Research Institute for Public Libraries

July 27-30, 2015 in Colorado Springs

Overview

75-100 participants will engage in three days of hands-on, intensive workshops about…

 Evaluation design and implementation
 Data collection and use for strategic planning
 Measures for reporting library impact
 Tips for aligning research efforts with national initiatives like Edge Benchmarks and the Impact Survey

Participants will walk away from RIPL with tools for evaluation, confidence in building research into their activities, and a network of colleagues for future learning and success.

Participants

RIPL participants work in public libraries and are …

 interested in getting started using data for savvy and strategic planning.
 looking for both inspiration and instruction in a hands-on, participatory environment.
 seeking to learn about outcomes and how to measure library impact.
 committed to leading their organizations in making data-based decisions.
 eager to develop a peer network to support research and evaluation efforts.

Keynotes

George Needham

Vice President for Global and Regional Councils, OCLC

Lee Rainie  

Director, Internet, Science, and Technology, Pew Research Center

Speakers

Carolyn Anthony

Director, Skokie Public Library

Samantha Becker

Principal Research Scientist, University of Washington

Carson Block

Carson Block Consulting

Michael Crandall

Senior Lecturer and Director, University of Washington

Denise Davis

Deputy Library Director, Sacramento Public Library

Dave Hodgins

Data Coordinator and Web Developer, Library Research Service

Linda Hofschire

Research Analyst, Library Research Service

Elizabeth Kelsen Huber

Assistant Director, Colorado Library Consortium

Keith Lance

Consultant, RSL Research Group

Jamie LaRue

LaRue and Associates Consulting

Zeth Lietzau

Director, Collections, Technology, and Strategy, Denver Public Library

Rochelle Logan

Associate Director of Support Services, Douglas County Libraries

Danielle Milam

Development Director, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District

Sharon Morris

Director of Library Development, Colorado State Library

Nicolle Steffen

Director, Library Research Service

Meghan Wanucha

Research Assistant, Library Research Service

Program

The 2015 institute was held July 27-30.
Day 1
27 Jul 2015
Day 2
28 Jul 2015
Day 3
29 Jul 2015
Day 4
30 Jul 2015

Opening Remarks

Nicolle Steffen
Elizabeth Kelsen Huber
Linda Hofschire
Sharon Morris

Dinner & Keynote: What Research Wants

Lee Rainie, Director of Internet, Science, and Technology Research at the Pew Research Center, will describe the latest research of the center into people’s library usage, their book reading habits,...
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Lee Rainie  

Orientation

Elizabeth Kelsen Huber
Linda Hofschire
Sharon Morris

Creating Your Library’s Data Roadmap

Just like a good map, this session will provide a guide to getting to your library’s data destination. The data roadmap is a systematic plan for identifying, collecting, and reporting...
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Zeth Lietzau
Rochelle Logan
Nicolle Steffen
Keith Lance

Assessing Community Needs

Excellent library services are grounded in a deep understanding of community needs. In this session, we will introduce approaches for assessing community needs (as well as community assets, interests, and...
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Danielle Milam
Rebecca Teasdale
Elizabeth Kelsen Huber

Breakout: Know Your Community: Using Demographic Data to Inform Planning

National census data is important to understanding demographic trends at various levels (e.g., national, state, regional, town) for library planning. This session will review Census and ACS data, as well...
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Denise Davis

Breakout: How to Listen to Your Community with Interviews and Focus Groups

Interviews and focus groups provide an opportunity for deeper insight into patron use and community needs for library and technology services, and can be used alone or in concert with...
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Samantha Becker
Michael Crandall

Moving Toward Outcomes

Public libraries generally still report output measures such as circulation, reference requests, program attendance, and door count, most of which are decreasing due to the impact of Google, eBooks, and...
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Carolyn Anthony

Why Are You Doing What You’re Doing? Outcomes-Based Evaluation for Planning and Impact

Evaluation is a process to document the progress of a program, including how and why a program does or doesn’t work. Outcomes-based evaluation helps orient an organization toward achieving results...
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Samantha Becker
Michael Crandall

An Exclusive Evening with EBSCO: Reader, Seeker, Socialite, Informavore: Digital Habits of Public Library Patrons

Join us for dinner and a talk from Deirdre Costello, EBSCO Sr. UX Researcher. EBSCO’s User Research team recently conducted an ethnography-style project focusing on the digital habits of public...
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Survey Design and Administration

Surveys are a fundamental tool in a library’s research and evaluation toolbox. In this session, we will explore the purpose of survey research and its strengths and limitations for library needs. Participants will learn about best practices in survey design and will gain hands-on experience writing and improving survey questions. Participants will also gain tips and tricks for administering surveys online, in person, by phone and by mail.
Rebecca Teasdale
Zeth Lietzau

