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- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the authors
This powerful book focuses on the organizational context specific to youth services in public libraries, walking readers through concrete steps to use outcome-based planning and evaluation to achieve their goals while effectively promoting the library.
Outcome-based planning and evaluation (OBPE), with its straightforward approach built on a flexible framework, is the perfect model to enable youth services professionals to deliver effective services regardless of uncertainties. An outcome-based approach can help youth services stay grounded in producing desired outcomes with and for youth through responsive programs, services, and processes that can adapt to changing conditions. Clarifying the relationship between planning, program development, and evaluation, the five simple steps outlined in this book will help youth services staff conduct solid community assessments and integrate OBPE into their work. Inside its pages you will learn
- a short history of OBPE and its evolution;
- why it is crucially important to involve youth in all stages of program development, with guidance on navigating challenges;
- how to think about planning as the need to react quickly, whether due to natural or human-made disasters, changing demographics, or economic swings;
- the five steps of OBPE, from gathering information about your community and determining the outcomes that will serve your community to crafting accurate outcome statements, developing an evaluation plan, and maximizing the results of successful outcome-based programs;
- how to visualize the steps needed to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate an outcome-based program, using the template included in the book;
- ways to share your data to let people know the library’s important role in the community; and
- additional useful tools to bolster your work, including environmental scan forms and ideas for creating relevant family storytimes.
Preface
Introduction
Part I An Introduction to Outcome Planning and Evaluation in Youth Services
Chapter 1 Thinking about Planning in Times of Change
Chapter 2 Involving Youth in Outcome Planning and Evaluation
Chapter 3 Defining Outcomes and OBPE
Chapter 4 Designing the OBPE Project
Part II The Five-Step OBPE Model
Chapter 5 Step 1: Gathering Information
Chapter 6 Step 2: Determining Outcomes
Chapter 7 Step 3: Developing Programs and Services
Chapter 8 Step 4: Conducting Evaluations
Chapter 9 Step 5: Leveraging the Library’s Role
Conclusion: And Finally . . .
Appendixes
- Appendix A Environmental Scan: External (Community) Factors
- Appendix B Blank OBPE Project Planning Template
- Appendix C Gantt Chart Example: Books and Bites Community Garden Time Line
- Appendix D Environmental Scan: Internal (Library) Factors
- Appendix E “Books and Bites” Sample Family Storytime Programs
References
About the Authors
Index