Community-Led Evaluation Vancouver Public Library CLA 2012

Working Together Project National demonstration project Funded by HRSDC Four libraries: o Vancouver Public Library o Regina Public Library o Toronto Public Library o Halifax Public Libraries Develop community engagement strategies and approaches in a public library context Working with socially excluded and underserved communities Toolkit available

Standard Evaluation Staff initiate and review various quantitative and qualitative inputs such as: Statistics o Attendance o Collection use o New cards issued Feedback forms Surveys

Community-Led Evaluation Staff and community members may use and review traditional inputs Staff and community members also consider: How does the community define success? How did the process work? Did the service, program, policy address their need(s)? What still needs to be done? What could have been done differently Any other questions staff and community members consider important

Community-Led Evaluation at VPL First Nations Storyteller in Residence project Broadway Youth Resource Centre Aboriginal Collection Evaluation Community-Led Selections Plan Teen Services Plan

Community-Led Evaluation at VPL Ongoing and iterative process Can be formal or informal So far, ours tends to be informal: o Listen, ask lots of questions o Develop program or service collaboratively o Deliver program or service o Ask lots of questions about the experience o Listen o Adjust or change the program o Continue!

First Nations Storyteller in Residence Initially the program was not developed in consultation with the community Taken on by team that determined it needed to be community-led Initial program plan included standard evaluation methods, some of which were problematic Shifted to collaborative development of evaluation methods by working with the Storytellers Final program evaluation and recommendations for further programming led by Storytellers

Aboriginal Collections Evaluation In development Collaborative evaluation of collections Integration into collection development guidelines for Aboriginal collections

Outcomes-based Evaluation at VPL Development of an evaluation framework built on logic models and research plans Logic models include: o Goals o Inputs o Outputs o Outcomes Evaluate impact Include community-led evaluation

Community-Led Selections Plan In development Outputs Outcomes 1.Library collection development decisions are developed collaboratively with or directly influenced by community participation 2.Library staff members are aware of and actively use community-led and/or community engagement strategies for collection development

Teen Services Plan In development Outputs Outcomes 1.Teens across Vancouver have opportunities to engage with the library through teen-determined library activities at their neighbourhood branches 2.Teens across Vancouver believe that VPL sees them as valuable and equal community members and that VPL takes their needs seriously 3.Teens who have not traditionally engaged with the library see the library as relevant and responsive to their needs 4.There are opportunities across the system for teens to engage with other teens in the library context

Community-Led Evaluation at VPL Ongoing and iterative Challenging Can be time consuming Ambiguous Varying levels of interest in the community