NY 3Rs Association, Inc. Practical Library Assessment: A Face-to-Face Discussion

Our Data Isn't Doing Us Justice! A Provocative Conversation on Meaningful Assessment in Libraries with James P. Honan

Libraries gather data. Lots of data. Some of it is at the request of agencies and accrediting bodies; other sets may be collected to assess programs and services or to demonstrate value and impact to stakeholders. Does the data we collect truly demonstrate value and impact? What is impact? Is there an "ideal" data set, story, or message to achieve impact? Does your story make sense to others? Have you developed a compelling message from data to share with others? These are some of the aspects that will be broached and discussed in the provocative assessment conversation. Potential outcomes of the program may be the creation of a data/story sets repository for different audiences and a whitepaper.

Agenda

10:00 - 10:30 Registration & Refreshments

10:30 Welcome & Speaker Introduction

10:35 - 12:00 A Facilitated, Provocative Discussion with Dr. Honan

12:00 - 12:45 Lunch (included)

12:45 - 2:00 Collaborative Assessment Initiatives in New York State (value/mission/strategy, then assessment/metrics)

2:00 - 2:30 Next Steps

2:30 An Innovation Tour of the Award-Winning Fayetteville Free Library (please indicate if you'll be staying for the tour when you register)

James P. Honan has served on the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) since 1991. He is also a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), an affiliate faculty member with the Hauser Institute for Civil Society at the Center for Public Leadership at HKS, and Co-Chair and Senior Associate Director of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. He is Educational Co-Chair of the Institute for Educational Management (IEM) and Faculty Chair of Leading Education Systems at the National Level (LESN) at HGSE and of Nonprofit Financial Stewardship (NFS) at HKS, two fully online executive education programs. He has also been a faculty member in a number of Harvard's other executive education programs and professional development institutes for educational leaders and non-profit administrators, including the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents, the Management Development Program, the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute, Crisis Leadership in Higher Education (Faculty Co-Chair), the Principals' Center, and the Harvard Institute for School Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Governing for Non-Profit Excellence, Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management, NAACP Board Retreat, and Habitat for Humanity Leadership Conference (Faculty Section Chair) at the Harvard Business School (HBS); and Strategic Management for Charter School Leaders, Achieving Excellence in Community Development, American Red Cross Partners in Organizational Leadership Program and US/Japan Workshops on Accountability and International NGOs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has served as Faculty Co-Chair of the Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations program, an institute developed by the Initiative on Social Enterprise at HBS and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University and served as Educational Chair of HGSE's Management Development Program from 1995 to 1998. He has also taught in executive education programs and professional development institutes in Aruba, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Guatemala, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Thailand, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. He has served as a consultant on strategic planning, resource allocation, and performance measurement and management to numerous colleges, universities, schools, foundations, and non-profit organizations both nationally and internationally.

His teaching and research interests include financial management of non-profit and education organizations, strategic planning, organizational performance measurement and management issues, and higher education administration. He is the author or co-author of several publications, including: "Monitoring Institutional Performance," for the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities; "New Yardsticks for Measuring Financial Distress," (with Kent Chabotar) for the American Association for Higher Education; "How Might Data Be Used?" (with Cathy Trower); "Building Strategic Accountability Systems for International NGOs (with L. David Brown and Mark H. Moore); Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-Based Educational Improvement (co-edited with Chris Dede and Laurence Peters); "The U.S. Academic Profession: Key Policy Challenges" (with Damtew Teferra) in Higher Education; Using Cases in Higher Education: A Guide for Faculty and Administrators (with Cheryl Sternman Rule), Casebook I: Faculty Employment Policies (co-edited with Cheryl Sternman Rule), and Teaching Notes to Casebook I: Faculty Employment Policies (with Cheryl Sternman Rule). He received the Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award from the Harvard University Extension School in 1995.

He was an Associate Director of HGSE's Programs in Professional Education from 1991 to 1997. Previously, he served as Institutional Research Coordinator in the Office of Budgets at Harvard University and Project Analyst in Harvard's University Financial Aid Office. His duties included preparing analytic reports on tuition and financial aid, faculty salaries, sponsored research, and other issues for the Harvard Corporation (President and Fellows), one of Harvard's governing boards. He has also been a research assistant at the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse on Higher Education in Washington, D.C. and served as Director of Institutional Research and Planning and Executive Assistant to the President at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Marist College (NY), Buckingham Browne and Nichols School (MA), ERB (Educational Records Bureau) (NY), and LASPAU – Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas at Harvard University (MA) and served previously as a trustee of Fitchburg State College (MA), the Dana Hall School (MA), and the Plan For Social Excellence (NY), a private foundation. He has also served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Child Care Resource Center, Inc., a non-profit regional child care resource and referral agency in Cambridge, MA.

He holds a B.A. from Marist College (NY), an M.A. and Ed.S. in Higher Education from George Washington University (DC), and an Ed.M. and Ed.D. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University.