The ACRL Assessment Discussion Group meeting is always a bright spot at the ALA conference. The group, with a discussion list of over 400+, suggests topics of interest: this year we talked about assessment of space in libraries and how it relates to student learning. We shared thoughts and best practices for assessing student learning outcomes, and we talked of visualization and dashboards for presenting library data. Three topics, three table discussions: here are some highlights.
Space Use Assessment
Libraries are using a variety of tools to gather data on how students use space, from snapshots of head counts and high traffic areas to tracking of wifi connections. Librarians continue to explore the use of high tech tools (infrared, pinging analysis, and camera’s that can blank out faces) to understand space use. But they also noted that decisions about library consolidation and closing are more often due to politics than based on library-collected data.
University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) used a “photo elicitation” technique (made popular by Nancy Foster’s ethnography work). As the article about the research makes clear, surveys and observation studies, “by design, … usually stay within existing boxes, making them suboptimal for holistic examinations required to lead major innovation or uncover new and unfamiliar aspects of user needs.” That idea and the project in full are described in: Nara L. Newcomer, David Lindahl & Stephanie A. Harriman (2016) Picture the Music: Performing Arts Library Planning with Photo Elicitation, Music Reference Services Quarterly, 19:1, 18-62
How do libraries connect space use with student success? Surveys on use of collaborative space, interviews with students about their “favorite” places to work, and correlation between computer use and GPA’s are methods in use. While these relationships may be tenuous, it’s clear that student success and retention can be correlated to student engagement – this “sense of belonging” may be enriched by soft seating, a coffee shop, or the availability of partner services at the library, like a writing or tutoring center.
Learning Outcomes Assessment
Coordinators of information literacy programs must balance a standardized approach to assessment balanced with their colleagues’ desire and need to maintain autonomy as teachers. End-of-session worksheets to be completed by students may “stifle” teaching styles and yet, without standard measures that can be used throughout the program, it is difficult to get meaningful data about best practice.
All agreed about the necessity learning outcomes shared by both academic instructor and the librarian. To ensure there is common understanding, the University of Alabama requires a 30 minute meeting prior to an instruction session. But in classes where instructors turn over each year, and there are high % of adjuncts, this kind of extended collaboration is a challenge.
Finally, librarians engaged in assessment need resources for good questions. Blackboard and LibWizard can support quizzes, and the Information Literacy &* Assessment Project out of Canada provides a good question bank for assessment of student learning outcomes.
While most of the librarians are using rubrics and pre/post testing, some see more value in understanding student practice rather than use of a standardized test. Are there qualitative methods that might help us come to this understanding? And if so, how best to report the results of that assessment? Because telling the story of our impact with instruction is a critical piece of our demonstration of value to the institution.
Data Visualization and Dashboards
Discussion at the data visualization table revolved around the various tools that libraries now use for making library data more accessible through visualization: Oracle, Tableau, R, PowerBI and others were mentioned. Whatever the tool, a challenge shared by all is finding ways of presenting that data in a clear, digestible and usable form. How do we best tell the library’s story to its multiple stakeholders? From fact sheets and infographics to interactive story boards, this growing area of assessment practice merits further discussion and will be the subject of a future post.
The discussion group was lively and useful. Thanks go to the many participants and especially the meeting recorders who helped to capture all that transpired. The full set of notes is available at: ACRL Discussion Group Minutes