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12/11/2024
December 11, 2024, 1:00-2:30 Eastern/12:00-1:30 Central/11:00-12:30 Mountain/10:00-11:30 Pacific
This session will be recorded, and the recording, slides, and any resources shared will be available on this webpage within two business days of the webinar.
Metrics are one way we frequently measure success in libraries. But finding the right metrics isn’t easy. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted,” a quote from sociologist William Bruce Cameron, neatly summarizes why finding meaningful metrics is often challenging. Libraries count all kinds of things, many of which take a great deal of effort to collect and analyze. Which metrics have the most meaning and impact?
In this session, you will learn about how metrics only have meaning in context. Our entire discussion will be framed by the understanding that metrics reflect and drive the values of your organization. So how do you create meaningful metrics? Some key topics we’ll address about meaningful metrics are:
- Why is having a clear desired impact/outcome/definition of success so important to metrics?
- How can you align metrics closely to the desired impact/outcome/definition of success?
- The importance of Involving people closest to the work in creating metrics, including community data and input where possible.
- The value of empowering people close to the work to also act on metrics.
- How to connect metrics up to other levels of strategy.
- The importance of staying aligned with your values and research ethics.
- Asking yourself which metrics will help you learn and be intentional more so than what is most easy to collect.
You will get hands-on time to revise a desired impact/outcome/definition of success, align metrics to that desired impact, and reflect on what metrics will help you learn and be intentional.
Instructor: Katie Fox
Katie Fox is liaison between the State of Colorado and local communities, where she helps them identify and reach their digital equity goals. She has spent her career collaborating with libraries to better understand how they can intentionally partner with and serve their communities. She particularly enjoys trying to measure complex concepts like relationship building. Previously, Katie was the Senior Evaluator for the Denver Public Library and a Research Analyst for the Library Research Service unit at the Colorado State Library. Before that, she was an information literacy librarian and a middle school teacher. She has an M.A. in Library and Information Studies from UW-Madison and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Denver.
This session is part of the 12 Months to Better Library Data Webinar Series, made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation.