Library and Information Science Commons^™

Improving A Library Faq: Assessment And Reflection Of The First Year’S Use, Vanessa Arce, Michelle Ehrenpreis

Publications and Research

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In 2020, the Leonard Lief Library created a searchable online knowledge base (FAQs) as a complement to virtual reference during the library’s pandemic-related closure. One year of search query data was used to assess the online knowledge base. This paper discusses the assessment’s findings and planned improvements to the FAQs.

A content analysis of user queries revealed what users are seeking in the knowledge base. The study examined the actions taken by users after conducting a search to determine the knowledge base’s success rate.

The knowledge base was successful in answering user questions almost half of the time. The top …

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Redesigning Program Assessment For Teaching With Primary Sources: Understanding The Impacts Of Our Work, Jen Hoyer, Kaitlin H. Holt, John Voiklis, Bennett Attaway, Rebecca Joy Norlander

Publications and Research

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This article describes how redesigning a program’s assessment practices for teaching with primary sources (TPS) can provide a clear framework for talking about the impact of educators’ work in archives and can provide feedback on how to refine instruction practices for greater results. The authors share a description of their assessment redesign process accompanied by analysis of the implementation of our new assessment tool in the hope others will consider the design and goals of their own assessment practices. The authors’ work demonstrates that reflection on existing tools, development of new goals, and design of new assessment strategies can yield …

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Assessing The Impact Of An Information Literacy Course On Students' Academic Achievement: A Mixed-Methods Study, Wilma L. Jones, Tara Mastrorilli

Publications and Research

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Objective – The aim of this study is to demonstrate the impact of a stand-alone, credit-bearing information literacy course on retention and GPA for students at an open access urban college.

Methods – Researchers conducted a mixed-methods study with a two-part focus. The first examined the impact of a credit-bearing course using propensity score matching (PSM) techniques to compare academic outcomes for students who participated in the course versus outcomes for similar students who did not enroll in the course. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to measure impact on GPA and performance in 100-level introductory English general education courses. Logistic …

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Instructional Design With The Ice Approach In Academic Libraries: A Framework That Integrates Assessing, Learning, And Teaching, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

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One-shot instruction in academic libraries is a librarian-controlled bibliographic instruction that responds to the point of information need for subject-related courses. The assessment of teaching effectiveness tends to take a summative approach, which provides an answer to what students learned but does not address how they learned. This column theoretically explores the framework of Ideas-Connections-Extensions (ICE) in library instruction and the classroom setting, which demonstrates learning outcomes and explores the learning journey, and integrates assessment, learning, and teaching through collaborative efforts by academic librarians and classroom faculty.

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Professional Ethics And Learning Analytics: A Reflection On A Cross-Departmental Assessment Project, Sarah Cohn

Urban Library Journal

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Librarianship as a profession has long been concerned with privacy and user data. As academic libraries move toward embracing learning analytics, questions arise around the ethical use of said data, particularly when it involves students. This paper will explore the role of the library in an institutional learning analytics project. In 2016, the Library at Pace University was approached by the assessment office within the Dyson School of Arts & Sciences and asked to help create a quantitative assessment tool around student learning of information literacy. Using this experience as a starting point, I will explore how librarians can bring …

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Teaching Students To Critically Evaluate Textbooks, Christopher Mchale, Ian Mcdermott, Steven Ovadia

Publications and Research

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This chapter is a case study describing how library faculty combined service learning and information literacy to help students evaluate textbooks, comparing commercial ones to Open Education Resources. The underlying idea was to give students not only a scholarly grounding that would help them as they move through their academic careers but also a practical vocational orientation to help them succeed in the workforce and, hopefully, become future contributors to the free culture movement.

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A Collaborative Intervention: Measuring The Impact Of A Flipped Classroom Approach On Library One-Shots For The Composition Classroom, Maureen Garvey, Anne Hays, Amy F. Stempler

Publications and Research

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Instruction Librarians teaching one-shot information literacy (IL) sessions to freshman composition classes at academic universities across the U.S. experience a familiar set of issues. In response, librarians have produced a bounty of literature detailing flipped instruction approaches, collaborative case studies with outside departments, and critiques of the library one-shot, but there is little research describing attempts to combine these three approaches in one study. Both a case study and an impact-assessment study, this article describes a collaborative intervention between the Library Instruction team, the Writing Across the Curriculum program, and the English Department, with the purpose of studying the intervention’s …

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Faculty Library Survey Spring 2016 Report, Bonnie R. Nelson, Ellen Sexton

Reports from John Jay College

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The Library Department surveyed the John Jay College faculty on their library use in the Spring semester of 2016.

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Mobile App Usage Assessment In The Academic Library, Rebecca Arzola, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

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This column discusses different approaches, and methods to assess app usage. In the following we exemplify mobile strategies and initiatives set up by some universities that libraries can adopt.

