The EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) has released two new 'Small Bites' training videos for public librarians and public library trainers on the topic, Library project development. Both videos focus on writing project reports for donors, and may also be useful for other kinds of libraries that have implemented projects and are writing reports. 

The presenter is Ramune Petuchovaite, who, in her role as Manager of EIFL-PLIP, has reviewed many project reports and identified common challenges that public librarians face in writing reports. She draws on this experience to discuss how public librarians can overcome these challenges. 

Writing a strong narrative report for your library project (8 min 52 sec),  presents the outline of a standard narrative report structure, and covers the main sections: Introduction, Implementation and Results. Ramune emphasises that reports should pay special attention to the Results section, and include information about outputs, outcomes, lessons learned during implementation, and the future sustainability of the project as a new library service. 

In the video, Reporting on the outcomes of your library project (10 min 56 sec), Ramune observes that public librarians often struggle to report on the outcomes (or impact) of their projects. She shares tips for reporting on outcomes and highlights the kinds of evidence that funders expect libraries to provide to show that outcomes have been achieved.

The videos are part of the EIFL-PLIP ‘Small Bites’ series of seven training videos on public library project development. The other videos in the series are - 

• Crafting clear goals and objectives for a project (5 min 45 sec) 
• Building a work plan for your library project (7 min 43 sec)
• Describing results and choosing indicators for your library project (8 min 16 sec)
• Developing a realistic budget for your library project (10 min 14 sec)
• Writing a budget justification for your library project (9 min 33 sec)

Visit our YouTube channel where you will find more EIFL-PLIP Small Bites videos, on the topics Organizing library training programmes and Library performance and outcomes evaluation. Get back to us at  plip@eifl.net if you found the format and content useful, or if you have any other feedback.