Library and Information Science Commons^™

The Impact Of Library Resource Utilization On Undergraduate Students' Academic Performance: A Propensity Score Matching Design, Felly Chiteng Kot, Jennifer Jones

University Library Faculty Publications

This study uses three cohorts of first-time, full-time undergraduate students (N=8,652) at a large, metropolitan, public research university to examine the impact of student use of three library resources (workstations, study rooms, and research clinics) on academic performance. To deal with self-selection bias and estimate this impact more accurately, we used propensity score matching. Using this unique approach allowed us to construct treatment and control groups with similar background characteristics. We found that using a given library resource was associated with a small, but also meaningful, gain in first-term grade point average, net of other factors.

Evaluating An Instruction Program With Various Assessment Measures, Sarah Gewirtz

Libraries Staff Publications

Purpose: This paper demonstrates how the author’s library was able to enhance the collaborative learning and teaching environment, with secondary goals to improve teaching effectiveness and increase sharing among librarians of ideas and techniques used in First Year Student sessions.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper describes the various measures of assessment (peer-to-peer, student feedback and self-reflection) that the College of St. Benedict (CSB) and St. John’s University (SJU) Libraries implemented in 2011. The methods were used to improve teaching by listening to peers, getting feedback from students and by also doing self-reflection. Many librarians were able to make changes that were beneficial …