Outreach Evaluation Resource Center
Annual Report
Year Three May 2003-April 2004

Training and Continuing Education

The OERC staff conducted five evaluation presentations or training sessions during Year 3 of the contract:

• Outreach evaluation workshop for the Community Outreach Information Network (COIN) at Virginia Commonwealth University, by C. Burroughs (September 2003)
• Outreach evaluation workshop for the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association in Shreveport, LA, conducted by C. Burroughs (October 2003)
• Paper "Consumer Health Outreach Programs: A Tool for Public Libraries and Community Partners," presented at the NCNMLG/MLGSCA/PNC-MLA Joint Meeting, Sacramento, CA. with C Burroughs as lead presenter and co-presenters Gail Kouame and Heidi Sandstrom. (January 2004)
• Hospital Library Evaluation Workshop piloted in Denver for the Colorado Council of Medical Libraries, by M Blake and Betsy Kelly (April 2004). This workshop was designed by M. Blake, B. Kelly, and C Burroughs and received 6 hours of CE credit from the Medical Library Association.
• Outreach evaluation workshop for members of the GMR regional advisory committee via videoconference, by C. Burroughs and M. Blake (April 2004). It was a successful pilot for conducting the workshop using a distance learning format.

The following table shows that, as in previous years, the OERC evaluation workshops received very high ratings from participants . As with previous years, workshop ratings remained high.

Participant Feedback for OERC Evaluation Workshops
	Percentage of Positive Ratings (2 Workshops Total)
	Number of Workshop with ...
	100% Positive Ratings	90-99% Positive Ratings	<90% Positive Ratings
[Participant] Acquired useful knowledge and skills*	2
Objectives*	2
Content*	2
Instructional materials*	2
Instructor(s)*	1	1
Facility*	1	1
Global rating**	2
* Positive rating="Agree" or "Somewhat Agree"** **Positive rating="Excellent" or "Above Average"

To increase her expertise in various areas of program evaluation, the assistant director of the OERC completed several professional development workshops:

• Based on application, C. Burroughs was selected to participate in a 2-week workshop on outcomes-based evaluation at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.\ (Summer 2003)
• She attended the GIS mapping workshop conducted by the National Outreach Mapping Center, Indiana University (September 2003)
• She completed two professional development workshops at American Evaluation Association conference in Reno, NV: Using GIS in Evaluation (half-day CE) and Quantitative Methods (both full-day CEs). (November 2003)

Consultation with Network members

C. Burroughs participated in the following activities:

• Worked with NNO to staff and launch 3 workgroups based on the public libraries and public health logic model plans.
• Served, by invitation, as lead for a breakout session about evaluation at the Greater Midwest Outreach Symposium in October.
• Continued participation in the Hospital Internet Access Task Force.
• Provided input on a proposal for an NLM Associate Fellow to conduct a feasibility study regarding an effective outreach practices database.
• Attended and provided feedback on pilot modules for training public librarian, conducted at the GMR in Chicago.
• Traveled to Harlingen, TX, to participate as a member of an advisory group to the Colonias Project: A Consumer Health Information Hispanic Outreach Project in Texas-Mexico Border Colonias, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Regional Academic Health Center Medical Library.
• Continued participation in the Hospital Internet Access Task Force.
• Provided input about evaluation planning for Library Improvement Projects awarded in the SCR
• Provided input about plans for a context evaluation process with potential community-based organization partners in the PNR.
• Reviewed and provided input on evaluation sections of proposals to implement strategies developed in the first phase of the Community Outreach Partnership Planning Awards (COPPA).

Assistance with analysis, synthesis, and reporting of evaluation results

C. Burroughs was involved in the following activities:

• Traveled to the Nez Perce tribe to conduct final interviews with community wellness and Indian Health Services contacts who participated in activities of Tribal Connections, Phase 3
• Reviewed and commented on draft of the final report for the Tribal Connections Phase 3 case study.
• Reviewed categories on the Outreach Activity Reporting Form and suggested addition of pubic health under Type of Organization

Communications and collaboration

Two major collaborative efforts involving the OERC were highlighted throughout this year of the contract:

• Year 3 initiative in public libraries and public health outreach. C. Burroughs had a large role in developing this initiative. She
  • Provided an update about evaluation planning for the public libraries and public health outreach initiatives at the RML Director's meeting in San Diego
  • Responded to questions and suggestions for logic models, finalized the revisions, and posted them on the OERC site
  • Assisted in the development of final reports from chairs of the public libraries and public health taskforces
  • provided a presentation at the RML Director's midyear meeting based on results of midyear public libraries and public health outreach evaluation
  • Drafted questions for mid-year review of progress in public libraries and public health outreach initiatives
• Community Based Outreach (CBO) Symposium: C. Burroughs was an invited member of the Steering Committee for the Community-Based Outreach (CBO) Symposium (scheduled for December) and served as chair of the Outcomes & Assessment panel scheduled to present at the CBO Symposium. Her responsibilities as chair of this panel included recruiting 4 academics with expertise in evaluation: Dr. Cynthia Olney, Dr. Lawrence Green, Dr. Judith Ottoson, and Dr. Charles Friedman. She also coordinated the panel presentations.
• TC4 Collaboration. C Burroughs assisted Joan LaFrance in developing and analyzing results of the resource/asset inventory process as a basis for the TC4 Collaboration project. She also participated in a subcommittee of the TC4 Collaboration, with Claire Hamasu and Siobhan Blackwell, to develop methodology for sharing effective practices learned from the tribal outreach experience. The committee was successful in collaborating with National Services Resource Center to post effective practices about working with tribal communities on their Effective Practice database: http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/epicenter/topics/
• Public Libraries and Community Partners Resource: C. Burroughs assumed the lead position in a collaboration by the consumer health coordinator workgroup to develop a resource for public libraries and community partners The resource was posted online in January 2004 and subsequently linked to MedlinePlus.

C. Burroughs' other communication and collaboration activities included the following:

• Continued maintenance and updating of the OERC website
• Attendance at the Tucson workshop to consolidate collective lessons learned from tribal outreach to date, including the Tribal Connections 3 case study applied to three of the original Tribal I communities (Nez Perce, Umatilla, the Sammish Nation)
• Submission of her final contribution to a report published by the NIEHS Superfund Basic Research Program External Advisory Group
• Review of proposals for the "Partners in Public Health Information Outreach" funding award in the South Central Region
• Participation in the Technical Advisory Committee for the National Online Mapping Center
• Participation in design of a follow-up evaluation of RML outreach training sessions on PubMed and MedlinePlus

Utilization and promotion of the evaluation guide

• NN/LM PNR continued to distribute the guide based on request.

Administrative

• C Burroughs participated in the PNR presentation for the visit by National Library of Medicine site review team
• C. Burroughs submitted and received approval for the OERC budget in Year 4.

Publications from OERC staff

• Burroughs CM. Evaluation in health information outreach programs. In: Emerging roles of health sciences librarians. Edited by Shipman JP and Watstein SB. Reference Services Review 32 (1): 64-68, 2004