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SLO 8, ARTIFACT 2:
Community Needs Assessment Profile (Environmental Scan) Link: Needs Assessment Profile Four MLIS classmates and I worked together to create this community needs assessment profile. We used the profile to guide creation of a mock resource collection for a public library. The profile is an example of how I worked with others to analyze data, draw conclusions from it, and develop collection goals. This profile project was an important step toward realizing my professional goal of managing a public library collection for underserved community members. This assignment was my first experience working on an environmental scan. It required me and my classmates to examine a large amount of demographic and survey data to determine the library users’ needs. We then summarized the data and set goals for collection development. The goals became the basis for the mock resource collection we created a week later. Through the needs assessment profile and the accompanying collection assignment, I became familiar with the challenge of turning data evaluation into concrete solutions. A feedback comment such as “Want more books” is important but vague. (What kinds of books?) I also saw how easy it can be to focus on certain comments and statistics while overlooking others. Data interpretation is a subjective exercise, which is why it is important to have several people looking at the data at once and comparing their opinions. Group collaboration made the profile better than it would have been had just one person worked on it independently. We each had different levels and types of work experience and could bring different skills to the project. From the experienced library workers in the group, I learned how data is compiled for a real-world needs assessment. From the data, I learned what kind of public library programming and services were most valued by the people in the community we studied. This is knowledge that will be helpful to me during future collaborations with library staff both within and beyond my place of employment. When working with marginalized and underserved individuals, I will definitely be doing community surveys and compiling demographic data to gain a better understanding of community needs and interests. Working on this community needs assessment has prepared me to do similar assessments in a public library environment. |