Breakout: Building with a Purpose: Making Online Survey Tools Work for You

Paper surveys have their place, but online surveys can be the Swiss Army knife in your research toolbox. You can design, administer, collect responses, and analyze your well-crafted survey all with one resource. In this hands-on session, we’ll put your new knowledge of survey design and data analysis to use by practicing with various online survey tools, discussing response management, and working through analysis features. You’ll learn how to construct online surveys, avoid common pitfalls, and use special features of several web-based survey options.
Meghan Wanucha
Zeth Lietzau

Breakout: Zen and the Art of Excel

Excel speaks to our innate need to arrange things in rows and columns. It is a tool that few people can say they’ve completely mastered. Whether you come to Cheyenne Mountain with a basic understanding of formulas and arrangement or you consider yourself an Excel Zen Master, this session will present more in-depth uses of Excel to analyze your data, to make it sing. Program takeaways: -How to get your data (e.g., paper surveys, etc.) into a format that you can analyze in Excel -Develop awareness of standard types of public library data analysis and how to run these analyses in Excel -Excel short cuts you may have missed -How to avoid errors (e.g., broken sorts, print view and those 300 pages coming off the printer, Excel scolding your broken formula)
Rochelle Logan
Linda Hofschire

Breakout: Monster Mash-ups with Library Data

The public library field is a bounty of data—the annual Public Library Survey (IMLS), Impact Survey (UW), Public Library Funding and Technology and Access Study (ALA/UMD), Edge Initiative, and other initiatives routinely collect data about what libraries provide for their communities and how their patrons benefit from their resources and services. Mashed-up with community data from the U.S. Census and other sources, the possibilities for playing with data are endless! Come see how you can mash-up these data to help you better understand your community and identify potential relationships between resources, patron outcomes, and community characteristics that can help you make programmatic decisions.
Samantha Becker
Michael Crandall

Finding Your High Water Mark: Benchmarking to Set a Course for Your Library

Participants in this session will explore the following questions: -What are benchmarks, how are they useful, and what is their value in strategic planning and assessment? -How do I identify my library's peers, and what tools are available to help me identify peers and obtain benchmark data about them? -How do I present benchmark data to library administrators, trustees, and other decision-makers meaningfully?
Rochelle Logan
Keith Lance

Data Use for Strategic Planning, Management, and Communication with Stakeholders

Public libraries collect a lot of data: circulation numbers, program attendance, user satisfaction, etc. But what can you do with all these statistics? In this session, you will learn ways to go beyond simply collecting and reporting statistics to using them as integral components for strategic planning, management, and communicating with high-level stakeholders. Through a series of interactive activities, you will apply data use principles to your case study, hear from our speakers about their data use experiences, best practices, and lessons learned, and consider data use principles in the context of your own library.
Carolyn Anthony
Denise Davis
Carson Block
Danielle Milam
Zeth Lietzau
Rochelle Logan
Jamie LaRue

Sandbox: Playing with Data for $1 Million Results

During this interactive event, you will get to explore various data resources that will enable you to make data-based decisions for your library. Sponsors of this event include: - Counting Opinions - Gale Analytics on Demand - Edge - Impact Survey - PLA Project Outcome
Samantha Becker
Michael Crandall

Data Visualization for the Rest of Us: A Beginner’s Guide

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to present your library statistics in a way that effectively communicates value. In this session, you’ll learn quick and easy tips for...
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Linda Hofschire

Breakout: Unlocking the Mysteries of Web Analytics

Google Analytics (GA) is often used as a tool for merely counting website visits: build a site, place the tracking code, then report the total number of visits once a...
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Dave Hodgins

Breakout: Data Visualization 201: Infographic Design and Data Mapping

Want to dig deeper into data visualization? In this session we will discuss the process for designing infographics and mapping data, share sources of inspiration, and explore several free and/or...
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Meghan Wanucha
Zeth Lietzau
Linda Hofschire

Breakout: Telling the Library Story

Brain research tells us that there are proven techniques to change people’s minds. It begins with story. This session focuses on three approaches to breaking through to people’s minds and...
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Jamie LaRue

Lunch & Closing Keynote: What’s Next?!

This closing session will help participants distill what they’ve learned at RIPL, share those learnings with their colleagues, and formulate a commitment to implement new behaviors when they return to...
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George Needham

Location

Cheyenne Mountain Resort
3225 Broadmoor Valley Rd, Colorado Springs, CO 80906
 
303.866.6900ripl.publib@gmail.com

Leadership Team

Nicolle Steffen:  Director, Library Research Service, Colorado State Library

Linda Hofschire:  Research Analyst, Library Research Service, Colorado State Library

Sharon Morris:  Director, Library Development, Colorado State Library

Elizabeth Kelsen Huber:  Assistant Director, Colorado Library Consortium

Leadership Team and Planning Committee

Sponsors

Many thanks to our generous sponsors for making RIPL 2015 a success!