Call for Articles "It's Academic" column, PaLA Bulletin

Are you doing something new and innovative at your academic library? Have you recently researched a new and exciting trend in the academic library world? Are you looking for an opportunity to be published in the library literature?

If so, please consider submitting an article to the “It's Academic” column of the PaLA Bulletin. This publication is indexed in the Library Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database. Articles generally range in length from 1,000 to 1,500 words and should report on an issue that is relevant to academic librarians working in Pennsylvania.

Please send inquiry e-mails to both of the co-editors of the "It's Academic!" column:

--Rachel Masilamani: rpm18@psu.edu (Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus)

--Larissa Gordon: gordonl@arcadia.edu (Arcadia University)

PaLA CRD Webinar: User Assessment and User Studies

Dates & Time: December 15 from 2-4pm AND December 16 from 2-4pm (Webinar format is two 2-hour sessions)

Instructor: Erin Mayhood, Head, Music Library at University of Virginia

Description: In this workshop participants will learn how to transition their libraries into institutions that embrace assessment and user centered design. Specifically, we will learn how to:

1. incorporate users' expectations and needs into the program design process
   
2. understand and employ the basic methods of gathering user requirements data, including surveys, card sorts, focus groups, and usability testing
   
3. employ user requirements data in decision making and planning processes
   
4. keep up to date with ever-changing user demographics 5. incorporate user requirements data into library assessment programs

Cost: No cost to attend! The College & Research Division is able to provide this webinar through LSTA funds. Transportation cost to the webinar location is not included.

To Register: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGNlZy1OVDVSb0M4bjNTWi1RbHd0THc6MQ

Questions? Contact: Bonnie Oldham at bonnie.oldham@scranton.edu

This workshop has been fully funded with Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries and would not have been possible without the help of the College and Research Division of PaLA. Show your appreciation by becoming a member of PaLA! And if you are a member – thank you!

Blogging to Develop Your Digital Identity: Crafting Your Personal Brand

This was a session from the 2010 Annual PaLA Conference held Sunday, October 24, 2010 - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 in Lancaster PA. 

A panel of four librarians, Erin Dorney, Peter Coyl, Amy Pajewski, and Tara Murrary shared their insights for using blogging as a way to extend one's personal brand and provide a strong digital presence.  Each had different experiences and advice.

Peter Coyl started the panel discussion off.  Peter is currently a librarian at the Hsinchu International School in Taiwan.  He is a 2010 MLIS Drexel graduate, where he was awarded the Doris Keller Hossler endowed Fellowship.  His blog is called Adventures of a Guybrarian.  Peter started blogging back in 2004 and his current blog he started in 2009.  He started his blog primarily to be his digital portfolio.  He feels blogging is a great way to stay connected, especially since he is a librarian in another country.  Some other blogs he follows include Will Unwound, The Unquiet Librarian, Library Grits, and Dear Librarian.

Next up was Erin Dorney, a Syracuse graduate and Millersville University Outreach librarian, whose blog is called Library Scenester, which she began in 2007.  She addresses the 'would anyone really read it' thought with "If you are passionate about what you write, people will follow you."  She see blogging as an doorway for many opportunities, such as involvement in professional organizations, requests for more writings and publications, networking, friendship, and support.  She also offered some great advice:

• tie the physical to the virtual (don't silo yourself)
• be genuine and be professional
• monitor the conversation
• leverage social networking

Amy Pajewski followed Erin.  Amy is currently finishing her MLS at Clarion University.  She is a single mom and a full-time debt collector, but is actively seeking employment in the library field.  Her blog is called Adventures of a LIS Student, which she started in March of 2010.  She blogs primarily on things such as being a student, job searching, and her thoughts on things she read or learned about in the library literature.  She sees a blog as an opportunity to go beyond your traditional CV (Curriculum Vitae).  She sees two very positive benefits to blogging as always having a ready writing sample to offer and as a great way to establish relationships.

