EMERGING LEADERS FINAL REPORT - American Library Association · fun and interactive activities, ... Round Table for school or user experience ... gain valuable insights from session

EMERGING LEADERS FINAL REPORT

TEAM G - 2015

A detailed account of the project undertaken for Learning Round Table by

Team G as part of American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders

program.

American Library Association Learning Round Table

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Project Goals and Expectations _________________________________________________________________________ 1

Developing LearnRT 101 ________________________________________________________________________________ 3

Key Steps in Development _______________________________________________________________________________ 4

Results of LearnRT 101 __________________________________________________________________________________ 9

Next Steps and Recommendations ____________________________________________________________________ 11

Contact Information ____________________________________________________________________________________ 11

Appendices ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 14

TEAM G – LEARNING ROUND TABLE 101

Page 1

Project Goals and Expectations

HOSTING UNIT: Learning Round Table (LearnRT)

MEMBER GUIDE: Caitlin Moen, [email protected]

STAFF LIAISON: Kimberley L. Redd, [email protected]

TEAM MEMBERS: Alexandra Hauser, Instruction Librarian, Defiance College, Defiance, OH,

[email protected]

Derrick Jefferson, Communication Librarian, American University, Washington, D.C. ,

[email protected]

Bethany Tschaepe, Online Instruction & Outreach Librarian, University of Houston,

Houston, TX

[email protected]

PROJECT TITLE: LearnRT 101

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The 2014 Emerging Leaders class completed a marketing and communications plan for

the Learning Round Table (here: http://libguides.rutgers.edu/TEAM_L), illustrating a

need for more focused branding and outreach to both members and non-members of

LearnRT. The next step will be undertaken by the 2015 class, with the development of a

LearnRT 101 orientation session. There are currently “101” sessions offered at ALA

Annual and Midwinter Conferences each year for various groups within ALA. These have


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been offered by ALA divisions and sections, but are now beginning to be developed by

round tables as well, with NMRT offering a 101 session at Annual in 2014. These sessions

typically provide a space for networking, learning about the group, showing the value of

membership, and providing opportunities and pathways for involvement. With the

elimination of the opportunities fair, this is a key opportunity for both recruitment of new

members and engagement of existing members within LearnRT.

EXPECTED GOALS AND OUTCOMES The Emerging Leaders group will be developing a format for an orientation session to be

held at Annual. As LearnRT is a small and dynamic group, the session will include some

fun and interactive activities, as well as information sharing. The group will reach out to

divisions and round tables that are already running 101 sessions to lay out possible

practices to model. They will also be consulting with Jenifer French, the 2014 LearnRT

Emerging Leader, regarding the recommendations that came out of the Marketing and

Communication Plan project to ensure that the 101 session would meet the needs of

current LearnRT members looking for more engagement and expression of membership

value. The project will culminate with not only the poster session, but the first LearnRT

101 introduced at ALA Annual 2015 in San Francisco. This Emerging Leaders group will

have a complete and implemented project to speak to. The Learning Round Table board

anticipates the impact of this addition will be an improvement in both the recruitment of

new members and the engagement of existing members. This session will also help meet

the need of communicating the mission of LearnRT and who should consider

membership in the round table.


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Developing LearnRT 101

GETTING STARTED

Learning Round Table’s 2015 Emerging Leaders were tasked with developing the

inaugural Learning Round Table 101 session. 101, or orientation, sessions at the

American Library Association’s Annual Conference are often held by a variety of ALA

divisions and sections as a way of introducing new members and first-time conference

attendees to different groups within ALA and demonstrate the value that membership in

these groups can hold. The task of developing a 101 session for Learning Round Table

was identified by the 2014 Emerging Leaders class as a potential project to help continue

the growth of Learning Round Table.

Team G’s project was assigned during the Emerging Leaders meeting at ALA Midwinter in

Chicago. Group guide and Learning Round Table president-elect, Caitlin Moen, discussed

with Team G her goals and expectations for the group, and the orientation session, as well

as provided some helpful insights regarding the operations and dynamics of Learning

Round Table.

