portal: Libraries and the Academy, Vol. 19, No. 3 (2019), pp. 381–391. Copyright © 2019 by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD 21218. FEATURE: REPORTS FROM THE FIELD Measuring Librarian Outreach and Engagement through a Time Allocation Study Brian Winterman and Andrew Asher abstract: Demonstrating academic libraries’ contribution to institutional outcomes and strategic initiatives can be challenging, particularly in determining what library activities can be consistently and accurately assessed in ways that empirically demonstrate library value and impact. To address this challenge, the Indiana University Bloomington Libraries conducted a time allocation study to quantify the activities of public services librarians with the goal of illustrating new ways to measure their contributions that are more standardized and methodologically rigorous. This report gives an overview of the Librarian Activity Project (LAP), including preliminary fndings, and offers recommendations for other institutions interested in developing their own study. Introduction W hat do academic librarians do? Why does their work matter? The answer to the frst question largely depends on who is asked. The public would likely struggle to describe a librarian’s work beyond vague notions of helping people fnd a book. Even people within the academic community (students, instructors, administrators, and the like) might have a limited understanding of the breadth and depth of librarian work. Libraries often have mission statements describing what they do as a group, broadly; position descriptions explaining what they do individually; and periodic performance reports summarizing what individual librarians did. Mission state- ments, however, are too vague to adequately explain our work, and the others are largely internal documents. While libraries often produce annual reports and communications such as newsletters that highlight their accomplishments and initiatives for campus stakeholders, these statements may have limited readership and often present content that is more exceptional than representative. Common misperceptions about librarians and libraries only compound the problem. Finally, librarians themselves, when asked This mss. is peer reviewed, copy edited, and accepted for publication, portal 19.3.