Purpose & Goals

The UC San Diego Library is committed to continuous improvements in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) throughout our services and within our team. Our approach involves motivating all staff members to actively contribute to advancing EDI. To achieve this, we established a multi-pronged learning program for all Library employees with additional EDI-informed leadership training for managers and supervisors. Following the training, we aimed to evaluate how our staff implemented what they learned in their work roles and the delivery of Library services. This feedback is vital for pinpointing EDI strategies that the Library could adopt broadly and identifying ways to support every employee to contribute effectively to EDI. Rather than solely evaluating the recall of learning, the relevance of the training, and satisfaction with the programs, we prioritized examining the training's real-world applications. Our evaluation process can provide practical insights that the Library Administration can use to improve our strategic operations and planning for EDI. This structured approach – incorporating training, evaluation, and strategic enhancement – encourages full employee engagement and feedback on EDI advancements within the Library.

Design & Methodology

We adopted the CDC's "Recommended Training Effectiveness Questions for Postcourse Evaluations" to assess how well employees have applied their EDI training. This evidence-based survey instrument, built on adult learning research, helps us look at the training from different perspectives, such as changes in learning, the training's relevance, intentions to use the learning at work, barriers and facilitators to applying the knowledge, and the overall strengths and weaknesses of the training. We developed a logic model to connect the feedback from this survey to practical use for our Library’s EDI strategy. This model ensures the evaluation has clear goals and that completing the survey is meaningful. By tying feedback directly to our strategic planning, we make sure that the insights we collect can lead to tangible changes. This logic model method lets us carefully review the survey data, concentrate on what matters most to our goals, and pinpoint practical insights that will help improve our strategic EDI planning and development.

Findings

We conducted a pilot survey on one of our EDI training programs using the survey instrument, receiving feedback from 25 employees, and identified five main achievements in this evaluation. Firstly, the survey demonstrated an ability to gather various perspectives effectively. Secondly, it acted as a reflective tool, allowing participants to reflect on their learning and how they could contribute to EDI improvements within the Library. Thirdly, incorporating a checklist of predefined barriers and facilitators into the survey promoted open and candid feedback among respondents. Fourthly, analysis of the input from the pilot survey uncovered a range of thematic areas relevant to our EDI strategy. These themes include bias mitigation, enhancing communication, advocacy, fostering collaboration, and promoting professional development in EDI. Finally, the insights gained from the analysis confirmed the effectiveness of our logic model in using the survey feedback to shape our EDI strategy. We anticipate completing the surveys by early Fall of 2024, enabling us to present more comprehensive findings.

Action & Impact

Building on the success of the pilot survey, we have extended the survey across all our training programs. Once the entire survey evaluation program is complete, we will use these results to confirm the efficacy of educational strategies for EDI enhancement, collect the needs for continuous support and professional development by staff, identify achievements and successful practices across the organization for broad implementation, pinpoint future learning requirements, identify and address any disparities in EDI contributions among Library staff, and determine the administrative support needs of our employees.

Practical Implications & Value

We highlight the importance of a sequential approach in our EDI initiatives that begins with targeted training, progresses to evaluating the application of these concepts in work practices, and uses the feedback obtained to refine our Library's EDI strategy. This structured progression, from training to assessment to strategic enhancement, is designed to foster full participation and generate meaningful feedback on EDI improvements within the Library. Incorporating a logic model that maps out how feedback themes can directly inform strategic actions enables Library administration to undertake focused and effective planning. This model ensures the relevance of our surveys and that the insights gathered lead to actionable strategies for EDI advancement. Our use of the CDC's "Recommended Training Effectiveness Questions for Postcourse Evaluations" has proven invaluable for assessing the practical application of EDI training. This tool's emphasis on real-world applications offers critical insights that can inform our Library's strategic and administrative decisions. Overall, evaluating the real-life application of EDI training emerges as a valuable component in guiding libraries toward more effective EDI strategies and operational improvements.