Evaluating Library Instructors

While this recent article from the Christian Science Monitor is about teacher evaluation in primary and secondary education, librarians can still learn from the article, as it addresses an important topic: how are instructors evaluated in a way that will help them to consciously work to improve their teaching?  One possible method mentioned by the article which has relevance to us is evaluation through outside observation and constructive feedback. However, the article notes that any evaluation must be completed in an environment where the Instructors feel safe and not threatened by the initiative. Involving Instruction Librarians in the formulation of an evaluation program is likely essential to seeing that any evaluation program is carried out in a fair and objective manner. I’m sure there are plenty of articles about librarian literature about this topic, and for those institutions with a large number of library instructors, some searching would be appropriate. However,  sometimes it is nice to delve outside of our discipline, to see how others face and overcome similar challenges.