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Training

¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøstaff will host an all-day orientation workshop at ALA’s Annual Conference. Those who are unable to attend the orientation workshop should view the following:

We will also be offering additional virtual training over the course of the grant. These may include additional information about the affordable connectivity program, digital literacy programming, and financial capability programming. You will be notified of these as they become available.

Program Evaluation

¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøis working with PIE: Plan, Implement, Evaluate to study how Community Connect impacts internet access, use, digital literacy, and financial capability. The evaluation team’s goal is to collect data to understand the patron experience and learning outcomes throughout the grant period and provide feedback to help ALA’s Public Programs Office, the Public Library Association, EveryoneOn, Capital One and libraries advance their goals. We greatly appreciate your commitment to this work.

The Community Connect program will include a formal evaluation of the implementation and impact of this program. Libraries who receive this grant will be required to work collaboratively with our third-party evaluation partners to do the following:

• Track program attendance, hotspot circulation, and laptop lending
• Implement pre- and post-surveys for both library staff and program participants
• Take part in interviews with the third-party evaluation team, if needed
• Identify program participants for potential interviews by the third-party evaluation team

Attendance, surveys, and interviews will help ¹ú²úÊÓƵÍølearn about its impact and improve this program in the future. Key questions that will guide this evaluation are the following:

• How was the program implemented?
• What was the impact of this program? How did the hotspots, laptops and/or programming support participants?
• How can this program be improved?

¹ú²úÊÓƵÍøand third-party evaluation team will work in partnership with selected libraries and support them throughout the evaluation process. For any questions during the program about any of the evaluation work, including any specific support needed by libraries, please reach out to publicprograms@ala.org.

Hotspot and Laptop Lending Survey

This is a survey for library patrons who check out a hotspot and/or laptop. Please ask all patrons to fill it out upon returning the device(s). There are three formats you can use to gain their responses, please feel free to use any or all that you feel will best ensure a robust response from your patrons:

• that you provide to patrons with the hotspot/laptop, for them to return with the device can be downloaded and printed out as needed. On a regular basis, perhaps monthly, please scan and email the surveys to Anna Marin at anna@pieorg.org.
• An you can email to hotspot/laptop users (the answers go directly to PIE Org), or
• A you can offer, which will take people who scan it to the online survey.

All the survey formats, as well as Spanish language versions, are available in this .

Pre-Program Form

The pre-program form needs to be completed at least 45 days prior to the start of your programs. The form will be available online using the same platform where you submitted your application: . If you have a program accessing the online report form, please contact publicprograms@ala.org

You can find a PDF preview of the Pre-Programs Form here for you to reference as you prepare your answers. The report must be submitted via the online report form.

Final Report Form

The final report should also be completed online using . If you have a program accessing the online report form, please contact publicprograms@ala.org. This form is due by September 2, 2024.

You can find a PDF preview of the Final Report here for you to reference as you prepare your answers. The report must be submitted via the online report form.