Building and sustaining a community of assessment practice: the role of the library assessment conference

摘要

Conferences are an important component in building a community of learning and practice in new and emerging fields, especially where there is no established publishing outlet or community focus. However, it takes more than the right idea at the right time for a conference to provide both the spark and flame. Logistics, branding, understanding the potential audience, providing meaningful content and stimulating speakers, and a knowledgeable planning committee are all critical for success. The focuses on practitioners, presentation of methods and results that can be applied in different types of libraries, and conference locations/facilities that are desirable were important for furthering this community of practice. So are the contributions of the three sponsoring organisations: Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the University of Virginia Library and the University of Washington Libraries. In particular, the participation of the Association of Research Libraries was essential to conference success. ARL has done so much for library assessment through programs, tools and consultations and the support of the conference through use of ARL name, handling registration and the financials, providing Web hosting facilities, publishing the proceedings (DeFranco et al, 2007; Hiller et al, 2009; Hiller et al, 2011) and helping to publicise the conference that were instrumental to success. The three Library Assessment Conferences have played a substantial role in building an active knowledgeable community of practice. The rapid growth in the number of participants and presentations are ample indication of the vitality of North American library assessment.