Conceptual papers are designed to broaden conversations about assessment in libraries or their contexts. Conceptual or “big ideas” papers can represent thought-pieces on a particular issue, topic, or question. They can represent works of synthesis that identify and discuss themes across literature, or trends in the areas of assessment, user experience, strategic planning, or organizational performance measurement. Conceptual papers can also take the form of questions designed to challenge and promote discussion of new ways of understanding library assessment.

Stand alone literature reviews will not be accepted, but literature review content may serve to illustrate points or interrogate practices within a larger framework.

These papers do not need to have original data (in the form of original qualitative or quantitative data) in the same way as completed projects papers, but they should be driven by clear questions. 

Final papers will be due in advance of the conference and are expected to be 3,000–5,000 words in length for the conference proceedings. More detail will be provided to presenters after proposals have been accepted.

Presentation Time:
20 minutes for presentation, followed by 5 minutes for Q&A maximum (25 minutes total per paper)

Proposal Elements: 

• Title
• Presenters (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations). Limit of 2 co-presenters, including the submitter.
• Description, including all of these elements:
  • Purpose & Goals: What question or issue does the paper address?
  • Design & Methodology: What materials, traditions, methods, data, and/or literature are employed to explore the question?
  • Conclusions: What conclusions have you drawn? What additional questions would you pose as a result of this work?
  • Implications & Value: How do you envision the community engaging with this work? How does this contribute to the overall body of work in library assessment or related areas?
• Topics/keywords

Evaluation Criteria:

• Topic is relevant to attendee interests in library assessment, user experience, user research, organizational performance management/metrics, and/or strategic planning.
• Importance, uniqueness, or utility of the issue(s) or question(s) addressed.
• Potential of content to contribute to the overall body of work in library assessment or related areas.
• Proposal is sufficiently clear and detailed to assess proposal merit.

Posters may convey information about either works-in-progress or completed projects featuring assessment or research. Projects should be beyond the starting research questions stage, but may be at various stages beyond that, including pre-testing of methods, gathering data, having preliminary results, completing results and analysis, formulation of conclusions, and decision-making or action-taking based upon results and conclusions. Posters may include case study-type projects focused on single or multiple institutions or original research projects.

Poster presentations will be displayed during an in-person reception.

Sample templates and size dimensions will be provided after the poster submission/acceptance process is completed.

Proposal Elements:

• Title
• Presenters (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations). Limit of 2 co-presenters, including the submitter.
• Description, including all these elements:
  • Purpose & Goals: What question or issue does the poster address?
  • Design & Methodology: What materials, traditions, methods, data, and/or literature are employed to explore the question?
  • Findings (if applicable): What are your findings? What conclusions have you drawn? (If not applicable, indicate N/A)
  • Action & Impact (if applicable): How have you acted on (or how do you plan to act on) your findings and conclusions? (If not applicable, indicate N/A)
  • Practical Implications & Value: How do you envision the community acting on this work? How does this contribute to the overall body of work in library assessment or related areas?
• At the time of the conference do you anticipate your project will be a 1) work-in-progress (somewhere between stating research questions and having tentative results) or 2) a completed project (having results, data analysis, findings, and conclusions in hand)?
• 3 Questions you will use to engage poster session attendees
• Topics/keywords

Evaluation Criteria:

• Topic is relevant to attendee interests in library assessment, user experience, user research, organizational performance management/metrics, and/or strategic planning.
• Project progress is beyond the research question stage. Detail in description of question, methods, results, analysis, and conclusions to indicate stage of project completion.
• Importance, uniqueness, or utility of the issue, question, or method(s).
• Potential for influence on future community action.
• Potential of content to contribute to the overall body of work in library assessment or related areas.
• Proposal is sufficiently clear and detailed to assess proposal merit.

*Please note that students are welcome to submit in any category*

Student posters may convey information about a topic of interest to the library assessment community, works-in-progress, or completed projects featuring assessment.

• Student status of lead author is required (students may be graduated by the time they present in November). Work from undergraduates or graduate students at any level is welcome.
• This poster track is designed to provide a dedicated opportunity for students to share their work. However, students are not limited to this track and are invited to submit a proposal in any conference category.
• Student posters can represent any aspect of work in library assessment or related areas (e.g., user experience). These can be independent student projects, or projects where the student has made significant contributions (e.g., as a research assistant on a project, part of a project team).
• Poster presentations will be displayed during an in-person reception. Presenters are required to attend in person to discuss their poster and respond to questions.
• Sample templates and size dimensions will be provided after the poster submission/acceptance process is completed.

