Select A Framework
Within the Observation Deck, you will have the opportunity to select a framework from the grant team.
Explore these available Starter Frameworks here to see if one of these already refined versions would work for you!
Create a Framework
Public Libraries are as varied and unique as the communities they serve. The Observation Deck is not intended as a one size fits all tool, and was purposefully designed for libraries to design and craft their own observational framework for program assessment.
As a part of the Institute for Museum and Library services grant for the Observation Deck, the grant team not only designed the digital toolkit, but also the process for creating an observational framework. Taking a library team through the design process was one of the most exciting and illuminating components of the grant, and the team at Appleton Public Library made it incredibly fun along the way!
Create Your Own Framework
Follow our step-by-step guide to create your own framework based on your library's strategic goals.
Create Your Own Observational Framework Guide
Step 1: Generate ideas
Start with a free thinking, free write to generate ideas and ground your brain in what you are trying to capture and report more broadly about your library programs.
Remember 1 or 2 impactful, hands-on library programs you have been present for at your library. Be specific, create a list or write a paragraph, whatever is the most helpful to get as much down on paper as possible.
- What about this experience stands out to you as being impactful?
- What were patrons doing?
- What were they saying, to you and to each other?
- What was happening in their brains? What were they thinking? Wondering? Or feeling? How did you know that?
- Share these experiences with someone, does talking about them generate more ideas? Additional considerations and elements?
Example of a messy group brainstorm - this is where we started!
View Appleton PL Brainstorm
Step 2: Reframe your thoughts.
The next step is to translate these rememberings into values. Thinking about these experiences, can you answer the question:
What makes our hand-on experiential programs at our library so valuable?
It may be helpful to generate these as statements about children and families. Like: “Children and their caregivers learn together” or “Patrons are highly engaged”
Taking our ideas and grouping them together with the audience at the forefront: Explore Appleton PL Jam Board
Go a step deeper, look at your value statements
WHY is that valuable? Is this based on your experience, knowledge you have from your practice, principles that you consider?
It may be helpful to phrase these answers like, “engagement is value because it shows our experiences are accessible and interesting” or “learning together is valuable because it creates lasting bonds between parents and children”)
Share these ideas as a group. This can be a less formal conversation, but it is also help to create a community list on a whiteboard, shared documents, group note taker, or collective space.
Step 3: Build a group list
Build your group list and consider:
Where do you see overlap? Can you start to put similar ideas together into themes or collective groupings?
These related themes will be the basis for your Dimensions in your Observational Framework. An ideal number for a 1st draft is 4-6
After you have sorted your ideas and collective list, this is a great time to reference the sample frameworks from the Observation Deck. Your next step is to give your themes names. The sample frameworks may help provide some language, or consider your groupings in different ways.
They may also help you identify missing elements, things your group didn’t consider, but align with elements of your initial brainstorm.
Step 4: Go for it!
Name your themes and create the first draft of your dimensions
The initial step at drafting dimensions and indicators - notice, one dimension is rolled into another based on very similar indicators.
Explore Appleton PL Indicator Brainstorm
Step 5: do a cross check with your strategic plan or strategic priorities for your library system.
Look at the themes in your draft.
- Do they align with your strategic plans or priorities?
- Do you want to tweak any of the language you selected to more directly align?
- Are there elements of the plan that are missing - is that ok?
Remember a strategic plan is a comprehensive document for your institution and you are focused on programming. More specifically, you are focused on hands-on experiential programming in your space. Does your draft address the elements of the plan that are relevant to this portion of your service model?Cross check with Appleton’s strategic plan: View Appleton PL Strategic Plan
Now... take a break. It’s time to sleep on what you have created and done serious brain work around. Give yourself a little time or distance from this initial brainstorm before moving to to the next step.
Step 6: Drafting your Indicators:
The next step of your process is to list 4-5 observable indicators for each of your dimensions to assist with the observation process. These will help be the tags of your larger dimensions and give observers ideas of what this may look like in action.
- Consider each dimension and yourself:
- What does this look like in action?
- What would this sound like? To you or to another patron or to themselves?
- What would be happening in a patron’s head - how would they be feeling? What would they be thinking? What would they be wondering? (How would you observe those things)
Step 7: Collaborate & Wordsmith
After you have made an attempt, this is another great time to reference the sample frameworks from the Observation Deck. They may have language, elements, or considerations missing from your initial list or help you pinpoint an idea that is eluding you.
After you have created your list, compare notes with someone else to create a comprehensive list then… wordsmith.
The next step is to test your Observational Framework and ask:
- Are there elements I don’t know how to tag because they are not included?
- Do you have instances where I could tag multiple things because they are related?
Appleton’s Initial Framework with dimensions & indicators, their revision after the first round of observations and their final version in use now:
View Appleton Framework Progression