- Assessment: any evaluative resource (process, tools, expertise, text) used to examine and clarify organizational operations and goals with a view to enhancing their effectiveness.
- Benchmarking: a comparitive analysis of operations and goals across similar organizations and institutions designed to help determine best local practices.
- Goal: is an endeavor that a group is committed to work towards (A goal is what the library works towards long term)
- Inputs: are generally regarded as the raw materials of a library program-the money, space, collection, equipment, and staff, out of which a program can arise
- Measure: is a way to evaluate progress made toward an outcome (e.g. conduct a faculty survey with the objective of assessing the availability of electronic resources in a discipline)
- Outcome: is a measurable change that occurs among people being served by your program in support of a goal (outcomes are changes that occur in library users)
- Outputs: serve to quantify the work done, i.e., number of books circulated, number of reference questions answered
- Standards: accrediting criteria established and disseminated by professional organizations and bodies, officially defining the practices, status rights, duties, and responsibilities of members within a profession or professional organization.