Transformation – Page 3

September 3, 2019

Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment Committee – April–August 2019 Report

The group met 2-3 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Spring 2019 Virtual Meeting: Updates on all work relevant to committee activities (Project Outcome – new health survey added, discussed results of University of Michigan study of existing PO data, ACRL's launch of Project Outcome for academic libraries; PLDS – how the pause for 2019 will be communicated to the field as well as overview of all-day meeting at Annual to discuss changes to the PLDS; Impact Survey – PLA will now manage this initiative).
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence, Transformation

Second Activity
2019 ALA Annual Committee Meeting:

Discussed the following Project Outcome topics:

1) How to bring more libraries on and how to support the 10% of US public libraries already using the tool. Suggestions included an in-person presentation for COSLA, and targeted outreach to certain types of libraries that are less likely to be using PO, such as large city libraries.

2) Requests from public libraries to use some of the academic Project Outcome survey topics – in particular, space, and digital & special collections. At this time, the committee decided not to add these topics to PO for public libraries because some members thought that it was inappropriate to be measuring outcomes for space, and that if we tackle collections on the public side, we need to think more broadly than just digital & special collections.

3) Accessibility issues: PO users have reported that some patrons have trouble understanding/completing the surveys. The committee discussed simplifying the question language and response scales. PPO will be using PO surveys for their American Dream program, and we will get feedback from them regarding respondents' survey experiences.

We also received an update from Counting Opinions about the 2018 PLDS data collection. At the time of the meeting, the survey was still open, and the response rate was on track with past years.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence

Third Activity
MEAC members met for a special, full-day meeting during Annual to discuss the future of the PLDS. An external facilitator – GMMB – planned and led the meeting. Committee members discussed topics including the purpose of PLA data collection, future trends that may impact public libraries (facilitated by Miguel Figueroa – ALA's Center for the Future of Libraries), various target audiences' data needs and challenges, what types of data and data tools public libraries need, and how to engage the field in discussions about the future of the PLDS.

Based on these discussions, the committee has developed an agenda for a series of town halls that will be conducted during the fall to engage the broader public library community in discussions about the future of the PLDS.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Leadership, Organizational Excellence

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
A primary focus will be the re-envisioning of the PLDS. The committee will conduct a series of in-person and virtual town halls to engage the field in discussions about this topic, and will work with PLA staff to develop a new data collection instrument/platform for public libraries.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Not at this time.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
ACRL Project Outcome, Committee on Research and Statistics

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No – thank you for your support.

Submitted by Linda Hofschire on 09/03/2019

August 30, 2019

PLA 2020 Conference Program Subcommittee – April–August 2019 Report

The group met 1 time this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Individual subcommittee members independently reviewed 588 program proposals for the 2020 PLA Annual Conference in May 2019. This was a record-setting total, and in order to have each proposal reviewed three distinct times, it required each member to evaluate approximately 150 proposals according a 5-point rubric system.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

Second Activity
Met at ALA Annual conference in Washington, D.C. to determine which session topics to advance to the final slate of conference offerings for the PLA Annual Conference in 2020. We deliberated for 6 hours and were able to identify 107 of our 120 program and preconference slots.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

Third Activity
The chair served as a panelist, representing the PLA Conference Program Subcommittee, at an ALA Annual program and spoke about ways to create a standout national-level program proposal.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Leadership

Fourth Activity
Met virtually to debate approximately 15 remaining slots with special attention focused on filling in gaps in various programming categories, forecasting emerging trends or topics of interest in 2020, and advancing those speakers or issues that have been historically marginalized.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
The PLA Conference Program Subcommittee introduced two new initiatives with this year's program proposal form: asking the applicant if they want to receive coaching (if accepted) or feedback on their proposal (if rejected). 57% of the accepted speakers requested coaching or mentoring from an experienced presenter. 91% of rejected sessions requested feedback on their proposal. The subcommittee members, along with the PLA staff, have to develop an efficient and effective method to deliver the requested follow-up.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Not at this time.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
While we have worked closely EDISJ, I do not anticipate additional collaborations at this time.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
Yes (if yes, PLA will contact you for more information)

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No, the support the PLA staff did offer was tremendous.

Submitted by Juliane Morian on 08/30/2019

August 22, 2019

Digital Literacy Committee – April–August 2019 Report

The group met 4-6 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Created a draft technology proficiencies checklist/resource list.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Transformation

Second Activity
Published an article " 5 Tips for Teaching Tech to Seniors" in PLA's online magazine.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

Third Activity
Presented a News You Can Use session at ALA Annual 2019 entitled "The Digital Literacy Frontier: From Broadband Access to Skill Development."
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership, Transformation

Fourth Activity
Presented a program at ALA Annual 2019 in partnership with LITA entitled "Creating Tech Partnerships for Libraries Small to Large."
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership, Transformation

Fifth Activity
Implemented a partnership with Microsoft entitled "DigitalLead: Rural Libraries Creating New Possibilities."
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence, Transformation

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Rolling out the technology proficiencies checklist and creating an assessment tool to support it; expanding user resources for the DigitalLead partnership program; developing several educational opportunities that include a webinar, a program for the 2019 ARSL conference, a program for the Computers in Libraries 2020 conference; holding a focus group of small and rural librarians' development needs at the 2019 ARSL conference; creating user pathways for the DigitalLearn website based on role; creating a plan to keep the 85+ classes on the DigitalLearn website updated; on-boarding six new committee members.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
We have been discussing the idea of a paid internship to help us keep the DigitalLearn classes updated but still need to work out some details. We hope to have something ready for consideration by to the Board for their March 2020 meeting.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Not at this time.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
LITA. Perhaps some of their members would be willing to work with us to create an evaluation tool that libraries could use to assess technology proficiencies of their staff.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
Yes (if yes, PLA will contact you for more information)

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
Not at this time.

Submitted by Monica Dombrowski on 08/22/2019