Preparing for Staff Assessments

Employee performance reviews can be stressful for all involved. But they’re required in many libraries and an essential managerial responsibility. If you’re lucky, your library has a Board-approved performance review procedure and materials already in place. If not, this post is here to help with two different options.

Self-Evaluation Assessment
A self-evaluation survey is an invaluable tool when preparing for staff assessments. The right questions can help to jog your memory, understand the perspective of your colleagues, and prepare you both to reflect together. Be sure to give staff questions well in advance, in writing, so they may carefully consider their responses.

Sample questions from our MCS Committee:
What was your favorite task over the past year?
What are you most proud of doing over the past year?
What continuing education did you take that you felt was the most useful?
What Displays/Passive Programming (or, if applicable, programming) did you do over the past year?
Did you complete your goals from last year? What did you do?
What are your goals for the next year?

When working with your team, make sure the goals you set are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based (also known as SMART goals) and consider how they align with the strategic goals of your organization.

Institutional-Based Assessment
Core competencies can be described as job-specific skills to better support an individual in doing their work and are widely used in creating institutional-led assessments. MCS Committee members share how their administration interprets the concept of “core competencies” as they apply to the public library world, creating six different categories:

–Job Knowledge
–Communication
–Customer Service
–Personal Accountability
–Teamwork
–Technology

Performance in these categories can be judged on a scale of never/sometimes/always, consistently/frequently/infrequently/not applicable, or as a numerical rating of 1(lowest) to 5 (highest). Three photos below show a complete list of questions to ask in each category.

Not Just Once a Year
A MCS Committee member wisely points out that “nothing on a review form should be a surprise. If you are praising someone, praise year-round as the moments pop up. If there are issues, they should be addressed before they ever hit a review form.” When done well, assessments can be a tool to measure and support growth. What assessment tools or questions have you found particularly helpful? Please add your suggestions below.

Guest Bloggers: Lauren Antolino and Marybeth Kozikowski, members of ALSC’s Managing Children’s Services Committee. Note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

This post addresses Core Competencies VI. Administrative and Management Skills and VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.

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 Employee performance reviews can be stressful for all involved. But they’re required in many libraries and an essential managerial responsibility. If you’re lucky, your library has a Board-approved performance review procedure and materials already in place. If not, this post is here to help with two different options. Self-Evaluation AssessmentA self-evaluation survey is an invaluable tool when preparing for staff assessments. The right questions can help to jog your memory, understand the perspective of your colleagues, and prepare you both to reflect together. Be sure to give staff questions well in advance, in writing, so they may carefully consider their responses. Sample questions from our MCS Committee:What was your favorite task over the past year?What are you most proud of doing over the past year?What continuing education did you take that you felt was the most useful?What Displays/Passive Programming (or, if applicable, programming) did you do over the past year?…
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