LearnRT 101 was ultimately accomplished through evaluation of current perspectives of

LearnRT among American Library Association members as well as intense planning in

order to develop a concise & clear orientation session agenda for the Learning Round

Table.


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Key Steps in Development

DON’T TRY TO REINVENT THE WHEEL

Team G was encouraged by their group guide to borrow ideas for planning, pacing, and

agenda items from other, established, 101 sessions held at ALA Annual each year. Team G

contacted members of ALA’s New Members Round Table to obtain information on their

101 orientation session. This information was used in the design of LearnRT’s 101

session and helped to create an agenda that was clear, concise, and helpful with

acquainting people to Learning Round Table (Appendix A).

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

Team G distributed a brief survey instrument to a variety of ALA listservs (College

Libraries, New Member Round Table, Info Lit, Library Marketing & Outreach, and ACRL

New Members) as well as social media (Twitter, Facebook) in order to assess current

perceptions & knowledge of Learning Round Table. The survey instrument, created in

Google Forms, asked only three questions (Appendix B). Team G believed that keeping a

survey as brief and concise as possible would encourage participants to respond and also

help to offset survey fatigue. The three questions were:

• Prior to this survey invitation, had you heard of Learning Round Table?

• In your own words, please describe what you think Learning Round Table does.

• (Following the LearnRT mission statement) Given the description of the Learning Round

Table mission, would you be interested in learning more about LearnRT?

The survey was distributed to 15,591 subscribers of the ALA listservs mentioned above

plus an unknown number on social media; however, there is likely some duplication in

listserv subscribers. 306 results were received creating a response rate of 1.9% (using

just listserv subscribers as the number pool). This is an extremely low response rate but

Team G believes this response rate is in line with ALA member knowledge and

awareness of Learn RT.


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Key Results of the Survey:

Survey questions were chosen to begin to identify ALA members’ perceptions and

knowledge of Learning Round Table. Of the 306 respondents, 74% (n=224) had not

heard of Learn RT prior to receiving the survey invitation.

Unfortunately this result was not surprising to Team G or Learning Round Table.

Survey participants were then asked to describe what they thought was the purpose &

mission of Learning Round Table. A variety of responses were received for this open-

ended question. 43.7% (n=134) of respondents replied with either no answer, “no idea”,

or were “unsure” of what Learning Round Table was charged with working on as its

mission and goals.

Prior to this survey invitation, had you heard of Learning Round Table

Yes No No Answer


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Categories in order are: No answer; No idea; Unsure; Learning/Critical Thinking; Student/patron learning/pedagogies;

Librarian learning/professional development; knowledge sharing; Outreach; RT for new librarians; Learning in MLS

programs; Round Table for school or user experience librarians; Other; Other round table already does this?.

For those respondents that did offer a response for

• 85 respondents believe that Learn RT deals with learning/critical thinking or student

learning

• 60 respondents believe that Learn RT deals with librarian professional development or

“librarian learning”. It should be noted that this is the “correct” response as it relates to

Learning Round Table’s mission and goals.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

In your own words, please describe what you think Learning Round Table does.


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While these were the largest response categories, there were seven other categories of

responses reported as beliefs or knowledge of Learning Round Table making up 49 total

results. The level of variety in responses should speak to the large area of unknown

surrounding Learning Round Table and its work.

The third question asked was meant to provide a gauge of interest in the round table.

The mission statement was provided within the survey and participants were asked,

“Given this description of the Learning Round Table mission, would you be interested in

learning more about LearnRT?” The overwhelming majority of respondents reported

interested in learning more about Learning Round Table. Even though orientation

session attendance did not reflect this reported interest, it should offer Learning Round

Table encouragement regarding marketing and outreach of the round table and its

programing.

CHOOSE SPEAKERS

Speakers were chosen from the Learn RT executive board and other active members to

help lead an initial panel discussion focused on:

0

50

100

150

200

250

Yes No No Answer

Given this description of the Learning Round Table mission, would you be interested in learning more

about LearnRT?


