The group met 2-3 times this reporting period.
After reviewing the current PLA Strategic Plan, please tell us:
Describe the current work of this committee and how it supports our strategic goals. Include work accomplished, decisions made, and any recommended follow-up actions.
The committee continues to provide feedback to support the annual development of Benchmark, including recommending improvements to the Benchmark product and providing feedback to PLA staff throughout the development process. The committee specifically made recommendations and approved changes to improve the functionality of the pages for the end users by rearranging the visuals. We also contribute to PLA efforts to increase adoption of Benchmark and subscriber retention, including collecting Benchmark presentation material for use by MEAAG members at local and regional meetings.
The committee assists PLA staff with the development, testing, and reporting of new annual topical surveys administered via Benchmark. The committee has begun work for the next annual survey, Technology Survey, scheduled for the fall 2026.
MEAAG members continue to work to preserve the important outcome-based resources on outcome surveys and data on the PLA website with the end of Project Outcome.
MEAAG and EDISJ presented a session at the PLA 2026 Conference, called “Outcomes and Benchmark For the Rest of Us” on Thursday, April 2, 2026 that combined EDISJ objectives and outcome based program surveys that garnered approximately 50 attendees. Many people had questions about how to implement these surveys at their own libraries.
The committee also hosted a Member Lounge session at the PLA conference, which attracted approximately 30 attendees.
The Case Studies subcommittee is continuing to pilot and refine a new process for soliciting and reviewing case studies that support the use of PLA’s data tools. Derived from the model used by ACRL, the new process includes revised case study guidelines, a submission form, and individual roles for committee members in the review process to make the work more streamlined.
Do you see opportunities to better align committee work with those goals?
MEAAG members continue to pursue these growth areas in the 2025-2026 committee year:
EDISJ – Data is a necessary component to advancing EDISJ in the profession. Through PLA's data tools, we help those in the profession better understand our communities (an essential step in making our spaces more inclusive), learn from other communities' successes, and measure our impact. In addition, applying an EDISJ lens to MEAAG’s work will help ensure that data is gathered responsibly, and that necessary context is provided when we present and share data.
Professional Growth – MEAAG strives to increase the field’s understanding of data-informed practices, provide unique and valuable data to professionals, and increase the network of data-focused library professionals to provide support and growth to those innovating in the field. We will continue to encourage members to seek opportunities to contribute to supporting professional learning and development related to library data and evaluation.
Advocacy and Awareness – PLA’s Benchmark data platform provides considerable value to the profession, in helping us tell the story of how public libraries benefit communities. MEAAG members are very invested in the success of this tool, and we are exploring ways we can increase awareness about the data, tools, and resources available to support library staff and leaders in communicating the true impact and value of libraries to stakeholders.
Transformation – MEAAG members represent a good cross-section of the field, with representation from public libraries, state library agencies, and support organizations from locations across the country. MEAAG will continue to draw from these perspectives to identify emerging needs in the field. Working with the PLA data products, MEAAG members will contribute to identification of trends and development of resources to support responsiveness to community needs.
Organizational Excellence – MEAAG members participate in continuous improvement of PLA’s Benchmark data product with a focus on increasing value for subscribers and are working to develop accessible resources to support adoption of Benchmark.
What recommendations do you have for in-coming committee members? Are there particular streams of
work in progress to be carried over into the new committee year? (January–June reporting period only)
For greater efficiency, the four subcommittees have been combined to form two subcommittees.
The Benchmark and Topical Surveys subcommittee will gear up to promote the 2026 Technology Survey in the fall and present the findings from the 2025 Services Survey and will advise PLA staff about potential improvements to the Benchmark platform and assist with webinars and conference presentations to provide professional development to the field (Supports Transformation, Organizational Excellence, EDISJ, Advocacy and Awareness)
The Case Studies and Outcome Measurement subcommittee will continue refining its approach to soliciting and reviewing case studies about data-informed practices using Benchmark and outcomes assessment and maintain outcome measurement resources on the PLA webpage. (Supports Organizational Excellence, Professional Growth, Transformation)
What specific activities will this committee undertake over the next six months to support that alignment? (July–December reporting period only)
Are there other PLA or ALA committees whose partnership and collaboration would accelerate meeting PLA strategic goals?
We are actively investigating opportunities to partner with other ALA divisions in support of professional development on collecting, evaluating, and reporting data – and doing so in an equity-informed way – including continued work with the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Committee. Continued learning support for outcomes assessment is a key to success in ongoing grant-funded digital equity projects. The Digital Literacy Committee is increasingly addressing the increase in interest in and visibility of digital equity as a result of landmark federal legislation that provided funding to support these efforts. MEAAG believes that PLA data products can help stakeholders make strong decisions about how to best use those resources.
Is there anything else about your committee experience you’d like to share?
Sara Goek and Katina Jones continue to be a great support for our advisory group and are fabulous to work with. Committee member capacity continues to be affected by the current unsettled environment in libraries. We appreciate the opportunity to continue supporting data-driven librarianship and look forward to sharing results with the field from the 2025 Service Survey and gearing up for the 2026 Technology Survey.
Submitted by Kim DeNero-Ackroyd, Laurie Covington on 06/10/2026