{"id":2587,"date":"2015-05-01T10:34:24","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T17:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nnlm.gov\/evaluation\/blog\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2019-09-24T10:13:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T17:13:30","slug":"guerrilla-assessment-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/2015\/05\/01\/guerrilla-assessment-methods\/","title":{"rendered":"Guerrilla Assessment Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, the\u00a0Association of Research Libraries email discussion list<\/a> had an enthusiastic discussion about\u00a0guerrilla assessment techniques. These are low-cost, unconventional data collection methods\u00a0that gather timely responses from library users. I thought I would share some of the favored methods from\u00a0this discussion.<\/p>\n

Graffiti walls seemed to be the most popular guerrilla method discussed in this group. Users were invited to write responses to one question on white boards or flip charts; or they were\u00a0asked to write\u00a0comments on sticky notes and post them to bulletin boards. Questions might be related, for example, to library space use or new furniture choices, or users might write suggestions for new resources. Pictured below is a\u00a0colorful example<\/a>\u00a0of a graffiti wall from Clemson University\u2019s Cooper Library posted by Peggy Tyler. Flip charts also were featured in this\u00a0space use<\/a> assessment conducted at University of Pittsburgh University Library System\u00a0(see the FlipChart Analysis <\/a>and the Flipchart Survey\u2014Our Response presentations<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Short\u00a0questionnaires to collect on-the-spot responses from users were also mentioned frequently. Some libraries placed laptops in\u00a0conspicuous parts of the library to capture responses. Others took advantage of tablets, such as this\u00a0project<\/a>\u00a0conducted at Georgia State University. Sometimes the low-tech approach worked best, featuring\u00a0paper-and-pencil questionnaires or note cards for written comments.<\/p>\n

Photographs also were used creatively to capture helpful assessment information. University of Pittsburgh University Library System staff used photographs to examine use of study space<\/a>. With so many library users carrying mobile phones with cameras, there is a lot of potential for inviting users to incorporate photographs into their responses to assessment questions. In the ARL-assess\u00a0discussion,\u00a0Holt Zaugg at\u00a0Brigham Young’s Harold B. Lee Library described a study in which\u00a0student volunteers took\u00a0pictures of places on campus that they thought fit a certain characteristic (e.g. too noisy, busy place to study).\u00a0 The staff did follow-up interviews with the student volunteers for added insight about their photographs.<\/p>\n

Guerrilla methods may look easy, but they\u00a0do require\u00a0careful planning and thought. You’ll need\u00a0well-crafted, focused questions. You also will need an effective promotional strategy to attract user participation. And you’ll want a well-executed schedule for collecting and inputting data so that key information is not lost. Yet these guerrilla methods are worth the challenge, because they engage both participants and staff in the assessment process. \u00a0These methods are a refreshing alternative to conventional methods.<\/p>\n

\"Graffitti<\/a>

Graffitti Wall at Cooper Library at Clemson<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, the\u00a0Association of Research Libraries email discussion list had an enthusiastic discussion about\u00a0guerrilla assessment techniques. These are low-cost, unconventional data collection methods\u00a0that gather timely responses from library users. I thought I would share some of the favored methods from\u00a0this discussion. Graffiti walls seemed to be the most popular guerrilla method discussed in this group. Users… Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2959,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ICUo-FJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6583,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions\/6583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/nec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}