Last, but certainly not least for the panel presentation, was Tara Murray, the Director of Information Services at the American Philatelic Research Library (located in Bellefonte, PA).  Tara not only has a personal blog, DIY Librarian, but also participates in several group blogs.  She was very fortunate as blogging actually helped her get her job as the library wanted to start a new blog and she already had that kind of experience.  Some blogs that she followed early on (and still) include Jessamyn West's blog, librarian.net, and Meredith Farkas' blog Information Just Wants to be Free.  Tara's two main pieces of advice are to be yourself and to imagine that your boss, patrons, or mom are reading the post before you actually make it public.

The panel left time for Q&A and there were many questions, such as how to get started, how to find time, what to write about, etc.  The panel provided a very informed presentation on blogging and many left this session motivated to start! 

What They Know...And What They Need to Know

This session focused on the research and information skills of first-year college students.


During the first part of the presentation, Linda Neyer, Health Sciences/Science Librarian at Bloomsburg University, and Allison Burrell, Librarian at Southern Columbia Area High School reported on the results of a survey completed by academic librarians about their perceptions of the research skills of incoming freshmen as compared to the skills that the librarians identified as most important for these students to be successful.A quick poll of the forty or so attendees confirmed findings of the survey that "evaluate information critically and competently" was the most important information literacy standard. In fact, the consensus of the survey was that the most important skills were the least in evidence, and the attendees agreed.

Terry Mech, King's College Library Director, used the second part of the presentation to discuss the results of an information literacy assessment tool that over the past seven years has collected responses from 3,800 students at six different institutions. Data gleaned from these assessments corroborated the responses to Linda and Allison's survey--incoming freshmen do not know how to "evaluate information and sources critically. Terry then looked at what factors might have contributed to the variation in test scores and found that students' high school curriculum may be a major factor.

For more information on this topic, go to the Google Site created by Linda and Allison: PA info lit learning community

New Member Reception

CRD Board Members Linda Neyer, 2011 Vice Chair, Amy Deuink, 2009 Chair, and Cynthia Slater, 2010 Chair get together at the New Member Reception at the PaLA 2010 Annual Conference in Lancaster.

Assessing Assignments: The Library as Partner in Campus Wide Assessments

Beth Transue and Beth Mark, Messiah College
1401 syllabi were analyzed, under direction of provost, in addition to looking at info lit outcomes, also looked at:

1. clear statement of clear objectives (96% did)
2. whether syllabus included integrity policy (66% did not)
3. statement about ADA disabilities statement
4. grading scales (about 30% did not include info)
5. course management systems - about 12% mention (from 2006)
6. writing center - did they refer students? .2% require, 9% recommend
7. learning center - .1% require, 8% recommend

For library, looked for mention of
-library and library instruction - 9% (have 5 librarians)
-information literacy - 11%
-reserves - 13% list items on reserve
-websites and databases - 22% recommended websites, 2% recommend databases (but not all library databases)
-citation styles - 24% mention; APA, MLA, 'other'

Gen ed had the largest number of syllabi

Some syllabi had assignment info, but not enough for collection development purposes
Solution: collect separate assignment information

Unplanned benefits
-appreciation of provost
-request to present data to Academic Council (deans and admin)
-subsequently presented to two schools within college
-raised visibility of librarians as campus stakeholders
-prepared the way for expanded project (assignment analysis)

What we learned -- begin planning at least a year in advance when dealing with other academic offices

Library Assignment Analysis Project
-meet with provost again, who approved the project
-asked to present proposal to school deans for their buy-in and for them to be communication channel to depts.
-deans agreed, recommended timeline and wording changes
-one dean suggested using a form faculty could fill out in lieu of submitting written assignment directions (problem will be that you can't see what they are handing out)

Got good return (about 1/2 by spring 2010), again used a student work to extract data
842 assignments
Assignment types:
research paper & presentations most common types of assignment, in addition reserve readings, reflection essay, 'other' (if an assignment students had to complete required use library resources, should have been included, but faculty may not have realized)

-page length by course level did increase over 4 years (used minimum number e.g. 5-8, entered '5')
-number of sources by assignment type
-number of sources by course level (leveled out for 2 - 4th years) may be due to faculty not 'spelling it out' for students
-where forms where used, some narrative info was lost, but did provide info not included in some written assignments
-individual follow up provided opportunities to raise awareness of faculty regarding unknown library resources

Interesting project; unfortunately I could not stay till the end.

