Below are the descriptions for the four groups of 3 interactive images each on "Writing effective indicators". When you finish reading, you can move on to the library and museum examples.

Meaningful: Does it capture the essence of the outcome so that it can represent the outcome?  For example:  In the Riverton Memoirs example, outcome: participants become more skillful writers.  Is it enough that improvement is assessed by the participating writers? Their instructor? An outside evaluator?

Timely: Is it likely to occur within the designed timeframe or often enough to be useful? For example: The West Dakota case tests whether their health database affects residents’ health decisions by survey of randomly chosen residents six months after the last training services of the grant occur (with budget included in the grant).

Manageable: Is evaluation workable and cost-effective in terms of effort and budget? For example: The Oregon Zoo case measures whether minority interns demonstrate presentation and teamwork skills using indicators which use attendance records, activity logs, and observations by project staff.

Acceptable: Will key stakeholders accept this indicator as a description of what the outcome looks like when it happens? For example: The Central Florida Memory program involves stakeholders in libraries and historical groups, 4th-grade teachers, and developers in business and government. The outcomes focus on changes in the librarians, 4th-grade classes and business/government users.  Click the Case tab and choose Central Florida Memory to see the handling of this challenge.