Community Reads--Zumbrota Public Library

Proposed Outcome Assessment Methodology:
The library measured the success of our programs during the book discussion events by asking relevant questions to the program and having these questions on the whiteboard in our meeting room. The questions were created to find out how people enjoyed the program, what they learned, and what the library could do to improve the program if it was offered again. The library had post-it notes available for people to write down their thoughts and answers to the questions and stuck them up on the whiteboard. We took pictures to capture this process. We also attempted one-on-one evaluations and provided a summary of how successful (or not) the library director felt the program was. The library assessed the expected outcomes of this project by administering a survey to audiences who came to the book discussion, as well as placed copies of the evaluation forms in the book giveaways with a stamped return envelope. There were a total of 18 respondents to the surveys. The library used the surveys to evaluate our program, as well as take suggestions for future Zumbrota Reads programs. The lack of survey responses indicated a need to improve or eliminate future surveys. The library feels that we met our goal to connect others. Several of the comments on our surveys talked about how much they enjoyed the discussions surrounding the program. There was excellent attendance to the book discussion with lively discourse on the novel. In particular, the movie screening attendance was quite high for a small community like Zumbrota. "The discussion at the library was fun & interesting." "I loved seeing the characters and reading the parts of the books. I think this program is super." "It is a great way to promote reading and it provides a great opportunity to the community to participate in an activity."