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Information Literacy Instruction And Assessment In A Community College: A Collaborative Design, Carlos Arguelles

Publications and Research

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This article describes practical steps taken in the planning of an integrated information literacy instruction linked to a course assignment for community health majors at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York. The library sessions integrated the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and were based on faculty-librarian collaboration. A course outline was designed to support a step by step course project. Tools to collect evidence of student learning were designed and adjustments to the course plan and activities were made based on those assessments. Suggestions for using these tools …

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Trails: Tool For Real-Time Assessment Of Information Literacy Skills, Christina Miller

Publications and Research

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TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills, a product of Kent State University Libraries, free and online, aims to evaluate information literacy skills of elementary and high school students. Launched in 2006, the tool was initially funded by the Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education (ILILE), an initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the U.S. Department of Education. The multiple-choice, standards-based, knowledge assessment measures competencies in five information categories—topic development, identification of sources, development of search strategies, evaluation of information, and ethical uses of information—at the third-, sixth-, ninth-, and twelfth-grade benchmark …

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Library Awareness And Use Among Graduate Social Work Students: An Assessment And Action Research Project, Margaret Bausman, Sarah Laleman Ward

Publications and Research

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This article details the evolution of an action research project over the fall of 2011 through the spring of 2014. The project investigates the engagement of social work students at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College with library resources and services. In addition to a review of the literature and a contextualizing discussion around the status of information literacy instruction in social work, the article describes the development and use of an online assessment tool, the introduction of new information literacy instruction strategies and materials including online research guides, and a discussion of the descriptive and inferential …

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Google Vs. The Library (Part Iii): Assessing The Quality Of Sources Found By Undergraduates, Helen Georgas

Publications and Research

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This study assesses and compares the quality of sources found by undergraduate students when doing research using both Google and a library (federated) search tool. Thirty undergraduates were asked to find four sources (one book, two articles, and one additional source of their choosing) related to a selected research topic. Students used both Google and a federated search (resource discovery) tool to find material they believed to be relevant. Each source was evaluated for topic relevance, authority, appropriateness, and date, and assigned a total quality score. Results showed that the books found via Google were slightly higher quality than those …

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Fully Embedded: An Esl-Library Partnership, Barbara Bonous-Smit

Publications and Research

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Slides from a presentation at the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), January 15, 2015 at Baruch College, CUNY, Vertical Campus

Research has proven the importance of developing academic and information literacy skills of ELLs (English language learners) in basic reading and writing courses in order to promote student engagement and perseverance. A recent innovation and effective approach in academic library instruction, embedded librarians provide personal, targeted assistance to the class as a whole and to individual students. Hence, there is more sustained learning. In this session, the author will discuss the close partnership and collaboration between a fully embedded …

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Information Literacy Instruction And Assessment : A Collaborate Design, Carlos Arguelles

Publications and Research

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No abstract provided.

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Making Electronic Databases Functional On The Library Website: A Practical Approach, Kanu A. Nagra

Publications and Research

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This paper presents a process on making electronic databases functional on the library website for on and off campus access for optimum use. It covers the steps after the price, license terms and conditions are finalized between library and vendor and the decision is made by library and subject experts to subscribe or purchase the database. The operational workflow steps can be challenging for new professionals when implementing it for the first time. The step by step approach provided in this paper is meant to help new professionals in strategic planning, organizing the structure and management of library databases provision, …

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Beyond Satisfaction: Understanding And Promoting The Instructor-Librarian Relationship, Margaret Bausman, Sarah Laleman Ward, John Pell

Publications and Research

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This article reports upon the assessment and research activities undertaken by a research group of faculty librarians at Hunter College regarding the perceptions, awareness, and usage of library services by non-librarian faculty members. Given the initial directive to measure faculty satisfaction with library services, the research group developed an ongoing action-research protocol to pursue more meaningful assessments of faculty awareness and use of library services and resources. The researchers employed both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, gathering data through informal information groups with faculty members and through an online survey measuring faculty awareness of library resources and services (Faculty Awareness of …

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Library Instruction For First Year Students, Amrita Dhawan, Ching-Jung Chen

Publications and Research

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Purpose

– This paper aims to discuss the background, design and implementation of the new library instruction. When a new core curriculum for first-year students was adopted at the City College of New York in the fall of 2008, the City College Library took this opportunity to establish a new approach to teach library research to freshmen. Two library workshops were embedded into a six-credit combined content and writing course.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper documents the process by which the City College Library successfully transitioned to the new system and also reflects on the theory and practice of teaching information …

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Action Research, Assessment, And Institutional Review Boards (Irb): Conflicting Demands Or Productive Tension For The Academic Librarian?, Robert Farrell

Publications and Research

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This article puts forward an “assessment/action research/publication” cycle that integrates aspects of the assessment, research, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes to provide academic librarians with a systematic approach for balancing competing workplace demands and give library managers a roadmap for creating a “research culture” (Jacobs, Berg, and Cornwall) within their libraries. The article argues that librarians and library managers have much to gain by integrating action research into librarians’ everyday work loads, including increased ease in meeting publication demands for tenure and/or promotion, institutionalizing habits of reflective practice across all library service areas, and overall library improvement.

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Bridging The Gap Through Collaboration:, Rebecca Arliss, Carlos Arguelles, Rodolfo Hernandez

Publications and Research

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No abstract provided.

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The Evaluation Of Use Of Electronic Resources And Services In Academic Libraries: A Study Of E-Metrics And Related Methods For Measurement And Assessment, Kanu A. Nagra

Publications and Research

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This paper presents a review of literature for the evaluation of use of electronic resources and services in Academic libraries. E-metrics and similar methods for evaluation are discussed in detail. The paper highlights how some libraries approached e-metrics to start useful evaluations and dealt with technicalities to achieve better decision making for e-collection, services and infrastructure for their library users. The evaluation of use of e-resources and services is discussed in five parts explaining application of e-metrics, different methods to capture usage data in different settings, types of data requirement by libraries, complexities and technicalities involved in measurement of usage …

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