What is Project Outcome for Academic Libraries?
Project Outcome is a FREE online toolkit designed to help libraries understand and share the impact of essential library programs and services. It provides standardized surveys, an easy-to-use process for measuring and analyzing outcomes, and the resources libraries need to apply their results to effect change in their institutions and beyond.
The toolkit includes both immediate surveys, designed to be distributed immediately after a program or service is completed to understand its impact, and follow-up surveys, for use 4-8 weeks after a program or service is completed to help libraries understand if patrons have changed their behavior or continued to benefit as a result of the program or service.
What Do the Surveys Measure?
Project Outcome helps libraries easily measure their patron outcomes, which are one piece of the assessment puzzle. Measuring outcomes help libraries understand the specific benefits that result from their services or programs. Outcomes can be quantitative or qualitative and are often expressed as changes that individuals perceive in themselves. They answer the question: “What good did we do?”