, etc.
◦ Minimized the fear & trepidation
First step: what are our services?
◦ Regular meetings - invited all library staff, not just
librarians
◦ Identified all services, both direct & indirect
◦ Correlated each with core competencies
◦ Identified possible assessment methods, if any
Some assessment alternatives identified:
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Narrative descriptions
Focus groups
Post-transaction sampling interviews/surveys
User surveys
Selected: survey – most actionable for the most
services
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Having students self-assess on core
competencies is legitimate, for what it is
More than just a general satisfaction survey:
◦ What are students doing?
◦ How long have they been here?
◦ Service trouble-spots
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Change regularly, focus on current issues,
look for patterns
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Key: SLO mindset among staff: “what are we
teaching our students?”
Key: “Institutionalized” process into program
planning cycle
Regular annual library user surveys
Statistics & other data posted on web, so we
can find & share them easily
Sailed through accreditation, with a
commendation!
Looking back – would I change anything?
No – the shared voyage of discovery, how we
got there, almost more important than where
we arrived.
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Students do tell us the Library improves their
learning!
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Strong dissatisfaction with aging laptops
(we got new ones)
Unhappiness with computer logon
requirement (gone after initial semester)
Want more computers (working on it) and
word processing (have it)
Newer students less satisfied/impressed with
library (tried a “greeter” program)
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Focused Circulation more on teaching &
learning, less on punishing
Increased Technical Services responsiveness
to specific student needs
Increased “team” mindset, across the board
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Much left to be done:
◦ Useful survey data not yet acted upon
◦ How to maintain SLO mindset in spite of staff
changes, time, budget issues
◦ Need to update & submit campus Assessment
forms…
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http://libwww.cabrillo.edu/staff/slo/ - This presentation
package
http://libwww.cabrillo.edu/staff/library-numbers.html Cabrillo’s library statistics & data web page
http://pro.cabrillo.edu/pro/ - Campus Planning & Research,
with links to SLOs, Accreditation, etc.
http://pages.paloverde.edu/staff/library/slosurvey.doc CCL-EXEC survey on library SLOs, by Janine Turner (Palo
Verde College)
Thank You!