12 Survey Results: Survey Questions and Responses Survey Questions and Responses The SPEC Survey on Outreach and Engagement was designed by Sarah LeMire and Stephanie J. Graves, Texas A&M University Libraries, and Shannon L. Farrell and Kristen L. Mastel, University of Minnesota. These results are based on responses from 57 of the 125 ARL member libraries (46%) by the deadline of August 6, 2018. The survey’s introductory text and questions are reproduced below, followed by the response data and selected comments from the respondents. Within ARL libraries, the term outreach encompasses a variety of patron services and activities. This survey will allow us to further the conversation around outreach mission, vision, responsibilities, activities, and assessment with the hope of providing various models that libraries could adopt. The topic of outreach is timely, as it combines many areas of the ARL strategic mission around engagement, library value, and assessment. This survey also investigates the relationship between outreach and related patron service areas such as marketing, assessment, and instruction, which are increasingly a part of many liaison job responsibilities. The purpose of this survey is to capture a snapshot of how ARL libraries are defining their outreach programs, how they are assigning and structuring outreach responsibilities, and how they are measuring the success and impact of their outreach efforts. This survey will gather information from ARL institutions regarding their organizational definition of outreach in order to help establish a professional baseline. Survey questions will ask respondents to reflect on the intentionality of their outreach and engagement programs by addressing levels of planning, established outcomes, assessment measures, and reporting practices. The level of funding and staff support for outreach activities will be surveyed. Survey questions will also gather information about mapping outreach activities to goals and learning outcomes. In addition, participating institutions will be asked to provide information regarding who is responsible for outreach activities in their organization, including data about how outreach activities are evaluated in both institutional reports and in individual job performance ratings. Survey responses will paint a picture of the variation in approach, value, and intentionality of outreach programs in ARL libraries. DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES OF OUTREACH Many institutions define outreach as promoting library services to campus or parent institution units, departments, students or other patrons, and underserved groups. Others define outreach as community- based programming to reach constituencies external to the institution. The following questions are aimed at capturing data on which groups your library serves (internal or external audiences) with your outreach programming. Examples of library outreach activities include orientations, scavenger hunts, game nights, tours, final exam events, and resource tables or booths at events, among many others.
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