Book Review: Assessment Strategies in Technical Services (An ALCTS Monograph)

Abstract

Assessment of all library services is essential to meeting user needs, and more than ever, it is critical to practice assessment consistently within library technical services departments. Rising costs, space issues, budget issues, changing models within the publishing industry, and providing resources that meet users’ needs all have a role in this criticality. Long-standing assessment practices that are likely numbers-based and rely on “how much” of a certain area, such as how many books were purchased or how many new items were added to the collection during a given timeframe, are only a piece of the broader picture of assessment. Statistics have their time and place in library assessment, and Assessment Strategies in Technical Services provides a detailed, well-organized introduction to methods that technical services staff can use to either rethink or establish a culture of assessment within their department units.