57 SPEC Kit 361: Outreach and Engagement Outreach activities are assessed based on their alignment with team and library goals, and based on their impact. Outreach activities are considered part of core duties. Outreach is seen as an essential part of subject/liaison librarian duties. Documenting participation in these activities is included in promotion packets. We often use the term “engagement” rather than outreach and look for quality of engagement, as well as quantity of encounters. Quality can be measured by outcomes of the engagement, and we are interested in developing new metrics for these outcomes: new research publications by students or faculty, new partnerships, etc. Participation is often noted in supervisory evaluations, though the evaluation template does not prompt nor require doing so. People who have outreach as part of their position descriptions may be evaluated on how well they were able to connect with their assigned user groups. Performance standards and evaluation are tied to individual position descriptions. If written into their job descriptions, it should be included as a piece of their evaluation. If outreach isn’t written into the description, individuals may include it if they feel that a percentage of their time was devoted to outreach activities. Quantitatively through monthly reports and statistics collected through LibAnalytics Reflected in annual performance reviews reported on through post-event follow-up. Research services librarians and other library staff classified under the library broadband classification system. Essential functions outreach activities are reflected in the associate director for public engagement and library administration’s position description. Several members of the communications and web departments have this written in their performance standards. Some staff have outreach as part of their annual performance plan. Staff members who are on the communications and outreach committee have an evaluation update yearly. Staff with outreach in their job descriptions are evaluated by their supervisors on performance standards for their outreach activity. The outreach librarian for special collections, the student engagement librarian, and the outreach and marketing coordinator have goals focused on outreach. The goals include measures including attendance, new connections made, and quality of feedback. There is no formally articulated performance standard for outreach, but outreach activities would be part of the annual performance review for relevant positions. Yes and no. We do not have consistent performance standards for faculty librarians. If they are public service librarians, then there is an assumption that they will participate in outreach, even if it’s at a minimal level. Non-faculty staff have performance indicators that are defined by the university system, so the library does not have the ability to add outreach to their evaluations. However, we sometimes are able to talk about outreach as customer service in staff evaluations. Yes, the public services liaison librarians are evaluated on outreach activities. Yes, employees who have “outreach” specifically written into their job descriptions are evaluated on their performance in this area. Yes. Colleagues who have outreach spelled out in their job description often have goals related to outreach and are evaluated on those goals annually.
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