Going Mobile: Putting your library in the hands of your patrons

Ronalee Ciocco, Director of User Services & Jessica Howard, Reference & Web Services Librarian Gettysburg College

Ronalee and Jessica talked about how they have developed their mobile web site and the content for it.

Background:
1/3 of current U.S. population currently uses mobile phones -- and more and more are using to access the Internet.

Currently, less than 1/2 percent of library 'hits' are via mobile devices at Gettysburg

Library Success Wiki has lots of examples of library web sites - they looked at these sites; some of the concerns they identified:
-response time, esp. with lots of images
-text is so small, hard to read
-didn't want to make entire site available on the mobile site; small number of choices preferred

Gettysburg College had used (free) iWebKit to create a CSS for college mobile pages, also developed an iPhone app aimed at prospective students, and the library was able to tap into that.

They asked themselves, 'What do our users want?'
They surveyed users in spring and fall 2010, asking them what library resources or services they wanted to access, what device they are using, and who they are

Got about 28 responses, not a lot, mostly students
1/2 used iPhone/iPod Touch
1/4 used Blackberry
1/4 used Android, Palm, or other device

Survey results -- what users want:
-top choices: library catalog & renewing items
-surprise choice: databases

Databases:
Start small -- just one or two large, interdisciplinary ones
Testing other mobile databases/tools
Track use of those they've implemented

Tracking usage of particular resources

Mobile marketing
-doing a homepage redirect, if users have a mobile device
-traditional PR campaign
-marketing plan -- marketing committee

They are considering using LibGuides for their mobile web page, but need to evaluate it.

Partnering to Introduce eBooks into a Graduate Education Course

Ronald Musoleno, Ph.D., Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies spoke first about the use of Kindles for all the course readings

25 Kindles -- required some accommodations for the graduate educational leadership course:

• converted all journal readings to pdfs (need DX model for this)
• had a librarian demonstrate how to use the Kindle, and Ron put links to tutorials in his ANGEL course
• after purchases, they had to disassociate credit card from Kindle

They developed pre- and post-surveys, and librarian (Delores) administered so grades were not a concern for students.

They analyzed the survey data to evaluate the pilot

People liked Kindle because it saved them time and money, and was a 'green' alternative. It also allowed them greater access to materials anytime, anywhere, and everything was all together in the same place, easier to make connections between texts. A certain camaderie occurred amongst students.

Students also got a view of how ebooks can be used in ed, felt it gave their careers a 'leg up'
The course was on technology, and students liked that it was hands-on

Post-Survey
Similar to pre-survey
There is an ADA issue, several universities had been sued, so the grad school could not make it mandatory if someone couldn't use it, but there were none who didn't
(Case was settled, with the universities agreeing to note make use mandatory)
Actually, some people liked that Kindles were physically easier to use (large print, e.g.)

Results
-paradigm shift, no pencils or paper
-students saw direct connections to instructional and administrative uses
-raised the level of what students thought about the grad program
-some people still like the physical form
-thought it would be good for reluctant readers

There were some mixed attitudes. Most were happy with it, but some still preferred using a physical book

Delores had selected some readings for the course, based on the syllabus, but not all things were available for Kindle
-drawback was that Kindle was in black and white (only an issue of color images are needed)
-students could only keep for 2 weeks at a time, but they also needed to have the book
-hasn't been enough Kindles for the class size

Kindles are a little easier to circulate than the I-pad

Library procedures
-Purchased Kindle DX model due to pdfs
-Library purchase card was used
---worked with Penn State Libraries to facilitate purchase procedures
-Loading Kindles
---Setting up accounts
------lots of help from MIT (Delores is very willing to help anyone who wants to do this)
------separate email for each Kindle (when you buy on Kindle, can use on 5 devices, didn't want to do this)
---How do we prevent students from purchasing on the Kindle?
------after purchases, disassociate credit card from Kindle

