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Standards and Best Practices for Florida Academic Libraries

ACRL Standards and Structure

Libraries are encouraged to use the following outcomes-based method to adopt the Standards:

  1. align with the principles;
  2. identify and select performance indicators that are congruent with their institution’s mission and contribute to institutional effectiveness;
  3. add performance indicators that apply to the specific library (for example, open access initiatives for research libraries, or workforce development support for community colleges);
  4. develop user-centered, measurable outcomes that articulate specifically what the user is able to do as an outcome of the performance indicator;
  5. conduct assessments that may be quantitative, qualitative, or both;
  6. collect data from assessments that demonstrate degree of success; and
  7. use assessment data for continuous improvement of library operations.

Association of Research Libraries. (February 2018.) Standards for libraries in higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries 

ACRL Standards

The core of the Standards is the section titled “Principles and Performance Indicators.” The nine principles and their related performance indicators are intended to be expectations—standards— that apply to all types of academic libraries. Nonetheless, each library must respond to its unique user population and institutional environment.
- ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education

Evidence based model graphic

Outcomes based assessment graphic

Association of Research Libraries. (February 2018.) Standards for libraries in higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries