2023 Learning & Outreach Services (UNM University Libraries) Assessment Framework

In 2022-2023, the Learning & Outreach Services (LORS) department within the University of New Mexico’s Libraries responded to post-pandemic challenges with a renewed focus on project-driven strategic planning, setting an annual goal to develop a LORS-specific assessment program. The LORS assessment team grappled with how to operationalize the literature on library assessment at a level that makes sense for a department of 12 librarians within a larger library organization. The LORS assessment team ultimately developed a consensus-driven, appropriately scaled assessment framework tailored for our department’s scope and context. The framework includes a guidance document, an impact map, and planning templates. Our assessment framework (particularly the templates) is suitable for reuse and remixing. The framework is published here as supplementary content for the authors’ presentation (What “Assessment” Means to Us: A Case Study of a Department-level Assessment Framework within a University Library) at the 2024 Library Assessment Conference in Portland, OR.