What was on the Kindle
-text book
-required and suggested readings
-reserves were downloaded as a pdf from database
-purchased a copy of book for each

Logistics of circulation
-reserving Kindles had to be done manually
-checking on them when they're returned to make sure everything was still there
-cost if lost; a concern, but just have to trust users
-ADA issues

There is a list of libraries circulating Kindles, although Amazon's official policy is that they should not be circulated.

Penn State emails:
Delores Fidishun dxf19 (at) psu (dot) edu
Ron Musoleno rrm18 (at) psu (dot) edu

EXTRA
Library has a site within their course management program for handouts, etc.

Conference coming, Oh my!

The emails have been coming fast and furious, reminding us about this and that event at the PaLA 2010 Annual Conference, which begins Sunday, October 24th, in Lancaster. If you're at all like me, you are just now mapping out your schedule. So to help you, here's a schedule of events that are either being sponsored by the CRD or that the CRD is participating in.

If you'd like like to blog any event at the conference, and you are a member of the CRD but not a blog member yet, just send me an email (lneyer (at) bloomu (dot) edu) and ask for an 'invitation'.

See you soon!

Sunday Oct 24

2:00–3:00pm Partnering to Introduce eBooks into a Graduate Education Course

3:15–4:15pm Going Mobile: Putting Your Library in the Hands of Your Patrons

4:30–5:30pm Assessing Assignments: The Library as Partner in Campus-Wide Assessments

4:30–5:15pm Conference 101

7:30–10:00pm President's Program & Reception

Monday Oct 25

9:00–10:15am What They Know and What They Should Know: Research and Information Skills of First-Year College Students

10:30–11:45am Search Strategies of Millennial Undergraduates on the Web and in Library Databases

1:00–2:00pm Poster Sessions

12:00–2:00pm Pennysylvania Community College Library Consortium (PCCLC) Luncheon

1:00–2:00pm Poster Sessions

5:00 - ??? pm Tentative dine-out for CRD (check back for more info)

Tuesday Oct 26

9:00–10:00am Information Literacy through a Looking Glass: Assessment of a First-Year Experience Program for At-Risk Students

10:00–11:00amVisit the Exhibits!

11:00am–12:00pm You Can Be a Game Designer: Creating 3D Games to Teach Information Literacy Concepts

12:15–2:00pm College & Research Division Luncheon

2:00–3:00pm Visit the Exhibits/Vendor Showcases/Raffle Drawings

3:00–4:00pm Levity in the Library: Incorporating Humor in Instruction Without Being Robin Williams

4:00–5:00pmPoster Sessions

6:00–9:30pmAnnual Awards Banquet(advance registration required)

Wednesday Oct 27

9:00–10:15am Blogging to Develop Your Digital Identity: Crafting Your Personal Brand

9:00–10:15am "Yes, This IS a Real Job and You DO Need to Show Up on Time!" How to Hire, Train, and Retain Excellent Student Employees

10:15–11:15am Visit the Exhibits/Vendor Showcases

11:15am–12:30pm TEDx and Libraries: A Perfect Partnership for Community Engagement

12:45–2:45pmClosing Luncheon

New Co-Editors of "It's Academic!" Column

The CRD Board is pleased to announce that Rachel Masilamani and Larissa Gordon are the new co-editors of the "It's Academic!" column in the PaLA Bulletin, effective January 2011. Both are 2010 graduates of PALS. Rachel is Reference Librarian at the J. Clarence Kelly Library of Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus, and Larissa is Information Literacy Coordinator & Reference Librarian at the Landman Library of Arcadia University.

The Board is looking forward to their contributions. Please join us in welcoming them aboard and congratulating them!

