Since 1989, ORS Impact works alongside renowned social impact leaders, supporting their work to accomplish their missions.
As PLA’s evaluation partner, ORS Impact first facilitated a theory of change process with staff and key stakeholders that surfaced considerations for strategy development and became the backbone for a 2.5-year evaluation plan. In line with PLA’s commitment to “walking the talk,” the plan included learning opportunities for PLA staff every six months based on data collection focused on both process to inform course corrections and on outcomes progress to support accountability and communications.
Methods included paper and online surveys, in-person and virtual focus groups, and interviews with a broad range of stakeholders, including library participants (leaders and staff), library partners, and State Library agency staff, as well as analysis of participant registration data and data published by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. Evaluation deliverables and facilitated learning debriefs with PLA staff were designed to promote data-informed decision making and action, and included “success cases” shared with participants to support their use of Project Outcome and an executive summary of final evaluation findings that is heavy on data visualization to support accessibility.
In line with PLA’s dedication to field-building within and beyond the public library space, ORS Impact is currently developing a white paper on Project Outcome that will share principles that guided their work, key decision points and trade-offs, and best practices based on their experiences and evaluation data.