Complex Questions,Evolving Answers

SUMMARY

Since 2001, librarians at Oregon State University's Valley Library have been working to build a “teaching library” supported by a clearly articulated instruction program. From the start, we believed that we needed to assess the teaching library's impact, not only to determine the success or failure of our efforts but also to demonstrate the need for intentional, proactive information literacy instruction on our campus. No single assessment tool or method proved adequate to effectively measure student learning happening both inside and outside the library. We describe our evolving, multi-pronged approach to measuring the impact of the library on student learning in the context of current assessment practices in academic libraries and higher education.     

The rhetoric of campus architecture

Courses: Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasion, Rhetoric and Architecture, Visual Rhetoric.

Objectives: This single class activity is designed to raise student awareness about the rhetorical nature of architecture and campus planning; to shift student perceptions away from taking their physical surroundings as “a given” and toward seeing them as the product of strategic human choices and decision making; to foster a spirit of curiosity about how buildings can influence our emotions and behavior; and to reduce student uncertainty about unfamiliar course content.     

Using Blackboard for Training and Communicating with Student Employees

Abstract

The circulation staff at Staley Library, Millikin University, in Decatur, Illinois, experimented with using Blackboard courseware to train student employees. Staff and students' feedback offer additional ways to utilize Blackboard's features. Some promising applications for training and communicating with student employees are described. The student employees' Blackboard course page continues to evolve as an integral part of student employee training.     

Breaking Down Barriers for Student Parents and Caregivers with Family-Friendly Library Spaces

Abstract

In 2016, J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte opened a reservable study room where student parents and caregivers can study with their children on campus. In 2018, the library opened a second family-friendly study room to meet the needs of our growing campus community. To inform the room design, the library conducted a mixed methods research study that included a user survey, an examination of room reservation and usage data, and one-on-one user interviews. This paper focuses on the user-centered design process used to inform the development of the second, family-friendly, library study room.     

Matters of scale: small-scale intensive outreach to graduate students

Abstract

As an alternative to large-scale outreach events, three public services librarians created a series of small-scale outreach events aimed at educating graduate students about library services and increasing positive perceptions of the library. The librarians ran five events with a 2:1 student-to-librarian ratio, and one event with a 13:1 student-to-librarian ratio. Using pre- and post-event surveys, the librarians evaluated student knowledge and perceptions of library services. Events of both sizes indicated that graduate students valued the outreach events and perceived increased comfort with the library following the events. However, the events with 2:1 ratios resulted in higher perceived comfort levels and more interest in scheduling follow-up appointments with librarians than the 13:1 ratio event. The researchers of this case study conclude that small-scale events have positive benefits for graduate students and that outreach assessment can be used to justify the increased time and cost commitments that are necessary for small-scale outreach events.     

Assessing the Accessibility of Library Tools & Services When You Aren’t an Accessibility Expert: Part 2

Abstract

There are a few studies in library literature that explore accessibility issues from the perspective of students who use assistive technologies for accessibility. As we shared in part one of this two-part series in our column, librarians have extensively explored through usability studies with WAVE and other audit tools how accessible library websites and databases are when using assistive technologies like JAWS. In this column, we asked our blind student worker to journal his experiences navigating our library’s databases. We found this student navigated the databases better than we anticipated. While his experiences regarding the accessibility of the libraries’ electronic services varied, common issues he experienced included navigational issues from menus with expanding capabilities, documents that were not scanned with OCR, and images without alternative text.     

Communication,Collaboration, and Enhancing the Learning Experience: Developing a Collaborative Virtual Enquiry Service in University Libraries in the North of England

ABSTRACT

This article uses the case study of developing a collaborative “out-of-hours” virtual enquiry service by members of the Northern Collaboration Group of academic libraries in the north of England to explore the importance of communication and collaboration between academic library services in enhancing student learning. Set within the context of a rapidly changing UK higher education sector the article considers the benefits and challenges of collaboration and the contribution of library services to the student experience. The project demonstrated clear benefits to student learning and evidence of value for money to individual institutions as well as showing commitment to national shared services agendas. Effective communication with students, with colleagues and stakeholders in our own and other Northern Collaboration member institutions, and with OCLC, our partner organization, was a critical success factor in the development, promotion, and uptake of the new service.     

Meeting Students Where They Are: Just in Time Embedded Delivery of Information and Digital Literacy Skills

Abstract

At the University of Wollongong (UOW) Library we have been exploring ways to deliver information and digital literacy resources at point of need for students. Aligned with the University’s strategic direction, the Future Ready Library Strategy points to a digital first mindset and its application to services and resources offered to the UOW community. Combined with the need to embrace the real life challenges faced by higher education students in Australia today, this has led us to develop a suite of digital learning objects in collaboration with teaching academics that can be delivered at scale, enabling a sustainable way to target student needs. In this article, we discuss the drivers that have brought UOW Library to this point and outline the model for learning and teaching support for our academic community into the future.     

Picture perfect

ABSTRACT

The purchasing of student art for display in a library can enhance a building while supporting creative achievement and collaboration with art faculty. One small undergraduate library shares their process for obtaining student art as well as challenges.     

Defining rules and roles in instructional contexts: A preliminary assessment of student perceptions

The classroom across the academy suffers from a most unbalanced approach to instructional research. The vast majority of instructional research is grounded squarely in an instructor's point of view. The student perspective is often neglected or ignored. Adding a more robust student perspective to scholarly discourse on the rules and roles, the various procedural and behavioral patterns that emerge over time, appropriate to our understanding of the classroom would move us toward a more balanced understanding of the phenomena. This study employs a triangulated method to examine the views of rules and roles in the classroom held by 155 student participants. Results suggest that students view their own demands for rule‐following and role behavior as far less rigorous than those they perceive for instructors. The findings suggest that an overall re‐orientation of instruction to better facilitate classroom communication may well be in order.     

