What Faculty Tell Us about How Our Collections Support Student
Learning
2011 Charleston Conference
Marcia ThomasIllinois Wesleyan University
Getting to the Heart of the Matter:
2,100 students, 191 Faculty
Curriculum in liberal arts, fine arts, and professional programs
Schools: Nursing, Theater, Art, and Music
Liberal Arts: 25% business majors
Illinois Wesleyan University
New building 2002
450,000 volume capacity
9 librarians
Collections Librarian and Information Literacy Librarian 2009
CARLI – statewide academic consortium
Ames Library
“Tying information literacy to a library materials budget: repackaging the formula to meet learning goals.”
Jenny Rushing & Dawn Stephen, Belmont U. Charleston Conference 2009
“Changing the way libraries and faculty assess periodical collections in the electronic age.”
Jenica Rogers, SUNY Potsdam. Against the Grain Nov. 2006
INSPIRATIONS
Ensure relevant and vital collections Ensure money used to purchase or provide
access to best possible resources for users and curriculum
Long term planning for collection management
Identify “core” resources for easy and continuous access, long-term maintenance or archiving
Faculty involvement critical to aligning collections with current curriculum
Challenge librarians’ assumptions
COLLECTION REVIEW
Shift format from print to online Prioritize expenditures for budget
planning Identify candidates for weeding &
cancellation Identify “legacy” and core titles Revise collection development policy
COLLECTION TASKS
Faculty interviews Record and document interviews Synthesize/analyze data from interviews
Report to departments and administration
METHODOLOGY
Library Advisory Committee
Free lunch!
Ask the experts
TESTING, TESTING…
http://www.erialproject.org
ERIAL Project: Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries
1. What are your fields and subfields of scholarship?
2. What professional associations do you belong to?3. Do you edit or review for any journals? If yes,
which?4. Which publishers are most important for your
field and subfields? Do you receive catalogs for these or other publishers?
5. What collections (physical or virtual) do you use that are outside of our own?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS : Faculty interests and scholarship
1. What courses do you teach regularly?
2. Which courses do you teach infrequently?
3. What courses do you have in development? Please include courses you teach in interdisciplinary programs.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: Teaching
5. What are your overall pedagogical goals when developing assignments for your students?
6. Are our collections and resources relevant with respect to assignments?
7. Are there ways in which the library might support, or further support, your
goals and the work of your students?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: Teaching
8. Are there any particular characteristics of those resources that are important for
teaching that course, or meeting the pedagogical goals of assignments and research projects?
9. Are there any particular characteristics that are important for teaching in your discipline
and interdisciplinary programs? 10. Are there resources we don’t have that we
ought to consider? Or areas of the collection that could be improved?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: Teaching
What did I learn? Surprises? Confirmations?
What will I report back to the departments?
How will this data inform impact my decision making about collections
and other liaison responsibilities, such as instruction?
LIBRARIAN QUESTIONS
RESPONSES = 87%
Video Interlibrary Loan Format Information Literacy Faculty role in collection development Faculty awareness
PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS
“I think the utility of the interviews worked both ways: the faculty were directed to reflect on the library in an engaged way, and I was directed to ask them questions that I had pre-supposed the answers to. Sometimes my suppositions were right, and sometimes they were only what I wanted to think.
For their part, I believe these discussions opened doors of communication that will allow future conversations to occur more easily. I think we planted the seeds of how the library can impact pedagogy and student research habits.”
Karen Schmidt, IWU University Librarian
WHAT LIBRARIANS SAID
Follow up:Respond to requestsReport back
Phase II: Revise collection development policy Revisit allocationWeeding Identify core resourcesSerials and database review
TO DO
Rushing, Jenny, and Dawn Stephen. “Tying Information Literacy to a Library Materials Budget: Repackaging the Formula to Meet Learning Goals.” Belmont University. Charleston Conference 2009.
www.katina.info/conference/2009presentations/Sat1015_Rushing.ppt
Rogers, Jenica. "Changing the way Libraries and Faculty Assess Periodical Collections in the Electronic Age." Against the Grain 18.5 (2006): 38, 40, 42, 44.
Marcia Thomas email:
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