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• What is Learn RT? How does it fit within the structure of ALA?

• What are the benefits of joining Learn RT?

• How do I get involved with Learn RT?

• How can I keep up with Learn RT?

MARKET THE SESSION

Using the same e-mail discussion lists and methods for soliciting survey respondents,

“Save the Date” notices were sent out to generate interest in the Learn RT 101 Session.

These same “Save the Date” notices were also distributed at the Emerging Leaders poster

session Friday, June 26th to help encourage attendance at the LearnRT101 session.

Session details were also posted on the Learning Round Table Facebook, Twitter, and

LinkedIn pages. (Appendix C)

GIVE ‘EM THE OL’ RAZZLE DAZZLE

Team G worked with their LearnRT group guide to develop a budget for the 101 session.

This budget, along with planned activities, (Appendix D) was created in order to include

incentives for session attendance. These incentives were:

• Refreshments during the session

• A door prize and other takeaway items (LearnRT branded post-it notes)

• Printing of Learning Round Table icebreaker bingo game

ASSESS THE FINAL PRODUCT

Feedback forms (Appendix E) were distributed after the LearnRT 101 session in order to

gain valuable insights from session participants about what did and did not work for

them. Feedback is discussed below in the Results/Outcomes section.


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Results of LearnRT 101

LearnRT 101 was held Saturday, June 27th at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. Refreshments were provided as well as a variety of Learning Round Table information pamphlets and “swag” in the form of Learning Round Table branded Post-it notes and conference name badge ribbons. Attendance was recorded at five individuals plus three invited panelists. Because of the low attendance number a more formal approach to the agenda was abandoned and participants and panelists all gathered around one table. The important information points that had been set forth in the agenda were still discussed but in a more informal manner. From anonymous data collected on our evaluation forms we know that four out of five attendees were already members of Learning Round Table. Feedback from session attendees was mostly positive. On a scale of one to four, with one being “strongly disagree” and four being “strongly agree”, session ratings were consistently in the threes and fours. Attendees “strongly agreed” that the session panelists and topics discussed were useful, informative, and relevant. And the majority of attendees “agreed” that the literature distributed was helpful, the length of the program was appropriate, and that they would recommend the program to someone else. However, these high ratings did not hold true in the area of date, time, and location of the session. While only one attendee rated the session with “strongly disagree” on the evaluation form, comments were also included on the evaluation forms to suggest attendees were not satisfied with this aspect of the session. Comments from attendees about appropriateness of date, time, and location:

“I don’t know if you have any control over this, but this was scheduled right after the LearnRT Learning Exchange but several blocks away - if it had been in the same room you might have had a lot more folks”.

“A little bit tight following the LRT Best Practices Training Showcase” *The LearnRT Best Practices Training Showcase was scheduled from 1-2:30pm in Moscone North.* When asked how they heard about the LearnRT 101 session, four out of five attendees identified the LearnRT-L discussion list as the location, or one of the locations, they learned of the session. Additional mentions included the conference program and ALA


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Connect. Notably absent in these responses was social media; the session was mentioned on the Learning Round Table Facebook and Twitter pages as well as the LinkedIn page. When asked if there were any topics they would like to see added to the program attendees reported:

“Hearing from colleagues what challenges they have had and how they have resolved some of their challenges”.

“Hearing from each committee chair and various leadership as well as a discussion from each of the attendees”.


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Next Steps and Recommendations

Feedback from the session attendees was positive and provided Team G with ideas for future 101 sessions for Learning Round Table. These recommendations for following years will be given to Learning Round Table to influence planning and delivery of future LearnRT 101 sessions. The following are four key recommendations that Team G would like to make for future LearnRT 101 sessions:

• Continue to plan and host a Learning Round Table 101 session at both ALA Midwinter and

Annual Conferences.

• Orientation sessions help both current and new members connect with the round table

and gain valuable insights. This is especially important when trying to build awareness of

Learning Round Table amongst ALA members.

• Coordinate date, time, and location of the LearnRT 101 session to be closely in line with other

Learning Round Table events.

