User:Martha Kyrillidou

Martha Kyrillidou is an advocate for libraries, universities and other cultural heritage organizations. She is working at the Association of Research Libraries since 1994. She is a librarian, a data analyst, an evaluator, a researcher and adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland's iSchool.

Martha was born in Greece and came to the US because she believes that libraries matter and enjoys being in the business of collecting the evidence that makes this case. Her work at the Association of Research Libraries includes collecting and analyzing data, creating new tools that demonstrate the value proposition of libraries, universities and cultural heritage organizations. She manages the ARL Statistics and Assessment Program.

She is one of the leading forces behind the creation and establishment of the LibQUAL+ program, an international assessment protocol for improving library service quality. Martha's dissertation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign focused on the development of the LibQUAL+ Lite enhancement of the protocol.

Library Assessment is a growing area of focus for most organizations creating a rich specialty since the late 80s. The library assessment community is an international community and there is a biennial Library Assessment Conference organized in north America every two years where the community comes together. There are also many regional and other international forums in this growing area. Library assessment has become an important specialty for libraries, traditional and digital, that helps them identify what they are doing well and what they need to improve. For more information on library assessment, see libraryassessment.org.