Finding the Balance in Online Library Instruction: Sustainable and Personal

ABSTRACT

The UCF Libraries are continually developing new forms of library instruction to meet the needs of a growing student body with the same number of librarians. These efforts attempt to find the balance between impersonal online tutorials and time-intensive embedded librarianship. The pros and cons of each model employed at our growing university are discussed, along with strategies to identify and implement sustainable library instruction in an academic library.     

A Practicum in Internet Training

Abstract

By designing an innovative practicum for a graduate information science student, a library can provide Internet training tailored to fit the specific needs of its college faculty and staff. In addition to program credit, a student gains bibliographic instruction experience in a real world, evolving library environment, and both institution and student benefit from a project that addresses the genuine needs of the institution.     

Building a Path to College Success: Advocacy,Discovery and OER Adoption in Emerging Educational Models

ABSTRACT

In this case study we will examine the role of the library in Open Educational Resources through the lens of library value described in Megan Oakleaf's 2010 ACRL report. While librarians in our organization have traditionally not played a role in textbook adoptions, the campus academic goal to increase online, blended and competency-based models is a strategic direction that intersects with the library's strategic vision to increase its contribution to online learning. Further, we will describe the process of building a partnership around OER with the campus Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and articulate the impact of our combined services on faculty adoption of OER and student success.     

A Library Research Course for Graduate and Professional Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders

SUMMARY

This article describes the formation and content of a required library and information research course for graduate and professional students enrolled in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Master of Arts degree program at Western Washington University. The course was created as a result of library assessment, student feedback, and faculty observations. In place since 2003, the curriculum continues to evolve and is sustained through the collaborative efforts of the library and the department faculty.     

Innovation and Collaboration Brings Forth a New Approach to Bibliographic Instruction—Teach the Teachers

ABSTRACT

In 1994, the librarians at the University of Toledo's Carlson Library developed a bibliographic instruction program that is both efficient and successful. “Teach the Teachers” has been implemented in the English Department's Composition classes where it depends on the collaborative efforts between librarians and classroom instructors in assuring solid student library skills. The program philosophy shifts a librarian's teaching efforts from teaching the student to teaching the instructor. Librarians empower classroom instructors with the knowledge to teach basic information retrieval skills. This paper will discuss the development of the program, as well as the techniques used by both librarians and classroom instructors.     

Connecting Students of the Present,Past, and Future: An Activist Approach to the Collection and Use of Student Documents in the University Archives

ABSTRACT

Student documents, including scrapbooks, diaries, and student organization records, are invaluable resources for the study of higher education, reform movements, and intellectual and social trends. Not only do they provide fodder for scholarship and classroom instruction, these materials serve the multi-faceted research needs of administrators, alumni, and the community. In order to document student experience fully, it is essential that archivists and librarians institute an innovative outreach program that underlines the importance of maintaining and utilizing student related documents, and in the process actively engages students, faculty, administrators, and alumni in the archives' program.     

Graduate student confidence following a for-credit systematic review course pilot

Background:In 2015, librarians at Purdue University began fielding requests from many disciplines to consult or collaborate on systematic review projects, and in 2016, health sciences librarians led the launch of a formal systematic review service. In 2019, Purdue University Libraries was reorganized as the Libraries and School of Information Studies (PULSIS) and assigned its own course designation, ILS. The increase in calls for systematic review services and the ability to teach ILS courses inspired the development of a credit-bearing ILS systematic review course.Case presentation:We designed, taught, and assessed a one-credit systematic review course for graduate students, using a backward-design course development model and applying self-determination theoretical concepts into lessons, assignments, and assessments. Using qualitative pre- and post-assessments, we discovered a variety of themes around student motivations, expectations, and preferences for the course. In quantitative post-class assessments, students reported improved confidence in all systematic review processes, with the highest confidence in their ability to choose and use citation management managers, describe the steps in the systematic review process, and understand the importance of a reproducible and systematic search strategy.Conclusions:We considered our pilot a success. Next steps include testing 2- and 3-credit- hour models and working to formally integrate the course into departmental and certificate curriculums. This case report provides a model for course design principles, learning outcomes, and assessments that librarians and library administrators can use to adjust their systematic review services.     

Going Where the Students Are

Summary

Increased student use of the Internet and declining reference desk statistics are factors encouraging academic reference librarians to look for new ways to reach patrons. Web-based customer contact center software gives librarians the tools to provide interactive, 24/7 reference service to Internet users. This article describes how the library at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona developed its live/web reference service. We discuss the factors that encouraged us to launch the service, the challenges that we encountered along the way, and examples of our experiences to date.     

Affective learning,teacher clarity,and student motivation as a function of attributional confidence

This study examined the differences in student affective learning, teacher clarity, and student motivation as a function of attributional confidence. More specifically, the degree to which students’ report being able to predict the behavior of his/her teacher should be related to affect toward course and instructor, teacher clarity, and student motivation. Results indicated significant positive correlations between attributional confidence and affective learning, student motivation, and teacher clarity. Results are discussed in terms of implications for Uncertainty Reduction Theory.     

Implementing Cost Effective Electronic Course Reserves in an Academic Library

ABSTRACT

This paper describes how one academic library implemented electronic course reserves while keeping costs to a minimum. The system was implemented using a web page to provide links to electronic files in PDF format mounted on a Unix web server. Copyright restrictions and user access are issues that need to be addressed by any library considering e-reserves. In the face of positive faculty and student reaction to this new library service, one challenge that remains is raising public awareness so that more members of our university community may take advantage of this technology.