• Comments from session attendees this year discussed how getting from one place to

another in time was difficult.

• Holding LearnRT 101 just prior to other Learning Round Table events in the same room

or building would help enable better attendance.

• Additionally most orientation sessions were held on Friday throughout the day while

LearnRT 101 was not held until Saturday. In order to make LearnRT 101 more in line with

other orientation sessions a date that closely matches similar programming might be

helpful.

• Create a master list of helpful and receptive places for marketing of the LearnRT 101 session

to occur.

• This list could include e-mail discussion lists where there is high relevance between

subscribers and Learning Round Table, social media accounts, and even key people to

help spread the word about both Learning Round Table and the LearnRT 101 session.

• Create a master list of helpful and receptive places to enable better marketing of the LearnRT

101 session.

• This list could include e-mail discussion lists where there is high relevance between

subscribers and Learning Round Table, social media accounts, and even key people to

help spread the word about both Learning Round Table and the LearnRT 101 session.


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• The majority of conference orientation sessions were also listed on a separate page

within the conference program entitled “First Time Attendee Information” (p. 70).

Learn RT’s orientation session was not listed on this page. Future LearnRT 101

sessions should be listed here if possible to increase awareness of the session.

• Create a Learning Round Table 101 online session or webinar to help introduce those who

cannot or do not make it to the session or conference.

• In an ideal world, everyone would be able to attend ALA Midwinter and Annual

Conferences. However, while attendance at these conferences is large it does not

include everyone. Those unable to attend conferences should not be excluded from

the valuable information that Learning Round Table maintains and provides for both

members and non-members alike.

• This online 101 session or webinar could also be archived for posterity as well as

reused and shared for those not able to attend the session.


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Contact Information

ALEXANDRA HAUSER

INSTRUCTION LIBRARIAN

DEFIANCE COLLEGE

DERRICK JEFFERSON

COMMUNICATIONS LIBRARIAN

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

BETHANY TSCHAEPE

ONLINE INSTRUCTION & OUTREACH LIBRARIAN

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

http:/www.ala.org/learnrt/node/19


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Appendices

APPENDIX A LearnRT 101 Session Agenda

Session Outline: Panel Discussion to start: 20 - 30 mins LearnRT Executive Board & other committee members take part in a discussion on general questions related to what LearnRT is and how one would get started with/involved in the roundtable. Someone is needed to moderate the discussion. Examples of questions adapted from NMRT 101:

What is LearnRT? Who comprises it? How does it fit within the structure of ALA? What are the benefits of joining LearnRT?

o Any activities provided by/sponsored by LearnRT? How do I join a LearnRT committee? Are there any resources that will help me keep up with what LearnRT is doing?

Icebreaker game with prizes: 10 min Following the panel discussion we would like to play a “getting to know you” bingo game. We will create bingo cards asking attendees to locate people with different characteristics (i.e. “Is a LearnRT officer, “is attending their first conference”, person who meets the description signs the card). The first and second people to get bingos receives a prize ($50 Amazon gift card, LearnRT membership, etc.). Attendees are encouraged to meet a variety of people, or even fill up their entire card.

Table discussions: (panelists & other LearnRT members circulate) left over time for informal chat & discussion 10 min-ish Following the icebreaker bingo game, LearnRT 101 panelists and other LearnRT members join tables/groups of attendees for a more informal chat. At this time both attendees and panelists are encouraged to ask questions of one another, provide answers, and swap business cards or other contact info.

Session evaluations: Session evaluation forms will be provided during the session. Attendees will be asked to

evaluate the session’s usefulness, relevance, length, and other aspects of the 1st LearnRT

101 session.


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APPENDIX B Survey invitation and instrument

Hello all!

Apologies for cross posting

I am working as part of Learning Round Table’s project group for the 2015 class of Emerging Leaders. My teammates and I are in the process of developing the 1st ever LearnRT 101 session to be held at ALA Annual this June!

As part of our preparation process we want to hear from you!

