1 © Derek Rodriguez, 2011, All rights reserved The UŶderstaŶdiŶg Liďrary IŵpaĐts protoĐol: deŵoŶstratiŶg aĐadeŵiĐ liďrary ĐoŶtriďutioŶs to student learning outcomes in the age of accountability Presented at the 9th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services August 23, 2011 Derek A. Rodriguez The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science darodrig@email.unc.edu Introduction Stakeholders in U.S. higher education are increasingly demanding evidence that the value of an undergraduate education is worth its cost. Higher education institutions have responded with renewed transparency regarding costs and retention rates and new mechanisms for assessing and communicating student learning such as the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA, 2011). Academic libraries are also searching for new ways to communicate their impact on student learning. The library profession has made significant progress in user-oriented assessment (e.g. ARL, 2010), but academic libraries still need practical and effective methods for linking library use to student learning outcomes valued by the academy and employers. The UŶdeƌstaŶdiŶg LiďƌaƌLJ IŵpaĐts pƌotoĐol ;ULIͿ is a set of liďƌaƌLJ assessŵeŶt iŶstƌuŵeŶts desigŶed to detect and communicate library contributions to student learning outcomes. The ULI protocol features a critical incident survey for exploring student information and library use during high-impact academic experiences. A leaƌŶiŶg aĐtiǀities Đƌossǁalk Đonnects students use of the library to learning outcomes associated with academic work and to external student learning outcomes frameworks. The protocol was initially developed using qualitative methods in two studies and converted to a survey format. This paper presents results of a pilot test of the survey form of the protocol conducted during spring 2011 with a population of undergraduate history majors in the United States. Methodological considerations The ULI protocol is guided by an operational definition of library impact provided by Caroline Wavell, Graeme Baxter, Ian Johnson, and Dorothy Williams (2002): [library impact is] the overall effect of outcomes and conditioning factors resulting in a change in state, attitude or behaviour of an individual or group after engagement with the output and is edžpƌessed as Did it ŵake a diffeƌeŶĐe? To meet this standard, the ULI protocol intends to 1) link library use to appropriate student learning outcomes, 2) generate credible evidence that libraries contribute to those outcomes, and 3) identify factors of library use that influence student achievement.