Library Instruction Assessment in Real Life

1. Brenda MatheniaAssistant Professor/Reference LibrarianMontana State University - BozemanMPLA/NLA 2003Incline Village, NV

2. Library Instruction Assessment in Real Life Instruction Assessment efforts at The Libraries Montana State University - Bozeman

3. Why Assessment • Student success • Improving learning • Improving teaching • Support tenure application

4. A Library InstructionAssessment Plan • January 2002-July 2002 authored in-house document on library instruction assessment • July 2002 presented to faculty & admin • Skepticism from faculty • My next step - lead by example

5. The Reluctant Professor(s) • Instruction program poorly formed • no instruction plan • no goals, no objectives, no common approach • support for my efforts - “sort of” • perceptions needed modification

6. The Nutty Professor • The Choice: keep “planning” or “just do it”? • The decision: “Just do it!” • So I stepped to the high-dive and jumped in!

7. Just do it! “Set your sights lower and do the best evaluation you can with what you have.” (Barclay 1993, p 196) Donald Barclay. “Evaluating Library Instructionn: Doing the Best You Can with What You Have,” RQ 33 (Winter 1993): 195-202.

8. Becoming a Guinea Pig • I did the draft assessment plan • I would do the first assessment • Helping others find comfort level • More importantly, helping me find the way through the quagmire of assessment.

9. My Opportunity • Seeking opportunity • no semester long credit courses • needed a class with more than single contact • Preferably one I was familiar with already • Needed sympathetic department faculty • First one available - Biochemistry 204N, a biochemistry course for non-majors

10. Biochemistry (BCHM) 204 • Mostly lower level undergrads • Most new to library research • Complex concepts found within this class • Faculty member supportive of library and information literacy • Faculty member a challenge to work with

11. The Goal • To Learn! • To Learn! • To Learn!

12. The Approach • Specific Outcomes • Pre-Test • Instructional tools - worksheets • Post-test • Evaluation of Bibliographies

13. Student Outcomes: 1-3 of 6 • Students can identify appropriate information sources. • Students can develop successful search strategies to find information in a variety of resources • Students can locate material in the library

14. Student Outcomes: 4 & 5 of 6 • Students can evaluate the relevance of retrieved information • Students use information and information resources appropriately to produce quality research in final paper/presentation.

15. The Final Outcome: 6 of 6 #6 Students appreciate the value of information (library) skills for life-long learning This is a higher order expectation…. Realized after the first class that this was beyond my ability to teach or evaluate. Maybe at a later stage in my own assessment skills development!

16. The Process • Developed pre/post-test with questions geared to the outcomes • Designed specific classroom worksheets to focus our time in class on skills • Topic Identification and Search Strategies • Library Catalog and Citation Exercise • Journal Article Research Exercise

17. The Worksheets: #1 • Topic ID and Search Strategies • To help break topic into searchable terms and understand the process of creating a search strategy for specific databases. • Ideas surrounding synonyms, broader/narrower topics. • Begin to understand the iterative process involved in most research.

18. The Worksheets: #2 • Library Catalog & Citation Exercise • To familiarize with online catalog, finding a known book and locating the call number of a specific journal • Identifying key pieces of information in a catalog record – how to read the catalog • How to decipher an article citation from a full-text database • How to proceed with locating a journal article with only a citation.

19. The Worksheets: #3 • Journal Article Research Exercise • Searching specific database (PubMed) for a given term • Finding references to articles with known name • Helping them navigate a database that provides some full text but not always……and what to do about it • How to leap from the indexes to the catalog to track down material

20. The Test(s) • Pre-test given a week before their first information lab • By me first thing during a lecture • All but 3 were picked up, 3 dropped off after class and 2 did the pre-test before information lab for 19 tests • Post-test given 2 weeks before end of classes • By classroom professor • Only 15 post-tests received

21. The Results • Out of 15 students who took both the pre and post-test, 9 improved their scores • Two (2) maintained same score • Four (4) had scores that decreased • disinterest • frustration of end of term • Professor administered, I did not (problem) • Average score increased 2.2 pts. (23.5 to 25.7)

22. What I Learned • I learned about tests • will use more extensive test next time, including short/long answer type • I think they do (or can) help us judge learning • Carefully choose faculty to work with • need more contact with students • more involvement in entire course syllabus

23. The Next Steps • Find larger group to work with, more extensively (General Studies?, English 121?) • Build a new test, include plan for statistical analysis (in-house or through institution) • Continue full collaboration with faculty including pre/post tests, bibliographic or presentation evaluation, etc.

24. The Future of Assessmentat the Libraries • Hmmmmmmm……. • Refine techniques that work for our institution • Work to develop our instruction program • Instruction plan • Collaboration • Institutional requirements • ???????????

25. Thank You for Your Attention!