@article{912503da507942208f96acb924065967,
title = "Are they learning? Are we? Learning outcomes and the academic library",
abstract = "Since the 1990s, the assessment of learning outcomes in academic libraries has accelerated rapidly, and librarians have come to recognize the necessity of articulating and assessing student learning outcomes. Initially, librarians developed tools and instruments to assess information literacy student learning outcomes. Now, academic librarians are moving to a larger scale assessment approach: the articulation and demonstration of library impact on institutions of higher education. This article considers six questions relevant to the assessment challenges librarians face in coming years: (1) How committed are librarians to student learning? (2) What do librarians want students to learn? (3) How do librarians document student learning? (4) How committed are librarians to their own learning? (5) What do librarians need to learn? (6) How can librarians document their own learning?.",
author = "Megan Oakleaf",
note = "Funding Information: Student enrollment Student retention Student graduation rates Student success Student achievement Student learning Student experience Faculty research output Faculty grant funding Faculty teaching Funding Information: Most librarians learn about the value of theory-based practice in library school. Historically, LIS programs teach library practices within the context of information theories. Theory-informed practice is also supported by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. The council recommends basing all higher education practices, programs, and services on theory [45]. Librarians learning to assess student skills can reap many benefits from grounding assessment practice in theory. For example, theory helps librarians to combine logic and intuition with empirical knowledge, provide support and guidance for practice, and “increase the strength and utility of strategic assessment planning” [46]. According to Keeling and colleagues, basing assessment practice on theory “significantly improve[s] the process and outcomes” [47, p. 16]. Indeed, theory “serves, in practice, to build an essential foundation for assessment planning; assessment purposes, methods, metrics, and reporting are developed on [a theoretical] foundation” [47, p. 15]. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2011 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.",
year = "2011",
doi = "10.1086/657444",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "81",
pages = "61--82",
journal = "Library Quarterly",
issn = "0024-2519",
publisher = "University of Chicago",
number = "1",
}