Please follow the link below to answer our very brief, three question, survey about LearnRT.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13q0FpP5Ow3dUaIf8CFE8sb49mWNk1P_0TiaDE1OCRtc/viewform?usp=send_form

Responses are completely anonymous & we greatly appreciate the time you take to complete this survey.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Hauser, Derrick Jefferson, Bethany Tschaepe

ALA Emerging Leaders Class of 2015 Team G: Learn RT

The following is a copy of the survey distributed by Team G – Learning Round Table as

part of their project for ALA’s Emerging Leaders program. The original survey was

conducted using Google Forms.

Prior to this survey invitation, were you familiar with, or had you heard

of Learning Round Table?

Yes

No


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In your own words, please describe what you think Learning Round

Table does.

[open ended survey response]

(Page Break)

Learning Round Table:

...promotes quality continuing education and staff development for all library personnel...

....serves as your SOURCE for staff development continuing education assistance,

publications, materials, training and activities.

....is your ADVOCATE for quality library staff development and continuing education at

both the local and national levels.

Given this description of the Learning Round Table mission, would you

be interested in learning more about LearnRT?

Yes

No


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APPENDIX C LearnRT 101 Session Marketing

Save the Date

Learning Round Table Presents:

LearnRT 101

Saturday, June 27th, 2015

3pm - 4pm

Hotel Nikko - Peninsula

San Francisco, CA


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APPENDIX D LearnRT Budget Proposal

Drawing/Door Prize:

Amazon Gift Card: $25

Printing due to Kimberley Redd

Bingo cards (50)

Session evaluation forms (50)

Refreshments (no more than $300 per C. Moen)

10 - lemon & raspberry bars - $50

10 - assorted French macaroons - $50

2 - dozen assorted mini cupcakes - $92

Sub total $192

Service charge 22% - $84.48

Tax 8.75% - $16.80

Total - $293.28


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LearnRT Icebreaker Bingo Game Card

LearnRT 101 Bingo

Find colleagues that match the descriptions below.

When you find a match, have that individual sign their name in the square.

Find a different person for each square.

Listen to instructions to hear which bingo game is being played to know if you’ve won!

Enjoy making new connections!

B I N G O Has

published something

Serves on a

committee

Is a consultant

Lives in California

Works with adults

From Another Country

Has chaired a LearnRT

committee

Has taken a MOOC

Is Presenting at Annual

Works as a manager or supervisor

First Time in

San Francisco

Academic Librarian FREE

Teaches Info Lit

On the job hunt

Public Librarian

Is at their first ALA

Annual conference

Tweets or

blogs

Can name an

ALA officer

Is a LearnRT Officer

Knows code

Special Librarian

Works with Kids/Teens

Had a previous

career

Is in their 1st job


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APPENDIX E

Learn RT 101 Evaluation 2015 Annual Conference

Please rate the program by circling the corresponding number

1=Strongly Disagree 2=Disagree 3=Agree 4=Strongly Agree

1 The panelists were useful, informative, & relevant. 1 2 3 4

2 The topics discussed were useful, informative, & relevant. 1 2 3 4

3 The format of the program was appropriate. 1 2 3 4

4 The literature distributed was helpful. 1 2 3 4

5 The overall length of the program was appropriate. 1 2 3 4

6 I would recommend the program to someone else. 1 2 3 4

7 The date, time, and location of the program were appropriate. 1 2 3 4

Tell us more by circling answers below:

8 How did you hear about the LearnRT 101 program?

(Circle all that apply.)

Conference Program

LearnRT-L discussion list Other discussion list ALA Connect

LearnRT Facebook Page Twitter

Other (please list where):

9 Is this your first ALA conference? Yes No

10 Are you a member of LearnRT? Yes No

10a If not, are you interested in joining LearnRT? Yes No

What topics would you like to see added to the program?

Based on the information presented today, would you share this with a colleague?

Additional Comments:

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EMERGING LEADERS FINAL REPORT - American Library Association · fun and interactive activities, ... Round Table for school or user experience ... gain valuable insights from session