ACRL’S ASSESSMENT IN ACTION: ASSESSING LIBRARY INSTRUCTION, COLLABORATING ACROSS CAMPUS AND WHAT WE’VE LEARNED SO FAR

Presented by:Jennifer Little Kegler

Library Instruction Coordinator

Drake Memorial Library

Kenneth R. Wierzbowski

Systems & Assessment Librarian

Drake Memorial Library

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

ASSESSMENT IN ACTION

September 2012 – ACRL awarded a grant through the Institute of Museum and Library Services to undertake the project

AiA is undertaken in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

ASSESSMENT IN ACTION

Each institution who participates will lead their campus teams in the development and implementation of an action learning project.

The projects will result in a variety of approaches to assessing library impact on student learning which will be documented and disseminated for use by the wider academic library and higher education communities.

The different perspectives and experiences represented by the institutional team members will foster a collaborative approach to assessing the library’s impact on student learning and success on the campus of each participating institution.

Not a grant (no $$$ )

ASSESSMENT IN ACTION

The Program: Year 1 75 institutions Each institution consisted of a librarian team leader and

at least 2 other members Additional members may include other librarians, but persons

outside of the library were strongly encouraged Librarian team leaders participated in a 14-month

professional development program Activities included attendance both in-person at conferences

and online through a Moodle LMS platform

ABOUT OUR PROJECT

OUR TEAM

Ken Wierzbowski – Systems & Assessment Librarian, Librarian Team Leader

Jennifer Kegler - Library Instruction Coordinator Claire Goverts - Assistant Director Institutional

Research Michael Dentino - Director of Student Learning

Center

INFORMATION LITERACY INSTRUCTION AT THE DRAKE MEMORIAL LIBRARY

Introduction

Recently, the Drake Memorial Library has partnered with the First-year Experience Program to provide information literacy instruction to incoming freshmen during their Academic Planning Seminar course.

Instruction and Reference Librarians only have a single 50-minute session to introduce incoming freshmen to the library, its resources, and to teach basic information literacy skills.

Informal assessment has always been done, but the data was self-limiting and stored in silos.

Campus-wide focus on student learning and assessment has prioritized the connection of library goals with those of the campus at large.

INFORMATION LITERACY INSTRUCTION AT THE DRAKE MEMORIAL LIBRARY

Project Objectives

Determine the existing information literacy skills of incoming freshmen; establish a ‘baseline’

Assess the effectiveness of our current information literacy sessions

‘Close the loop’ by acting on our findings to improve information literacy sessions and to ensure effective use of limited class time

Tie the results of our findings to broader campus assessment initiatives and communicate these results

Build a perpetual culture of assessment in the library to improve our resources and services

FYE AT BROCKPORT

Academic Planning Seminar, 1 credit (P/F) 1,100 entering freshmen Over 9 years, participation increased from 20% to

98% (2005 to 2013) Faculty or staff teach each section Some sections based on major, others are

interdisciplinary

STRATEGIES

Tied to course objectives Hands-on assignment Linked to freshmen reading

book Faculty course template Changes made based on

student feedback Scaffolded with ENG112, a

freshmen Composition class

Librarian involvement in FLCs, Senate, CELT

Freshmen Council Library Special Events New technologies

demonstrated to freshmen

Curricular Co-Curricular

APS GOALS AND OBJECTIVESGoals Student Learning OutcomeA. Understand the services and resources

available in the Drake Library. Students will be able to:1. Identify the key areas of service and available

help in the library (IT, Reference, study spaces, writing help, etc. ).

2. Demonstrate an understanding of the physical location of print and multimedia resources in the Drake Library.

A. Locate resources available through the library web page in various formats and locations.

Students will be able to:1. Identify the format of a resource from a results

list (print books, e-books, online articles, media, etc.)

2. Demonstrate an understanding of how to access materials, in the print and electronic collections.

A. Select and use appropriate online databases to satisfy student research needs.

Students will be able to:1. Determine appropriateness of using

multidisciplinary and/or subject-specific databases.

2. Identify recommended databases, reference sources, websites, etc. pertaining to a specific subject (databases by subject, LibGuides).

3. Formulate a simple search strategy in order to find articles or books on a particular topic.

PROCESS & METHODS

RESULTS

39%

37%

24%

Pre-Test

Developing

Competent

Proficient

25%

37%

38%

Post-Test

Developing

Competent

Proficient

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

Overall Change

Advanced information literacy concepts were included on both tests, but not focused on during instruction. Concepts included copyright issues, truncation, identifying sources and plagiarism.

How much do you agree with the following statement:

"I have learned a lot about research from libraries."

POST-PROJECT IMPRESSIONS

BENEFITS & DRAWBACKS

Participating in a national program improves credibility and buy-in from faculty/staff

Project admittance created the opportunity to work with others outside of the library

Although broad, skills and theories learned will help in future projects

Team will continue to assess onward

AiA timeline prohibitively short

AiA program tries to be too many things for too many different types of libraries

Moodle/cohort support and interaction only as beneficial as the time and effort put in by everyone

Benefits Drawbacks

FUTURE PLANS

Share “Assessment in Action” results Showed statistically significant changes in student learning

(pre-test, post-test) Add online component Integrate ACRL’s information literacy standards Work with the general education committee

RESOURCES

APS Research Guidehttp://library.brockport.edu/aps

Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Successhttp://www.ala.org/acrl/AiA

Brockport’s First Year Experience Pagehttp://www.brockport.edu/firstyear/