The ERIAL Project: Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries

Andrew Asher,

Lead Project Anthropologist

Lynda Duke, Academic Outreach Librarian,

Illinois Wesleyan University

Dave Green, Associate University Librarian for Collections and Information Services, Northeastern Illinois University

Introduction

Library Services and Technology Act grant, $377,000

Two years

Five institutions / 27 people

Research Question

What do students actually do when they are assigned a research project for one of their class assignments and what are the expectations of students, faculty and librarians of each other with regard to this assignment?

Dr. Nancy Foster, University of

Rochester, Project Consultant

Dr. Andrew Asher

Resident Anthropologist

Illinois Wesleyan University

Northeastern Illinois University

Susan Miller

Resident Anthropologist

University of Illinois at Springfield

University of Illinois at Chicago

DePaul University

The ERIAL Project: Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries

Dr. Andrew Asher, Lead Research Anthropologist

Dave Green

ERIAL Project Manager

Susan Miller

Resident Anthropologist

Northern

Libraries

Coordinating

Team

Central

Libraries

ERIAL Participating UniversitiesIWU UIS DePaul UIC NEIU

Location Bloomington Springfield Chicago Chicago Chicago

Environment Residential Residential Urban Urban Commuter/

Urban

Public/Private Private Public Private Public Public

Type Liberal Arts Liberal Arts/

Professional

Catholic-

Affiliated

Research Hispanic-

Serving

Total

Enrollment

2125 4711 24,352 25,835 12,320

Undergraduate

Enrollment

2125 2889 15,782 15,665 10,114

Graduate

Enrollment

0 1822 8570 10170 2206

IWU UIS DePaul UIC NEIU

Enrollment

Full-time 99% 62% 81% 92% 56%

Part-time 1% 38% 19% 8% 44%

Age

24 and Under 100% 55% 79% 87% 54%

Age 25 and

over

0 45% 20% 13% 35%

Unknown 11%

Gender Ratio

Male 41% 44% 45% 47% 42%

Female 59% 56% 55% 53% 56%

Race/Ethnicity

Black/African

American

6% 12% 8% 9% 10%

Hispanic/Latino(a) 3% 3% 12% 17% 30%

White/Caucasian 76% 74% 57% 45% 41%

Asian 4% 3% 8% 23% 11%

Unknown 5% 6% 11% 5% 7%

International

Students

6% 1% 0% 1% 0%

Transfer

Students

27 661 1534 1447 1127

ERIAL Graduation/Retention Rates

IWU UIS DePaul UIC NEIU

Graduation Rate 83% 57% 64% 48% 18%

Transfer Out

Rate

No data No data 25% No data 33%

Retention Rate 90% 67% 85% 78% 64%

(first year, fulltime

students)

ERIAL Research Participants IWU UIS DePaul UIC NEIU Total

Librarian Interview 9 5 10 12 12 48

Faculty Interview 15 15 14 15 15 74

Student Interview 30 34 30 18 29 141

Student Photo Journal 12 10 10 8 10 50

Student Mapping Diaries 24 N/A N/A N/A 10 34

Students in Web Design Workshops 30 N/A N/A N/A 24 54

Faculty in Web Design Workshops 18 N/A N/A N/A 20 38

Research Process 30 N/A 10 9 10 59

Student Cognitive Mapping 44 23 37 N/A 30 134

Research Paper Retrospective Interview 9 N/A N/A N/A N/A 9

Total 221 87 111 62 160 641

Cognitive Map Mapping Diary

Students' View of Research

An inability to correctly read citations

Little or no understanding of cataloging systems

No organized search strategies beyond "Google-style" any word, anywhere searches

Poor abilities in locating and evaluating resources (of all types).

Examples On a 2009 information literacy test, only 14.5% of IWU

freshmen could correctly identify four citations. 42% answered 0 or 1 question correctly.

“Apparently you don’t have much on Rock and Roll.”

No information on “All-American girls professional baseball league.”

General Observations Technological solutions might allow more

instructional focus on concepts

However, these solutions are unlikely to effectively address students' conceptual deficiencies.

Easier information access and more robust search capabilities compound students’ research difficulties.

Addressing the students' instructional needs requires broad educational and curricular solutions in which the library can be a key player.

Students Fail to Utilize Librarians Very few students seek help from librarians. Librarians invisible in academic world-view of IWU students Students do not view that librarians as possessing disciplinary

expertise.

“I always assume librarians are busy doing library stuff and it’s just not the first thing that pops into my head when I think of a librarian, like helping with papers or paper writing.”

The confusion about what librarians do hinders students from asking questions and obtaining the help they need.

“I don’t know where the librarians here are. There’s someone that sits at the information desk, and I don’t know if he’s a librarian. . . But I would never go to their office and knock on their door and say, ‘help me out’ which just makes me feel bad.”

Student/Librarian Relationships Students worry about being judged for asking

"stupid" questions. Students who had developed a relationship with a

librarian reported high levels of satisfaction with the help provided

Students who participated in instruction sessions with a librarian had markedly better research skills than those who had not

“I understand that [librarians] are not magicians or something, but sometimes they seem like it.”

The Role of Professors Professors often play a key role in brokering this

relationship between students and librarians.

Students view professors as experts, and when the professor specifically recommends a librarian they highly value this advice.

Professors act as gatekeepers who mediate when and how students get in touch with librarian as they are working on research assignments.

Given librarians' structural placement as marginal to students' academic world, librarians can not effectively address these needs without active participation from teaching faculty.

IWU Project Goals

Understand students’ research processes

Role academic libraries and librarians play

Adjust library resources and services

Changes Implemented / Planned

Library / faculty relationships

Teaching Information literacy / research skills

Website / tools of scholarship

Student assistant training

Library Space

Outreach activities

Project Management, Logistics and Collaboration

Before the beginning…

Collaborationamong Libraries

Collaborationamong 5 ERIAL Libraries

Collaborationamong ERIAL Participants on Research

LogisticsCentralized Administrative Structure

LogisticsCommunication Structure

Phone4 Meetings per month

29 Regularly Scheduled Meetings Each Month

LogisticsCommunication Structure

Communication as needed

BaseCamp by 37 Signals

Dropbox

Phone X

Logistics Communication Structure

Communication tool not utilized

X

Project Management ERIAL Administration

ERIAL Research

ERIAL Local Projects

The ERIAL Project: Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries

For more information:

www.iwu.edu/library/ERIAL

A. Asher: aasher.pl@gmail.com

L. Duke: lduke@iwu.edu

D. Green: D-Green3@neiu.edu