AUK Hosts an AMICAL Workshop on Library Assessment

AUK hosted a two-day workshop under the title "Assessing and Communicating Library Contributions to Institutional Priorities" in January. The workshop was prepared by the American International Consortium of Academic Libraries (AMICAL), whose aim was to offer workable methods for effective, practical and sustainable assessment of libraries and to build and nurture a community of assessment within the consortium. The workshop, which was open to directors of libraries in AMICAL member institutions, was planned by the Institutional Research and Assessment committee at AMICAL and funded through the consortium's 2015-2018 grant from the Mellon Foundation.

 Dr. Tim Sullivan, President of the American University of Kuwait, welcomed the speakers and the participating directors. "Libraries in the world of growing technologies will continue to grow rather than shrink; they are more important than less important," he said. "The learning and teaching that goes on in any institution is more than what happens in the classrooms, it's what happens in the halls, in conversations and in other things. Modern libraries support that in so many different ways –in so smooth and efficient way that many people around them are unaware of what they do," he added.

 The workshop sessions were conducted by Dr. Kara Malenfant, Senior Strategist for Special Initiatives at the Association of College and Research Libraries, and Dr. Karen Brown, Professor at Dominican University (River Forest, Illinois), Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

 Participants shared challenges they faced and discussed opportunities for assessing libraries' impacts and contributions within the context of their institutions. They also developed strategies on how to communicate the values of libraries to stakeholders.

 Ms. Asma Al-Kanan, AUK Library Director and Chair of the IR & Assessment Committee at AMICAL, explained that the theme of the workshop was inspired by the Value of Academic Libraries initiative from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). "Our goal was to help libraries implement assessment plans that demonstrate their worth and value to their institutional and community stakeholders in a compelling way, with a focus on student experience and engagement," she said.

 The AMICAL Consortium's mission is to advance learning, teaching and research through the collaborative development of library and information services and curricular resources at member institutions.