From Default to Design: Design-Based Assessment for Libraries and Librarianship

Introduction There can be no doubt about the recent rise of interest in assessment in librarianship. Popular assessment methods range from quantitative approaches (such as user surveys, usability heuristics, and data and search logs) to qualitative techniques (user interviews, photo elicitation, immersive ethnographies, and more). Many discussions ensue about which of these scientific-based methods is best applicable to the library work at hand, but few have questioned the assumption that scientific methods are the most relevant and applicable assessment methods for librarianship overall.