Sheila B Robinson on Checking out Literature in AEA’s Public eLibrary

Hi! I’m Sheila B Robinson, aea365’s Lead Curator and sometimes Saturday contributor. Today, I want to remind you about a fabulous resource for evaluation-related content – the AEA Public eLibrary. I’ve always been impressed with this organization’s generous offering of evaluation resources to members and non-members alike, and the Public eLibrary is one of my favorites.

Your library is your paradise.

-Desiderius Erasmus

Now’s the time to look for that great presenter’s materials whether from a recent conference, coffee break webinar, or summer institute, or an event from a few years ago. Perhaps you’re just looking for something new to add to your knowledge base or inform your work around a specific evaluation-related topic. Today, I found 207 new uploads just since Evaluation 2013 started on October 16, and materials are added year-round.

Lesson Learned: In this library, no one will ask you to be quiet, there are no late fees, and food and drink are welcome all the time!

Hot Tip: Advanced search options. Try searching using advanced search options which allows you to search for materials by:

• term / keyword / phrase
• posted since date or posted before date
• author’s first or last name
• company name or email address
• specific tags or keyword
• event
• topical interest group (TIG)

Cool Trick: Author’s names are hyperlinks to their profiles where you can often see what they do, where they work, and access any other other materials they have contributed to the library.

I wanted to see if any of my favorite evaluators have uploaded some new content and here’s just some of what I found:

• Michael Quinn Patton’s slides from his presidential strand presentation: State of Qualitative Methods in the Early 21st Century, and slides from his presentation Developmental Evaluation in the 21st Century.
• Susan Kistler’s slides from her workshop: Survey Design 101.
• Kylie Hutchinson’s slides from her workshop: An Executive Summary is Not Enough and from her presentation 25 Tips for Better Conference Presentations.

Rad Resource: The AEA Public eLibrary. Check it out!

Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.