Proposal Elements:

• Title
• Presenters (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations). Limit of 2 co-presenters, including the submitter.
• Description, including all these elements:
  • Interest/Motivation: Why is this topic motivating to you?
  • Purpose & Goals: What question or issue does the poster address?
  • Design & Methodology: What work have you undertaken to address the research question or project goals?
  • Findings (if applicable): What are your findings? What conclusions have you drawn? (If not applicable, indicate N/A)
  • Practical Implications & Value: What do you hope attendees will gain from viewing your poster?
• 3 Questions you will use to engage poster session attendees
• Topics/keywords

Evaluation Criteria:

• Topic is relevant to attendee interests in library assessment, user experience, user research, organizational performance management/metrics, and/or strategic planning.
• Poster topic and questions will be engaging to attendees.
• Proposal is sufficiently clear and detailed to assess proposal merit.

Learning Labs are short hands-on sessions teaching practical knowledge on an assessment topic. These interactive sessions may share innovative strategies or approaches related to library assessment; orient other library professionals to new perspectives to consider in their practice; or update colleagues’ knowledge to meet current needs.

Session Length: 2 hours

Attendance: No registration, first come first serve (only set for amount of seats allowed),  capped at max. 50 participants

Proposal Elements:

• Title
• Presenters (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations). Limit of 3 co-presenters, including the submitter.
• Explanation of ways the presenters are a good match for this topic, including teaching or presentation experience, experience designing or delivering interactive workshops or instructional sessions
• Learning outcomes
• Detailed outline of workshop presentation, including participant engagement and hands-on activities
• Description of technical and material requirements for participants

Evaluation Criteria:

• Topic is relevant to attendee interests in library assessment, user experience, user research, organizational performance management/metrics, and/or strategic planning.
• Presenters provide evidence of demonstrated content and facilitation/instructional expertise/experience.
• Topic is scoped for hands-on engagement with the 2-hour time limit.
• Proposal is sufficiently clear and detailed to assess proposal merit.

Common Read discussions are facilitated, audience-engaging conversations organized around one publication (e.g., article, book, white paper) of any length.

• 1–3 discussion leaders 
• 50-minutes
• We expect between 20–50 participants, maximum of 50 participants

Proposal Elements:

• Title for Discussion
• Citation of publication (APA format and link to citation or full abstract/text, if available)
• Discussion leader(s) (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations). Limit of 2 discussion leaders, including the submitter.
• Explanation of why the  discussion leaders are a good match for this topic and format, including facilitation experience
• Learning outcomes
• Relevance to the assessment community 
• Detailed outline of discussion plan, including warm-ups, activities for participant engagement, and closure
• Key topics and 5–7 questions for audience engagement

Evaluation Criteria:

• Topic is relevant to attendee interests in library assessment, user experience, user research, organizational performance management/metrics, and/or strategic planning.
• Presenters provide evidence of facilitation expertise/experience and content knowledge. 
• Discussion plan is scoped for attendee engagement within the 50-minute time limit.
• Proposal is sufficiently clear and detailed to assess proposal merit.

Perspectives Panels are designed to represent various perspectives or experiences on a topic of interest to the library assessment community. Panels are a structured, discussion-based format that creates an opportunity for panelists with diverse views on a question or topic to engage in dialogue with each other and attendees. Panels should actively engage attendees and have elements of audience-panelist engagement beyond Q&A at the end of the session. Multi-author project presentations will not be accepted.

• 1–2 moderators and 4–6 panelists required
• Panelists and moderator(s) must be named

Session Length: 50 minutes, maximum.

Proposal Elements:

• Title
• Moderator (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations). Limit of 2 co-moderators, including the submitter.
• Explanation of why the moderator is a good match for this topic, presentation style, and audience
• Description of the moderator role
• Panelists (Names, Title, Contact Information, and Affiliations)
• Explanation of presentation style, audience, and why the panelists are a good match for this topic, including a description of the unique and diverse perspectives each panelist brings
• Learning outcomes
• Key topics and 5–7 questions for panelist engagement
• Plan for attendee engagement

Evaluation Criteria:

• Topic is relevant to attendee interests in library assessment, user experience, user research, organizational performance management/metrics, and/or strategic planning.
• Panelists provide evidence of content knowledge and ability to communicate effectively.
• Moderator provides description of experience in designing and moderating engaging and interactive panel presentations.
• Plan allows for sufficient attendee engagement.
• Proposal is sufficiently clear and detailed to assess proposal merit.