The Extent and Nature of Course Evaluations

This article reports the results of a survey of programs accredited by the American Library Association to determine the extent and nature of course evaluations by students at these schools. Data were collected by a questionnaire sent to the library school's dean/director and also directed to the school's student association president. Conclusions derived from the data analysis were (1) student evaluation of courses and instructors occurs at 81 percent of the library schools with accredited programs that responded to this survey and this characteristic is likely to remain constant, if not increase, in the near future; (2) even though student evaluation of courses is used at most schools, sharing the results of these evaluations with students is the exception rather than the rule; (3) the majority of schools use evaluations initiated by the administration. If the evaluation of courses is initiated by the school's student organization, the results of these evaluations are more likely to be accessible to students; and (4) although there is little standardization in evaluation forms used, common evaluation factors and areas of emphasis can be identified and the evaluation forms submitted for the present survey appear to be adequate as one source of data which are applicable to evaluating the quality of library education programs.