Evaluating Teen Services and Programs, by Sarah Flowers

Evaluating Teen Services and Programs.

By Sarah Flowers. Neal-Schuman, 2012, 119 pp., ISBN 978-1-55570-793-4, (paper).

Evaluation is a critical part of any library program, especially when budgets are tight and librarians must compete for resources. Evaluating Teen Services and Programs provides librarians with the resources to evaluate and improve teen services. Author Sarah Flowers has published many articles on this topic, and was the 2011-2012 President of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), making her well-qualified to write on this subject.

The book includes six chapters, and begins with a chapter on the background of services to young adults. It includes information on adolescence, diversity in the teen population and how teens search for information. Chapter 2 explores planning for assessment, and stresses that it is important to know what is being assessed and why. Evaluation should be conducted with a goal of improving services, and increasing the effectiveness of services offered. Chapter 3 addresses the data that are collected in an assessment project. It is important to ensure that the data collected are accurate, and to understand what the data represents. Flowers provides a useful table of potential input measures along with their definitions to help librarians decide what to measure and for what purpose.

Chapter 4 focuses on how librarians can take the data gleaned from assessment activities and use it to make decisions about services and programs. The author provides many useful examples of how an evaluation of a program, an event, or staff might be conducted. The application of YALSA competencies as well as a YALSA Teen Services Evaluation Tool are recommended in Chapter 5. Finally, Flowers provides a wealth of references and resources in Chapter 6, including many sample evaluation tools and surveys.

This book is well-written and concise, and includes useful references at the end of each chapter as well as an index. Teen services librarians will find this book very useful as a resource in any effort to assess young adult services or programs. 

Published previously: Mugridge, R. L. (2012). [Review of the book Evaluating Teen Services and Programs, by Sarah Flowers]. Catholic Library World, 83(2), 144-145.