--Linda Neyer, "It's Academic!" out-going editor and Vice-Chair Elect of the CRD

CRD Election Results

The results of the PaLA CRD elections are in. Linda Neyer was elected Vice Chair/Chair elect and Mary Lou Patrick was elected Secretary. Their terms begin in January 2011. Congratulations to both of you!

CRD officers for 2011:

Chair: Bonnie Oldham, Information Literacy Coordinator, The University of Scranton
Vice Chair: Linda Neyer, Health Sciences/Science Librarian, Bloomsburg University
Treasurer: Erin Dorney, Outreach Librarian, Millersville University
Secretary: Mary Lou Patrick, Reference Librarian, Altoona Campus, The Pennsylvania State University

Students: Web Savvy?

clipped from www.northwestern.edu

Not as Web Savvy as You Think

Young people give Google, other top brand search results too much credibility

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Google it. That's what many college students do when asked to read an excerpt of a play for class, write a resume or find the e-mail address of a politician.

They trust Google so much that a Northwestern University study has found many students only click on websites that turn up at the top of Google searches to complete assigned tasks. If they don't use Google, researchers found that students trust other brand-name search engines and brand-name websites to lead them to information.

The study was published by the International Journal of Communication.

Read the article.

Information Commons in the Wild: Lessons from the Field

The Information Commons was the theme of CRD’s 2010 spring conference. The program began with a presentation by Scott Bennett, who has written and consulted widely on

library space planning. As one of the founders of Project Muse, Bennett fostered some of the changes in information use that are driving innovations in the use of library space.

In his keynote session, Dr. Bennett noted that the concept of a learning commons is not just about space, it’s a philosophy. He posed some pivotal questions that libraries should consider prior to undertaking an information or learning commons project. The systematic gathering of data about student behavior and about how students learn being the most important question to ensuring the creation of a successful information or learning commons. He suggests that this data will reveal that librarians should stop thinking of students as information consumers. Instead, we should think of students as learners. The library focus would then be on accommodating the learning needs of students, and reference librarians would see their role as collaborators with student learners.

The afternoon session consisted of a panel of administrators who have already implemented an information/learning commons at their libraries or who are in the process of building one representing a variety of size and type of institution. The panel included: Don Smith, Dean of the Library at the University of Louisiana at Monroe; Katherine Furlong, Associate Director for Access & Administrative Services at Lafayette College; Sally Kalin, Associate Dean for University Park Libraries, Pennsylvania State University; and Anuradha Vedantham, Director of the Weigle Information Commons at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Bennett served as panel moderator.

One attendee commented, "The workshop gave me a lot to think about. I especially appreciated the idea of using what you have - but using it better - rearranging + improving facility to make it more learner-centered."

CRD will be posting Dr. Bennett's presentation as well as a list of publications that he mentioned on the CRD Web site in the near future. We will also post several of the panelists' slide shows.

CRD Board Candidates for 2011

Following are the PaLA-CRD members running for the CRD Board for 2011. More information on the candidates will be posted here before the elections, so watch this space!

VICE-CHAIR/CHAIR ELECT:

Calida Barboza, Instruction/Reference Librarian, Kings College, Wilkes-Barre

I am an Instruction/Reference Librarian at King's College (Wilkes-Barre, PA) and a graduate of the first PaLA Academy of Leadership Studies (PALS) class. As a result of speaking with academic librarians about how PaLA can meet their needs, I decided that I'd like to be more involved in the College & Research Division. I am currently the Intellectual Freedom Chair of the PaLA Northeast Chapter and a member of the Chapter's Membership Committee. I was recently part of a panel on the PALS experience at the Chapter workshop and at the 2009 Conference. Since joining PaLA in 2007, I was awarded a PaLA Brodart Conference Grant to attend the 2007 Conference and volunteered at the CyberSuite during the 2009 Conference. I am also involved with the ACRL Virtual Conference Committee and two ALA New Members Round Table committees. I earned an MSLIS from Drexel University, an MA in English from Youngstown State University, and a BA in English from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Valerie Lynn, Head Librarian, Hazleton Campus, The Pennsylvania State University

After serving as the Instruction Librarian at the George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library at the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine for approximately four years, I was recently promoted to Head Librarian at the Penn State Hazleton campus. I hold a Master of Science degree in Instructional Technology from Bloomsburg University and attended the Dartmouth College, Evidence-Based Medicine Institute, last year.

