Significant Assessment Projects

Our assessment work includes both large and small scale projects — some of these are featured in Tiny Studies, our assessment-focused blog. Significant library-wide projects are highlighted here.

2023 library campus survey

In 2023, our library conducted its first-ever survey of all students, faculty, and staff affiliated with the Ann Arbor campus (over 102,000 people). Our aim was to assess the needs of current and potential library users, and to gain a better understanding of how the campus community experiences the library. 

An overview of the survey results is available for the public on our 2023 Campus Survey Results site. We continue to conduct more nuanced analyses that shed light on the experiences of specific groups (such as the accessibility experiences of people with disabilities) and the use of specific spaces and services (like how users experience our newly-remodeled Clark Commons space).

After sharing the survey results, we immediately started to make small changes in our day-to-day work. Over the next 3-5 years, the library is committed to taking what we heard from the campus community and using it to inform decision-making related to our collections, services, and spaces.

Library data privacy practices: patron expectations and preferences 

We have conducted multiple assessments of library users’ awareness of the patron-related data collected by the library, and what users would like us to do — or not do — with their data. 

These types of assessments are important when the library makes decisions about managing data and communicating transparently about its practices. Publications with our findings include:

• Big Data at the Big House: What do University of Michigan Patrons Think about Their Library Data?
• Help or Hazard? Patrons’ Checkout History Retention Choices and Relations to Trust and Campus Role

U-M scholars’ experiences with open-access publishing

The library and campus have put funding and staff time behind making scholarly outputs available to all through open-access publishing. This is a departure from traditional publishing models that put many pieces of research and creative scholarship behind paywalls and other fees. 

Throughout this process, we sought to understand faculty experiences with open access publishing so that we can more effectively support the move away from fee-based access. We've completed two studies exploring this issue and presented findings at the 2024 Library Assessment Conference. Both are available in in this set of slides.

COVID-19 assessment

In April 2020, we surveyed a diverse sample of more than 2,000 U-M students and faculty members about their library-related needs after the COVID-19-related building closures. The feedback we received is summarized in this report.