Purpose & Goals

The goal of this paper is to capture the challenges and the fun – philosophical and pragmatic - that were caused by the pandemic (COVID-19) disruption in research and assessment projects libraries and the author engaged with during COVID-19. The pandemic accelerated a number of trends and influenced how we do our work and accelerated the transformation taking place in libraries and what our library users want from libraries. Trends such as more reliance on electronic resources, gaping questions on the value of the physical infrastructure (physical spaces and artifacts including books) and trends affecting their utilization are still with us. Disruption changed the way we assess and adjust our research methods and this paper captures this unique moment in the history of libraries and library assessment using a reflecting storytelling approach and examples of specific projects the author engaged with before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design & Methodology

Using auto reflective storytelling, the author describes a variety of efforts ranging from space planning projects to financial analysis to inhouse and virtual surveys to state wide evaluations. We will describe how we engaged in understanding user expectations in relation to the needs for a renovation and establishment of a student success centers (physical infrastructure, in relation to new buildings and renovations, and how this work took place as travel was restricted. We will also discuss how we supported Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) evaluations, as well as sponsored research support projects in research libraries, and projects that seek to transform library operations and strategies. Using a reflective storytelling approach, the purpose of this paper is to reflect on the audience, the intentionality of the project, and the positionality of the evaluator and/or researcher.

Findings

Managing expectations and adjusting expectations was a constant during the pandemic. While some projects could be extended regarding timelines, and utilize more remote methods, other projects were more rigid in needing to meet national level deadlines that had zero flexibility regarding timelines and target completion dates. In this paper we capture these nuances and highlight the urgency of the audience, the consumer of the end result of the consulting projects, evaluations, reports, and findings. We also focus on the intentions of the different projects and how these intentions shift under different conditions. For example, we discuss how LSTA evaluations were conducted before and after the pandemic; how indirect cost studies were also disrupted and restarted; how space planning took place utilizing remote design thinking approaches; and how strategies are transformative under different conditions and for different purposes possibly than originally initiated for. How responsive can our research and evaluation methods need to be during times of crisis and what can we do to continue to build interest and engagement with positive library outcomes, adjust activities that are not as impactful, and build stronger library organizations? A third group of findings will highlight the positionality of the evaluator and how their own conception of disruption or normalcy affects ways we approach projects. In that respect, the paper will follow an autoethnographic reflective approach and will discuss the author’s perception of the various projects and lessons learned, opportunities realized and opportunities missed, and articulate what are healthy, realistic, and resilient personal outcomes through these experiences.

Action & Impact

We are showcasing the choices we made in project implementations over the last few years and the lack of choice given external pressures in certain instances. The impact of this paper is the recognition that we lived through a 21st century global disaster and we are still in recovery mode.This paper articulates the attitudes, thoughts, and actions that are positive during times of disruption and consider how we can augment the impact of such positive attitudes, thoughts, and actions even in the depths of a global disaster so we can be more resilient and build organizations that also demonstrate resilience and sustainability.

Practical Implications & Value

This paper helps us in a very practical way improve our storytelling about library achievements, benchmarking, and transformations. It is an attempt to center the communities and libraries themselves, as well as the people’s achievements and transformations enacted through and enabled by libraries. Overall, it reminds us that keeping in mind the audience, the intentionality of the evaluation/research project, and the positionality of the evaluator when designing user feedback methods is important and it can result in finding fun and engaging ways of exploring, understanding, sharing, and co-creating.