Linda Neyer, Health Sciences/Science Librarian, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

As editor of the College & Research Division's "It's Academic!" column in the PaLA Bulletin, I have been actively involved on the Board since 2003. I'm especially proud of my role in getting the Bulletin indexed in EBSCOhost's Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, a free database. As a member of the PaLA Membership Committee, I've also worked on ways to promote the value of a PaLA membership to academic librarians. One of my current interests is to explore ways of increasing collaboration between school librarians and academic librarians within Pennsylvania. I think PaLA provides an ideal forum for this collaboration!

SECRETARY:

Karen Cook, Assistant Professor, Library Science Department, Clarion University of Pennsylvania

I am running for PaLA-CRD Secretary because I believe strongly in the importance of the Association and that I have the requisite experience and skills to make a positive contribution to the Division's good work for our academic library community and the Pennsylvania Library Association. During twenty years of active involvement with professional library organizations at the state (Indiana, Alabama, and Louisiana, and now Pennsylvania), regional, and national levels, I have had the honor to be elected to various offices, including Secretary of national ALA/Exhibites Round Table; I have also served as secretary for other entities (academic, professional, and governmental) on numerous occasions. I thank you for your consideration, and hope to have the opportunity to serve you and PaLA-CRD as Secretary.

Lizah Ismail, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Public Services, Marywood University, Scranton

Lizah Ismail is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Public Services at the Marywood University Library in Scranton, Pa. In her current position, she supervises circulation services, oversees reference services and teaches information literacy classes. She is a Board member of the Pennsylvania Library Association Northeast Chapter and serves on the Membership, Distance Learning and Communications committee of the ACRL College Libraries Division. Lizah has published in the area of library use and needs of Millennial as well as non-traditional/adult students and has written several reviews of library online resources. She received her MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and her MA in Communications from the Annenberg School for Communication , University of Pennsylvania.

Jennifer V. Luksa, Head of Collection Resource Management, Bevevino Library, Misericordia University, Dallas

I am the Head of Collection Resource Management at Misericordia University where I have been employed for over 16 years. I received my MLS from Drexel University in 2008, and I am a graduate of the inaugural class of the Pennsylvania Academy for Leadership Studies (PALS). I served on last year's PaLA Scholarship Committee, and I have served on numerous committees at Misericordia. As an academic librarian, I see numerous challenges ahead as the concept of "library as space" changes with the development of new technologies. CRD provides the opportunity for all academic librarians in Pennsylvania to share ideas and give support as we meet these challenges.

Mary Lou Patrick, Reference Librarian, Robert E. Eiche Library, Altoona Campus, The Pennsylvania State University

As a candidate for the office of PaLA CRD Secretary, I would like to introduce myself. At Penn State Altoona, I am a reference and instruction librarian and the collection development coordinator for the Robert E. Eiche Library. I also serve as a member of Penn State University’s Alumni Library Board. Previously, I worked as a reference, instruction, and collection development librarian with Pennsylvania Highlands Community College (PHCC). During that time, I was elected to two terms as recording secretary for PHCC’s Faculty Senate. I also served as a Senate Curriculum Committee member and as the Senate’s coordinator for its Blackboard site and Web page. My academic credentials include a Master of Science degree in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts degree in Adult Education and Communications Technology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It would be an honor to contribute to the work of the Division as CRD Secretary, and if elected I would conscientiously strive to fulfill my duties and responsibilities.

