[Baynet] Infopeople's online course "Effective Needs Assessments"

Thu Oct 22 13:51:11 PDT 2009

Since some people who may be interested in participating might not receive
this notice directly, we would appreciate it if you would print and post or
route this announcement to staff and colleagues. Thanks!

Title:  Effective Needs Assessments: Matching Community Needs and Library
Resources  

Format:  Online

Dates:  November 24, 2009 - January 4, 2010

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at

http://infopeople.org/workshop/439 

Fee: Thanks to a special grant from the California State Library, LSTA
funding will completely support this course, so there is no charge to the
California library community. For out-of-state registrations, the fee is $75
for Infopeople partners (please enter your discount code) and $150 for all
others.

Are you planning new or remodeled library facilities? Implementing a new
service? Do you want your current services to be more responsive to
community needs? Are you writing a needs statement for an LSTA grant
application? 

If you want to acquire skills for discovering the needs of individuals and
groups in your library's environment-users, potential users, governing
bodies, volunteers, and staff-then this online course is for you. 

You will learn to develop an overall needs assessment process for your
library, including how to: 

.         Define the purpose 

.         Match appropriate methods with library resources 

.         Collect, analyze, and interpret information 

.         Share results 

As a result of this course, you will be able to choose, customize, and carry
out methods for needs assessment that fit whatever situations arise. 

Course Description: In this online course you will explore and practice
proven techniques for needs assessment. The instructor will provide sample
tools and useful tips that you can apply immediately in your library. You
will read about different methods of needs assessment, hear about best
practices by listening to recorded interviews with California experts, and
complete assignments that will give you experience using the recommended
techniques. Participation in discussion forums and online chat meetings is
also part of the online learning process. 

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet
connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and
complete the following learning modules: 

.         Module 1: Overview of Needs and Needs Assessment as Related to
Library Services 

Definitions of needs and assessment methods 

Reasons a library would use assessments 

Type of groups that make up the library's community 

What information to gather to identify types of needs of community/target
groups 

Matching library services to meet needs 

Differences between needs assessment and accountability assessment 

.         Module 2: Types of Needs Assessment Methods 

Informal 

Observation 

Perceptions 

Library/Government Data 

Formal 

Interviews 

Focus Groups 

Surveys 

.         Module 3: Decision steps in an information gathering process,
using online survey tools and commercial firms 

The seven steps in an overall information gathering process 

Defining the purpose(s) 

Determining what resources are available 

Deciding who will conduct the process 

Deciding what kinds of information should be collected 

Deciding how information will be collected 

Deciding how information will be analyzed and interpreted 

Deciding how the results will be shared 

.         Module 4: How to match appropriate assessment methods with
community needs and library resources, how to summarize and analyze needs
assessment data, strategies for creating winning grant needs statements 

Matching needs assessment methods with community needs and library resources

Tips on summarizing and analyzing needs assessment data 

Creating winning needs statements 

What funding sources want 

Common weaknesses 

Tips for meeting California State Library expectations 

Instructor:  Gail McGovern.  Gail received her B.A. in religion and M.S. in
Library Science from Syracuse University. She worked as a student assistant
at Syracuse University, library trainee at a county law library in Syracuse,
bookmobile librarian, children's librarian and city librarian with the
Timberland Regional Library System (WA). She moved to California in 1973 as
the project director for the Lake County Library Project. From 1974-1995,
she administered grant programs, provided consulting services and conducted
training programs for the Library Development Services Bureau of the
California State Library.  Gail has been a full time independent consultant
since 1996; her title is Planning and Training Wizard. 

Pre-course assignment: You will be asked to complete a pre-course online
survey to indicate your level of interest: either level 1- if you plan to
take the course to gain a basic overview of the topic or level 2 - if you
have a specific needs assessment or grant development project in mind. In
order to earn a certificate of completion at either level, you must complete
all of the weekly assignments. To earn a certificate of completion for level
2, you must develop an information gathering process or grant statement
tailored to your project. If you have a specific project in mind, the
instructor will contact you to set up an individual consultation time prior
to the course start date. 

Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2 to 3 hours
per week. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the
day or night. However, it is recommended that you complete each week's
assignments within that week to stay in sync with other learners. 

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone interested in needs assessment methods,
anyone from the library community who intends to gather needs assessment
data for planning library services or for preparing a need statement for a
grant application. This includes all levels of library staff, as well as
trustees and volunteers. 

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at

http://www.infopeople.org/training/learning_details.html 

Course Start: This online learning course starts on November 24, 2009.
Because several holidays fall within what would normally be a four-week
course, the end date has been extended to January 4 to allow sufficient time
to finish the four modules.

If you would like to subscribe via RSS and be notified whenever new
Infopeople training events are available, you can use these links:

**For new on-ground or online workshops: http://infopeople.org/workshop/rss

**For new podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InfopeoplePodcasts

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information
about Infopeople Training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople Workshops
page at http://infopeople.org/workshop   

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please
contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at
assist at infopeople.org  or by phone at 650-578-9685.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.exo.net/pipermail/baynet/attachments/20091022/32f82178/attachment.html