Duck Soup and Library Outcome Evaluation

Given the increased emphasis on library outcome evaluation, our profession can benefit from the wealth of knowledge on this topic available in program evaluation literature. Program evaluation practitioners have refined the theory and practice of outcome evaluation for more than sixty years. This article briefly reviews this history, examines the rationale for assessing program outcomes and impacts, and explains the crucial distinction between these two concepts that has been largely ignored in library evaluation literature. If libraries intend to propose that library programs and services "make a difference," then they must understand the specific research methodologies required to support these claims. Further, the complexities of institutional and community values makes assessing outcomes and impacts much more difficult than the profession currently conceives this task to be. Over the years, program evaluation literature has proposed various approaches to this difficult issue.