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Conducting a needs assessment - 7

Barbie E. KeiserUniversity of VilniusMay 2007

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Designing information products that will meet the needs of your organization in the 21st century

• Consider alternative product development processes that will work in your library

• How can library staff be encouraged to define and develop comprehensive information product lines?

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Information needs assessment looks outward

• A top-down approach to assessing the information requirements of your university and user community

• Broaden the base of products and services offered by the library

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Key questions

• How effective is the library in targeting current user needs? Predicting future needs?

• What information needs are not being satisfied?

• Is the library targeting existing products to potential users?

• Are new products necessary?

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Framework for user-driven information systems• Understand the contexts from which

the need for information arise• Various groups which generate,

store, analyze, publish, transmit, and market data, information and knowledge within the university

• How people and organizations choose to use and distribute information

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Know thy market

• Your market has many constituencies, each with distinct information needs

• An ongoing, systematic process to identification of information needs

• The librarian is no longer the only gatekeeper– Do you know your competition?– How do you effectively deal with them?

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Assessing the environment• What’s happening in the world

which may change the way the organization performs?

• Are there shifts in focus or emphasis which you should/must be aware?– Be prepared for change– Be flexible

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The information products you develop should...• Support the goals and objectives of

the operating environment• Be targeted to the segments most

critical to its success• Be compatible with the culture of the

organization• Employ appropriate technologies

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Develop useful information products that…• Advance the organization

strategically• Enhances recipient’s ability to act• Facilitate the decision-making

process• Maximize the availability of accurate

information (QA)• Minimize information costs,

organization-wide

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Develop useful information products that…(con’t)• Increase productivity• Help individuals function efficiently• Help user groups function

effectively• Avoid duplication of effort• Reduce the time it takes to gather

and analyze information

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This will...

• Increase your value to the organization/ your clients

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Understand your customers...• Who they are• Their goals/objectives

(and strategies used to achieve them)

• What are their driving forces? Critical success factors?

• How do they relate to one another? Fit into the overall structure?

• Why they need information– What purpose does

it serve?– How do they use it?

• What type of information do they require?– Technical– Tactical– Strategic

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…and their information needs• What the “group” does• How well it performs• Where information plays a role• What type of information• Which sources and tools• How it obtains and uses information• Problem areas/opportunities• Personal preferences• Where the library fits in

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Know your competition

• Internal and external• Create alliances with your

competition

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The needs assessment process• Identify where information is used• Identify areas which could most

benefit by an improvement• Identify sources of information and

destination through the organization• Identify logical clusters of functions

and information groups• Generate ideas for specific

improvement projects

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The needs assessment process• Meet with a few strategically important

groups• Interview individuals• Review interview results with your staff and

identify opportunities• Reconvene focus group to review potential

project opportunities and ideas. As a group, set priorities (to create stakeholders)

• Begin planning for new products identified during needs assessment and prototype each

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What this says about your organization• Flexibility• Agility• Willingness to listen• Cooperative nature

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Pose questions designed to elicit an understanding of each group’s• Objectives• Priorities• Problems• Functional business model• Information usage model

– To determine flows/stores/outside agents

– To determine statistics (e.g., frequency, critical timing, store size)

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Questions for your focus groups • Describe what the group does and how well it

performs– What is its role within the organization?– What products/services does it provide? To

whom?– What resources does it manage? Budget?

• How does the group obtain and use information?– What information does the group use? How

frequently?– Where does it get that information?– What information does this group produce?– To whom is that information sent?

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Why conduct a needs assessment?• Determine how individual groups within the

organization relate to each other• Track information flowing into the organization,

identifying the sources, and through it, identifying all users

• Note all pockets of information (information stores/warehouses)

• Analyze whether there is any duplication of effort. Could complementary information be exchanged? Could technology be shared?

• Suggest methods to improve management’s control over expenditures for information

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Needs assessment checklist• Have you identified the information

needs of your organization as a whole, as well as individual groups within the organization?

• Do you have a clear picture of how information is obtained, managed and used throughout the organization?

• Can you identify any problem areas? Do these present an opportunity for the library?

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Use the results of your information needs assessment to help user groups• Manage their information more

effectively• Eliminate duplication of effort• Facilitate communication among

groups

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The opportunity

• Information can eliminate the confusion caused by a rapidly changing environment

• Find out what kinds of information people need and want, and then deliver it

• Turn your competitors into allies

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The challenge

• Find a need and satisfy it