Librarians do Gaga

This video from University of Washington's Information School is making the rounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uzUh1VT98

We No Longer Have Librarians

Fortunately most college and university presidents realize the value of librarians. Michael MacDowell, Misericordia University President, apparently is not one of these enlightened people. In response to the question, "How has technology affeced libraries at colleges?" President MacDowell stated, "We no longer have librarians or head librarians." MacDowell was being interviewed by a reporter from The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA because he will be receiving a special achievement award from The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

MacDowell further states that while "...students themselves come [to college] with a great deal of ability to use technology in communications...sometimes the students pick up things on the Internet and determine that they're definitive and they aren't."

One of the reasons that academic librarians are recognized as valuable resources is because they are the ones who are teaching Information Literacy skills to the students on their campuses. While all students may know how to use Google and Wikipedia, many of then don't know how to find a book or how to find an article in a scholarly journal. Or even know what a scholarly journal is. They can't synthesize the information they do find when they are writing papers, and they don't know how to give credit to the sources that they use. Where do students gain these skills? Why from librarians of course!

ASSESS THIS! What, How and Who Cares? Presented by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the ACRL

ASSESS THIS! What, How and Who Cares? Presented by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the ACRL

April 16, 2010 10:00-3:30

Speakers: Peter Hernon and Stephen Spohn

Panel discussion by Nonny Schlotzhauer (Penn State); Melissa Gold and Scott Anderson (Millersville University); Ruth Perkins, Krista Prock and Karen Wanamaker (Kutztown University)

Dr. Hernon (a prolific speaker and author of 45 books) brought fresh perspectives to the assessment conundrum such as how to examine program learning (not course learning), i.e. specific to each discipline; consider direct evidence (not indirect evidence like self-reporting), reflect on outcomes (not outputs), and identify the stakeholders (parents, accrediting bodies, taxpayers, school boards, students, etc.). Read Assessing Service Quality: Satisfying the Expectations of Library Customers (2010) by Peter Hernon & Ellen Altman for more information.

Innovative ideas for direct evidence include asking faculty to write a quality story, students generating a portfolio, and students participating in internships. Assessment is a continuous process of data collection—not a onetime survey. San Francisco Public Library is a good example of an online survey that patrons can complete at any time (http://sfpl.org/ "Take Our Survey"). Counting Opinions is a commercial company that was recommended by Dr. Hernon that provides an instrument for continuous data collection and is customizable.

The planning documents at Sawyer Library, Suffolk University serve as an excellent university assessment model which includes an Institutional Accountability plan as well as Student Learning Outcomes plus a Long Range Plan.

Consider the following query which should be answered collaboratively with other departments of the university: What impact does the library have across the university?

Stephen Spohn’s afternoon presentation reinforced one aspect of Peter Hernon’s concepts: decide who the stakeholders are and solicit feedback from them. Additional planning includes: identifying trends/long term goals and generating actionable data.

Millersville University is collecting student artifacts such as videos, research papers, and tests. The IL rubric from the Association of American Colleges and Universities will be useful in analyzing them. One measure is to document the percentage of resources in student bibliographies that were derived from the Library. Penn State convened a Library Assessment Metrics Council and Kutztown University engaged external reviewers (who were from a library that Kutztown wanted to model).

[Thanks to Carol Videon for guest writing this post.]

This workshop was partially funded with Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries and would not have been possible without the help of the College and Research Division of PaLA.

Best Practices in Library Instruction

Doug Cook and Ryan L. Sittler took a tag team approach to their keynote presentation at the PaLA Library Instruction Roundtable (LIRT) workshop on April 16, 2010. They used some hands-on examples from their book, The Library Instruction Cookbook (published in 2009 by ACRL) to demonstrate how easy it is to incorporate active learning into information literacy instruction. Some techniques included using the Telephone Game to determine where primay sources end and secondary sources begin, using clues placed in coffee cans to determine which database would be the best for specific questions, and writing a haiku poem as a form of self-reflection about one's research.

Doug is Reference Librarian/Professor at Shippensburg University, and Ryan isInstructional Technology/Information Literacy Librarian /Assistant Professor at California University of Pennsylvania. If you weren't able to attend Friday's program, you can sign up for their Preconference, Practical Pedagogy for Library Instructors, which will be held from 1:00 to 4:30pm on Friday, June 25 at the ALA Annual Conference.

