Many IR managers find it valuable to either pen an annual IR report or include measures of IR progress in the library’s general annual report.
Isaac Gilman at Pacific University writes an annual report dedicated to the IR, and recently posted the second here: http://commons.pacificu.edu/libfac/16.
Isaac says he wrote the first to be “an early, documented benchmark” that the library could hopefully use to evaluate and demonstrate success. The second report builds on the first, and shows progress in terms of quantitative use statistics and more qualitative strategic measurements, like services provided and parties served.
Both quantitative and qualitative measures are included in most of the reports I’ve read. Isaac, for instance, noted that in its second year, CommonKnowledge doubled its number of objects, saw a rise in self-submissions, and demonstrated an average download rate triple that of the previous year. It also expanded its functions to serve as a teaching tool.
Want to see more IR reports from the DC community? Check out the most recent report from Butler University’s Library, http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/reports/4/, and a 3-year summary from Cal Poly’s Library, http://works.bepress.com/marisa_ramirez/16/.
CommonKnowledge Annual Report (2010-2011)- by Isaac Gilman
