Articles, books, blogs, and webinars about assessment of technical and public services in both academic and public libraries abound. Getting Started with Evaluation is the latest American Library Association contribution to this mix. The authors of this title have published often in the subject; each has extensive experience in the field of library management, especially in the area of evaluation. All three have taught in library schools at some point in their careers. They acknowledge, however, that most practicing librarians did not take a course in research methods during their studies. This book is intended to provide an introduction to evaluation to those librarians as well as to current students in information management and research methods courses.

The book is logically structured to serve this need. Chapter 1 begins with an overview of the topic of evaluation, complete with definitions and lists, providing vocabulary to enable subsequent examination of the topic. As the authors note early in the text, “Evaluation is the process of identifying and collecting data about specific services or activities, establishing criteria by which their success can be measured, and determining the quality of the service or activity—the degree to which it accomplishes stated goals and objectives” (2). The authors establish this relationship between management and evaluation immediately and continue to reference it throughout the book, using further chapters to explore the evaluation process, library metrics, the audiences for evaluation (both internal and external), specifics about measuring, and how best to communicate results. As each of these topics is explored, the emphasis remains on the integration of evaluation into everyday library management.

The explanation of the process for evaluation includes practical suggestions for how to accomplish each step (e.g. the SPICE model for determining a question to study appears on p. 19). The authors provide a range of actions and suggestions for how to assess a variety of library metrics (surveys, return on investment studies, cost-benefit analyses, etc.), from simple to complex. They include a variety of topics that are on my radar, like ethnographic research and measuring library contributions toward the completion agenda, a pressing issue at community colleges. Readers are urged to adapt these metrics to their own environments. There are many examples of ways to evaluate; both internal sources of data (collected at library and institutional levels) and external sources of data (sets of data available elsewhere for comparison) are described in detail. The authors generally discourage self-reported data in favor of measuring actual behaviors of library users while acknowledging that qualitative measures are required for a complete picture of the user experience. The goal of changing lives through exposure to libraries and library services is repeatedly emphasized throughout these sections of the book.

Boxes, tables, and figures provide concrete examples of the concepts described within each chapter. As the concepts and techniques covered increase in complexity, the authors provide formulas and steps to help reduce anxiety and encourage readers to begin evaluating.

Following the details of how to collect data, readers are counseled on how to use and communicate their findings.

Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. These range from open-ended questions to stimulate discussion, to mathematical challenges, to questions requiring a one-word answer. Official answers to the exercises are provided in an appendix. These exercises would be useful for library and information science faculty and students, of course, but the authors also note their intent that these exercises also be used by library staff. The authors repeatedly state, “We encourage different members of a library staff to work on the exercises together and to discuss the results” (15).

In addition to notes provided at the conclusion of each chapter, there is a list of selected readings (229–32). One text box consists of key writings (106). All three items listed in this box were written by Hernon with another author; two of the three items include another author of this book. There are many self-references included throughout the book, perhaps because it is a collaboration of three authors to provide a synthesis of their independent work. Many years of experience and study are reflected in these lists; both classic titles and newer research are represented.

At the conclusion of the text, readers are reminded of the continuous nature of library evaluation—it is never finished, so we are urged to keep track of results over time for comparison. The authors encourage readers to assess the information they already have and begin formal evaluation of their libraries. The two-part desired outcome is repeated again: an effectively managed library and an effective communication mechanism for all stakeholders in the library. Note that the library staff are the first stakeholders to be won over; then the book provides guidance as to whom to tell, what to say, how to say it (e.g., always include an executive summary of two pages or less), why to say it, and when to say it.

The authors accomplish what they set out to achieve as stated in the preface—they identified “what might library managers do that they are not currently doing” and explained “how do they do those things” (x). Evaluating this book according to the principles contained therein, how well are readers prepared to conduct evaluation in their own libraries by the end of the volume? I, for one, have been prompted to examine my current responsibilities to find ways to incorporate evaluation into my daily work. Hernon, Dugan, and Matthews inspire readers to collect data to inform decision making whenever possible, and Getting Started with Evaluation provides the means to get started right away.