A consideration of power structures (and the tensions they create) in library assessment activities Ebony Magnus (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), Maggie Faber (University of Washington), Jackie Belanger (University of Washington) 2018 Library Assessment Conference Houston TX

How do our own identities, institutional positions, and perspectives shape our work? What is the purpose of the assessment, who decides what to assess, and who benefits from the work? Are we doing our work in ways that enable power sharing and engagement with user communities at all stages of the assessment cycle?

How do values (beliefs and codes of behaviour that guide actions and decisions) relate to assessment? Some librarians argue that the mission, vision, and values of a university must inform library planning and assessment but do not address how values of the library or librarianship fit into that process, and what happens if (when) there is disagreement. -Doucette 2017, 292-3

Our very expectations and assumptions about the practical character and value of our field subtly police the work we end up doing and supporting, the kind of questions we ask and conversations we have, our sense of what useful and appropriate conferences, publications, and research look like, and indeed our sense, more generally, of what useful and appropriate political interventions look like from the standpoint of our profession. -Hudson 2017, 205

What is considered “evidence” and who decides? What are the histories and contexts of the methods we choose, and how do these shape our work? Do these methods risk alienating or silencing voices? Whose voices are privileged in our recruitment practices? How do we avoiding essentializing communities at the margins? Are we engaging in data analysis and interpretation as a collaborative and social practice? How are the most vulnerable on our campuses being served by our assessment practice?