The Research

The Observation Deck is a new suite of tools grounded in the research of many in the field of observational assessment and informal library learning. 

Beginning in 2020 with an environmental scan of available research, including the work of IMLS Making Observations, the Public Library Association’s Project Outcome, and Maker Ed’s research into Library assessment practices, the Observation Deck team sought to understand the opportunities and tensions for observational practices in capturing the impact of library programs. 

Upon successfully applying for an IMLS National Leadership Grant for the toolkits design, the project team expanded our research to include a national survey of fifty libraries to assess technological barriers. We learned about IT departments, obsolete devices, intellectual property, and data management, all influencing the final design of this open-source, web based toolkit. 

Next, we dove deep into what outcomes library staff and patrons found meaningful, building on the research and experience of the libraries in our grant team and beyond. These outcomes, specific to each institution, allowed us to create frameworks for observation.

We asked big questions:

• What do those outcomes look like? Sound like? 
• Where do our biases creep in? 
• What do we do as facilitators to draw out responses? 
• What data do we need to make meaningful reports? 
• How does it help us improve? 

With the creation of Observation Deck we are embarking on a new and exciting opportunity to determine what we can learn from regular, organized, and informed observations of programs in library spaces. Our research is far from over, and as our user base grows, we continue to discover new use cases, new tensions, and new opportunities, driving our continuous design improvement. 

Learn more about the project team and their past work: https://www.madisonbubbler.org/resources/educators/assessment