Down with the Tyranny of Bean Counting: Setting Goals and Measuring Outcomes with USU's IR

Traditional IR reporting often focuses on quantitative metrics like the number of items added to the repository. While this approach offers a snapshot of activity, it fails to capture the impact of IR efforts on research, teaching, and scholarly communication. This presentation will discuss our journey to shift from a bean-counting approach to a goal-oriented framework. We will explore our process of identifying meaningful goals, selecting relevant metrics, and making necessary data adjustments to track progress. By sharing our experiences and lessons learned, we aim to inspire other IR professionals to adopt a more strategic and outcome-focused approach to measuring success.