ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR

Killam Library
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

September2003 to August 2004
Assessment Period Covered

July 15, 2004
Date Submitted

Expanded Statement of Institutional Purpose Linkage:
Institutional Mission/Goal(s) Reference:
Texas A&M International University, a Member of The Texas A&M University System, is committed to the preparation of students for leadership roles in their chosen profession and in an increasingly complex, culturally diverse state, national, and global society … Through instruction, faculty and student research, and public service, Texas A&M International University is a strategic point of delivery for well-defined programs and services that improve the quality of life for citizens of the border region, the State of Texas, and national and international communities.

Administrative or Educational Support Unit Mission Statement:
The library provides materials and service to meet the information needs of the students, faculty, and staff of Texas A&M International University.  Library services and materials support the university’s instructional programs at all levels.  Through a combination of locally owned collections and access to off-site information resources, the library supports the research and current awareness needs of the university faculty and students at a level appropriate to the university’s mission.  The library enhances the availability of resources to the local university community and programs.  The library supports the public service programs of the university and, as resources permit, serves the needs of the local border community.  The library develops its resources in accordance with the international focus of the university.  Services to fulfill this mission include: collection development, maintenance and preservation, library assistance and instruction, circulation, library technology infrastructure and interlibrary services.  

Intended Administrative Objectives:

1. The orientation and instruction providedbythe library will meet the needs of faculty and students.

2. The library will provide effective acquisitions service to the faculty in support of book and audio-visual selection for the library collection.

3. The library will maintain accurate shelving (call number order) of its bound-volume and media collection to facilitate retrieval by library users.

ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR

Killam Library
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

September2003 to August 2004
Assessment Period Covered

July 15, 2004
Date Submitted

Intended Administrative or Educational Support Objective:
NOTE:  There should be one form C for each intended objective listed on form B.  The intended unit objective should be restated in the box immediately below and the intended objective number entered in the blank space below

1. The orientation and instruction provided by the library will meet the needs of faculty and students.

First Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
a. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Public Services staff will survey university students on their satisfaction with library instruction.  Criteria for success:  At least 80% of the students responding will indicate satisfaction with library instruction.

a. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
Question 12 of the Killam Library Institutional Questionnaire states, “The library instruction I have received has been clear and useful,” and allows respondents to choose N/A, STRONGLY AGREE, AGREE, NEUTRAL, DISAGREE, and STRONGLY DISAGREE.  Of 275 respondents who identified themselves as graduate or undergraduate students (counting both in-library and outside-library surveys), 14 selected N/A or left the question blank.  Of the remaining 261, 102 (39%) selected STRONGLY AGREE, 106 (41%) selected AGREE, 42 (16%) selected NEUTRAL, 8 (3%) selected DISAGREE, and 3 (1%) selected STRONGLY DISAGREE.  This is a satisfaction rate of 80%, even counting NEUTRAL as a negative response.  Responses expressing specific dissatisfaction (DISAGREE and STRONGLY DISAGREE) made up only 4%.

a. Use of Results to Improve Unit Services:
The criterion for success was met.

Second Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
b. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Reference librarians providing library orientation and instruction will survey students and faculty receiving instruction on their satisfaction with the congeniality and competence of the instructor and the clarity and usefulness of the material presented.  Criteria for success:  At least 95% of the students and faculty responding will indicate satisfaction in each of these four areas.

b. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
Individual Library Instruction Evaluation forms were filled out by 733 respondents, including 658 undergraduate students, 45 graduate students, and 30 course instructors.  Four yes-or-no questions were asked.  On the first question, “The library instructor was friendly and pleasant, “ 724 respondents selected YES (99%), seven selected NO (1%), and two left the question blank.  On the second question, “The library instructor seemed knowledgeable,” 732 respondents selected YES (100%), none selected NO, and one left the question blank.  On the third question, “The instruction session was clear and easy to understand, “ 727 respondents selected YES (99%), five selected NO (1%), and one left the question blank.  On the fourth question, “The instruction session contained information useful to me,” 729 respondents selected YES (99.5%), three selected no (.05%), and one left the question blank.

The total average of positive (satisfied) responses overall was 99.3%.  None of the negative or blank responses came from course instructors.

b. Use of Results to Improve Unit Service:
The criterion for success was met.

Third Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
c. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Liaison librarians will survey faculty on their satisfaction with library orientation and instruction.  Criteria for success:  At least 80% of the faculty who make use of the library orientation and instruction will indicate satisfaction with the orientation and instruction their students have receive

c. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
Question 4 of the faculty survey read, “Have any of your classes received instruction from Killam Librarians?”  Of 81 respondents, 28 said YES, 41 said NO and 12 left the question blank.  The question went on to ask, “Please indicate your general level of satisfaction with library instruction provided by Killam Library.”  Of the 28 respondents who had said YES, two did not respond to the second part of the question.  Of the remaining 26, 88% checked COMPLETELY SATISFIED, 12% checked SOMEWHAT SATISFIED, and no checked NEUTRAL, SOMEWHAT DISSATISFIED or COMPLETELY DISSATISFIED.  This indicates a satisfaction rate of 100%.

c. Use of Results to Improve Unit Service:
The criterion for success was met.

ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR

Killam Library
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

September2003 to August 2004
Assessment Period Covered

July 15, 2004
Date Submitted

Intended Administrative or Educational Support Objective:
NOTE:  There should be one form C for each intended objective listed on form B.  The intended unit objective should be restated in the box immediately below and the intended objective number entered in the blank space below

2.The library will provide effective acquisitions service to the faculty in support of book and audio-visual selection for the library collection.

First Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
a. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
The library will track the amount of regular departmental funds for book and audio-visual materials encumbered before the end of the fiscal year through faculty orders alone.  Criteria for success:  90% of these funds will be encumbered through faculty orders alone.

a. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
91.6% of all departmental book and audiovisual fund allocations were encumbered with materials requests received from faculty members. Out of a total departmental book budget allocation of $207,375, only $17,326 (8.4%) was not encumbered through faculty orders.

a. Use of Results to Improve Unit Services:
The criterion for success was met.

Second Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
b. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
The library will survey faculty who placed book or audio-visual orders through the library this year to determine their satisfaction with the acquisitions service.  Specific factors to be surveyed are (1) communication on status of orders and (2) successful fulfillment of orders.  Criteria for success: 80% of faculty will be satisfied with the quality of the service received from the library.

b. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
Faculty members responded to two questions seeking information on their satisfaction with the service provided by the library acquisitions service.  Question 2 (part a) asked “Have you submitted any library requests for books or AV materials this year?”  Of 81 respondents, 44 said YES and 37 said NO.  It then went on to ask, “If yes, please indicate your level of satisfaction with communications received from the Acquisitions Dept.”  Five of the 44 did not respond to this question.  Of the other 39, 61% checked COMPLETELY SATISFIED., 18% checked SOMEWHAT SATIFIED, 13% checked NEUTRAL, and no one checked SOMEWHAT DISSATISFIED or COMPLETELY DISSATISFIED.  This indicates a satisfaction rate of 79%, if “NEUTRAL” is counted as not satisfied.

Question 2 (part b) asked faculty members to indicate their level of satisfaction with the process of fulfilling materials requests.”  Of the 44 who said YES to question 1 abovementioned, seven did not respond to this question.  Of the remaining 37 replies, 62% checked COMPLETELY SATIFIED, 27% checked SOMEWHAT SATISFIED, 11% checked NEUTRAL, and no one checked SOMEWHAT DISSATISFIED or COMPLETELY DISSATISFIED.  This indicates a satisfaction rate of 89%, if NEUTRAL is counted as not satisfied.

Between the two questions, the average satisfaction rate is 84%

b. Use of Results to Improve Unit Service:
The criterion for success was met.

ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR

Killam Library
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

September2003 to August 2004
Assessment Period Covered

July 15, 2004
Date Submitted

Intended Administrative or Educational Support Objective:
NOTE:  There should be one form C for each intended objective listed on form B.  The intended unit objective should be restated in the box immediately below and the intended objective number entered in the blank space below

3. The Library will maintain accurate shelving (call number order) of its bound volumes and media collection to facilitate retrieval by library users.

First Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
a. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Individual shelves of books will bechecked at random.  The percentageof books out of place will be noted for each shelf.  Criteria for success will be no more than 5% of books out of place on average.

a. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
Between November 1^st and January 16^th of 2004 library employees checked each book on ninety-seven shelves that had been previously chosen using a random numbers table.  A total of 2,502 individual volumes were checked for accuracy of shelving.  Of the volumes checked 2,288 (91.4%) were in the correct call number location and 214 (8.6%) were not.

a. Use of Results to Improve Unit Services:
Because we did not meet the criterion of 95% accuracy for our first means of assessment changes needed to be made.  We have identified “hot spots” where items are most frequently out of order.  These areas will now be checked and put back in order each fall, spring and summer.  For the collection as a whole this usually occurs approximately once per year as that is the length of time usually required to check the entire collection from beginning to end.

Second Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
b. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Each book shelver will be monitored for accuracy.  Flags will be placed in the books they shelve for later monitoring by the circulation supervisor.  Shelvers will be expected to reshelve with 95% accuracy.

b. Summary of Assessment Data Collected:
Between February 1^st and April 30^th a total of fifty spot checks were performed.  This amounted to 2,606 books checked for shelving accuracy immediately following shelving.  A total of 23 of those books were shelved incorrectly, while a total of 2,583 books were shelved correctly.  This represents 99 % accuracy.  The following data show monthly results of the checks:

b. Use of Results to Improve Unit Service:
The criterion for success was 95% shelver accuracy.  Total accuracy of shelvers over the three-month data collection period was 99%.  It is clear from this data that library shelvers do not need retraining.  Misshelved books in the stacks are likely the result of patron browsing and misplacing rather than shelver error.  Therefore no action need be taken with shelvers.