Following the keynote speakers was a Best Practices Panel. Larissa Gordon shared how Arcadia University Library used mini-grants to foster faculty-librarian collaboration; Margaret Montet and Willliam Hemmig shared how they enhance an embedded eBrarian program at Bucks County Community College; and Kelley Beeson shared how the Allegheny County Library Assoication used 23 Things-n'at to create an non-threatening environment for library staff to learn about Web 2.0 technologies.

A second panel featuring assessment followed the lunch break. In addition to Hedra Packman, who spoke about how the Free Library of Philadelphia uses a variety of methods to assess the variety of instruction programs they provide, there were two presentaions on assessment in academic libraries. Tom Reinsfelder, from the Mont Alto Campus of Penn State, explained how PSU used the SAILS Test for incoming students at select PSU campuses. They administered the test before any Information Literacy instruction had been done in order to establish a baseline for students' knowledge about Information Literacy. This enabled them to identify what was the most important skill set for librarians to teach. When asked about testing upper level students, Tom indicated that it would be difficult to re-test the same students since the original test was administered throught faculty class time. Olga Conneen presented a rubric that the library is using to assess student learning outcomes for a library assignment in the "Achieving the Dream" program at Northampton Ccommunity College. Though active learning, she demonstrated how the librarians were able to improve this assignment by evaluting interrater reliability.

Bonnie Imler, Altoona Campus of Penn State, the day's final presenter, compared the feature four screen capture software options and included some tips for using this type of software for online tutorials.

This workshop was partially funded with Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries and would not have been possible without the help of the College and Research Division of PaLA.

Innovation and Libraries

On Tuesday, April 6, Stephen Abram spoke on the topic of "Innovation and Libraries" to members of the Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services (CASLIS), a division of the Canadian Library Association. Abram was listed by Library Journal as one of the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries, and he recently left SirsiDynix to join Gale as vice president of strategic partnerships and markets. On his blog, "Stephen's Lighthouse," he posted his presentation. He also has compiled all of his previous postings on the value of libraries. His post on the Value of Academic and College Libraries, highlights a study called “Libraries Designed for Learning” by Scott Bennett--keynote speaker at the CRD's Spring program, "Information Commons in the Wild: Lessons from the Field" which will be held on June 15 at The University of Scranton. Abram calls this study, "... an articulate report on what needs to be considered to place the library at the heart of the new university – virtual and bricks."

Why I Attend Small Conferences

A recent post on Inside Higher Ed by Kevin Brown sums up nicely the value of attending a small conference, like the annual PaLA Conference. Brown, an English professor at Lee University, weighs the pros and cons of attending large conferences vs small conference:

Large, national conferences are important for a number of reasons... However,
for the rest of us, smaller local conferences make more sense and are more
enjoyable. They help us to build smaller communities within the discipline with
peers who hold similar values and who want to see everyone involved improve.

Read the entire post here.

SAVE THE DATE! June 15, 2010

"Information Commons in the Wild: Lessons from the Field"

Where: DeNaples Campus Center, The University of Scranton, Scranton, PA

Keynote Speaker:
Scott Bennett, Library Space Planning Consultant, Yale University Librarian Emeritus, and one of the founders of Project Muse, will lead a session designed to promote active learning about the design of an information or learning commons. Conference participants will then be asked to work together on some key questions that Scott will pose about the design of information or learning commons, concluding with a reporting out session meant to share the wisdom of the group.

Panel:
Don Smith, Dean of the Library at the University of Louisiana at Monroe
Katherine Furlong, Associate Director for Access & Administrative Services at Lafayette College
Sally Kalin, Associate Dean for University Park Libraries at Penn State University
Anuradha Vedantham, Director of the Weigle Information Commons at the University of Pennsylvania

Watch the CRD Web site for further details and registration information: http://www.lehigh.edu/~inpla/CRD/
For more information, contact Bonnie Oldham. You can also find us on Facebook.