1. California Library Association & California Summer Meal CoalitionLU
California Library Association &
California Summer Meal Coalition

2. Program Evaluation Output Data Outcomes Data
Participation survey for library staff: number of meals served, programming offered, etc.
Help to show the program’s breadth and reach
Data that can be used to help others establish programs
Outcomes Data
Surveys for Families
Demonstrate the program’s value and impact
Output data allow us to demonstrate the project’s breadth and reach
Outcome data allow us to demonstrate the project’s impact.
Both are important to create a full picture of the value of public library summer meal programs.
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

3. Program Outcomes
Families know they can get help and essential resources at the library.
Families feel healthy, happy, and safe.
Public library summer meal programs achieve their potential when they connect families with library resources and help them feel healthy, happy, and safe, in addition to providing meals.
Program outcomes were designed by California librarians for California librarians to:
Demonstrate the impact of public library summer meal programs
Make the most of being in the library environment
Help ensure that California’s public library summer meal programs achieve their potential
A recent study from the Pew Research Center states that while most Americans know where their local library is, many are unfamiliar with the services libraries offer. Lunch at the Library provides a great opportunity to introduce families to the library’s services and resources, as well as help them feel healthy, happy, and safe.
Lunch at the Library program staff work to ensure that summer meal programs reach their potential by helping library staff achieve program outcomes as well as helping them provide children and teens with meals during the summer.
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

4. Results: Output Data
2016: public libraries provided over 203,000 meals and over 60,000 snacks at 139 sites.
2013: public libraries provided over 21,000 meals at 17 sites.
2016 and 2015: 19% of families surveyed reported that they don’t get lunch anywhere else but the library during the summer.
Output data provide us with:
Information on how and where the program is growing, and areas we need to target to support program growth
Information on programming and partnerships that we use to help other libraries develop summer meal programs
Information on the very real need for public library summer meal programs
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

5. Results: Outcomes Data 1 (2016)
Families know they can get help and essential resources at the library:
90% know they can find books and things to borrow.
75% know they can find access to computers
71% know they can take part in summer reading
66% know they can find people to help them.
65% know they can find information
5,121 people in 73 libraries completed surveys in 2016.
Outcomes data enable us to see and demonstrate the impact of public library summer meal programs on the families who take part in them – both at the local level and at the state level.
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

6. Results: Outcomes Data 2 (2016)
Families feel healthy, happy, and safe:
79% feel happy
60% report they feel good about themselves
60% feel safe
5,121 people in 73 libraries completed surveys in 2016.
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

7. The Importance of Outcome-Based Programs
We encourage all libraries to plan their summer meal programs with outcomes in mind
Easier than it might sound
Greater impact than programs designed with no outcomes in mind
Improve future programs
Demonstrate the impact of your work
Contribute to statewide data
Set your own outcomes!
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

8. Achieving Program Outcomes
Outcome evaluation is most effective when it is part of a systematic planning process:
Review program outcomes with colleagues.
Design your program with the outcomes in mind.
If you want to connect families with library resources and ensure they feel healthy, happy, and safe, offer programs that are intentionally designed to achieve those outcomes.
Collect and report your data.
Use data to improve your program and demonstrate its impact.
The most important thing to remember when presenting an outcome-based program (whether you are using California’s statewide outcomes or local outcomes or both) is:
If you want to achieve your program outcomes, you must design your programs with the outcomes in mind. Don’t just distribute your evaluation tools without previously designing your programs to achieve your outcomes:
Make sure staff are all aware of the outcomes you are trying to achieve.
If you are using the statewide outcomes, make sure your lunch programs are designed to connect families with library resources and help them feel healthy, happy, and safe at the program.
Resources at lunchatthelibrary.org:
An introduction to some of the ideas you will see in other presentations:
To achieve outcome one, library staff and volunteers should promote library services and resources to families who participate in the meal program. This might include some or all of the following activities:
hand out summer reading information, program schedules, and flyers;
sign-up families for summer reading;
hand out brochures, bookmarks and other materials containing information about the library, its programs, and resources;
talk one-on-one with families about library resources;
create a resource table full of library and community information;
engage families in literacy programs that are accompanying the meal service; and
issue personal invitations to families to come back for library storytimes and other programs.
To achieve outcome two, library staff and volunteers should focus on helping families feel healthy physically and emotionally during the program. Examples include the following:
create welcoming environments and ensure that staff and volunteers are friendly and helpful, for example, greet families as they arrive, say goodbye as they leave, and thank kids who throw away their trash;
display kids’ art on the wall;
talk with families about what they like and don’t like about the program;
engage families in programs and participate with them in sporting activities such as basketball and jump rope;
present programs focusing on healthy behaviors; and
train volunteers in being polite to families.
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

9. Resources Brief surveys for all ages – children, teens, and adults.
Survey Monkey link for entering data captured on print forms.
Personalized report of your library’s data.
Statewide data of the value and impact of California’s public library summer meal programs.
lunchatthelibrary.org
The Lunch at the Library project has developed a framework to make it as simple as possible for you to collect and report outcomes data. The framework was designed by librarians to be streamlined and easy to implement during the busy summer months.
Hand out the brief Lunch at the Library outcomes surveys to participating summer meal families — children, teens, and the adults who accompany them. The surveys should be distributed weekly, beginning midway through the program. In the later weeks, library staff and volunteers should ask participants if they have already completed the survey before handing it out, to help ensure that no one completes it twice.
Enter the data captured on the survey forms into a Survey Monkey survey that has been created for you by CLA staff. Data entry is another great job for teen volunteers.
CLA staff will export the data from SurveyMonkey in the fall and will send you a personalized report summarizing your library’s results.
CLA and CSMC will maintain a record of the volume and impact of public library summer meal programs in California.
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017

10. CONTACT
Natalie Cole
Library Programs Consultant, California State Library
Lunch at the Library is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It is a project of the California Library Association and California Summer Meal Coalition, supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. The Summer Food Service Program is a program of the United States Department of Agriculture, administered in California by the California Department of Education.
Thank you!
Lunch at the Library
February 2nd, 2017