Mapping the Education of Rural Librarians’ Technology Literacy and Management
Training: Use of Mixed Data Collection Methods in the ITRL Program
Bharat Mehra, Kimberly Black, Vandana Singh, Jenna Nolt
School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee
Johnson City
Public Library, TN
Hancock County Public
Library, Sneedville, TN
Lake City Public Library, TN
Sevier County Public Library,
Sevierville, TN
Agenda
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Research Goal
The ITRL Purpose
Education in the ITRL context
Research Participants
Research Methods
Findings: Mapping the ITRL Student Journey
Conclusions
ITRL Planning Meeting
13 November, 2009
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Goal
To report the use of mixed data collection methods in
the $567,660 grant entitled “Rural Library Professionals
as Change Agents in the 21st Century: Integrating
Information Technology Competencies in Southern and
Central Appalachian Region” (ITRL) recently awarded by
the Institute of Museum and Library Services' Laura Bush
21st Century Librarian Program to the School of Information
Sciences (SIS) at the University of Tennessee (UT).
Laurel Jones Public Library,
Laurel, MS
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
The ITRL Purpose
The ITRL purpose is to recruit sixteen paraprofessionals working in
rural libraries in the Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA)
regions to complete their master’s degree part-time (June 2010 –
August 2012) with a focus on IT and rural librarianship in the UT’s
SIS program via distance.
ITRL students are receiving:
 Part-time degree in a ALA-accredited program
 A structured, individually-tailored IT and rural management curriculum
 Rural library practices and needs incorporated into the curriculum
 IT competencies in developing rural library work applications
 Formal/informal professional mentoring by educators and practitioners
 Full-tuition scholarship for two years
 Allowance for materials
 Provision of a laptop computer
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Why the ITRL Program is Important
The SCA regions are experiencing:
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Information poverty and unemployment
Economic challenges
Low levels of information literacy and educational attainment
A lack of access and use of IT
Other unique environmental challenges
Library professionals who are embedded in their communities are in a
strong position to help address and develop solutions to these needs.
Laurel Jones Public Library,
Laurel, MS
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Education in the ITRL Context
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Use of cutting-edge synchronous DE technology is
allowing real-time online interactions in the virtual
classroom via VoIP that make the experience a
unique offering in this part of the country.
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ITRL students are enrolled part-time, taking six
credit hours (two courses) each semester
(summer, fall, and spring).
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Forty-two credit hours (14 courses) plus a
comprehensive examination or thesis are
required for graduation.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Education in the ITRL Context
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Technology infrastructure
planning and analysis;
Web design, development,
and usability;
Database design and
implementation;
Building digital library
and web portals;
Establishing hardware and
software networking;
Creating Library 2.0 tools.
IT Outcomes
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Service evaluation in rural
libraries;
Management of a rural library
program for adults and
children/young adults;
Reader’s advisory;
Grant writing and development
Management Outcomes
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Participants: 1. Students
Sr. No.
Demographic Category
Comments
1
Sex
female (14), male (2)
2
Race/Ethnicity
White/Caucasian (16)
3
Work Geography [State
(City/Town)]
TN (Athens, East Ridge, Kingsport, Knoxville, Lebanon, Mountain City,
New Market, Sevierville) = 9, KY (Barbourville, Harlan) = 2, VI (Big Stone
Gap, Goshen) = 2, GA (Dahlonega) = 1, MD (Hancock) = 1, NC (Marshall)
= 1.
4
Type of Library
public library (5), county public library (3), county school system (2),
community college library (2), elementary school library (2), research and
education center (1), university library (1).
5
Work Title
acquisitions assistant (1), branch manager/program specialist (3), circulation
assistant (1), director (2), elementary school teacher/media team member
(1), information specialist (1), instructional supervisor for materials and
supplies (1), library media specialist (1), library technical assistant (1),
library technologist (1), resource center/education coordinator (1), reference
librarian (1), technology software support specialist (1).
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Methods: 1. Students
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In-depth narrative essay submitted as part of application
Strategic academic plan
Advising sessions and ongoing communication
Course participation and interactions, SAIS course
evaluations, and course grades
Qualitative interviews during odd-numbered semesters
Quantitative surveys delivered pre-and-post course in
even-numbered semesters
Sharing during ITRL Annual Summits
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Participants:
2. Practitioner-Mentors
Sr. No. Demographic
Category
1.
Sex
Comments
2.
Work Geography
[State (City/Town)]
3.
Type of Library
4.
Work Title
TN (Chattanooga, Clinton, Johnston City, Kingsport, Knoxville, Morristown,
Sevierville) = 8, VI (Big Stone Gap, Clifton Forge, Cumberland, Norton,
Richmond) = 5, KY (Combs, London) = 2, NC (Boone) = 1.
regional library (4), county public library (3), community college library (2),
elementary school library (2), public library (2), state library (1), university
library (2).
continuing education consultant (1), director (8), district director (1), media
specialist (2), music librarian (1), professor and librarian (1), reference librarian
(1), system director (1).
female (11), male (5)
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Methods:
2. Practitioner-Mentors
 Structured information flow and
communication exchanges are maintained
at least once a semester between faculty
advisor , practitioner-mentor, and student
individually and/or collectively.
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Email surveys provide feedback
every semester.
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Ongoing interactions address matters as
they crop up.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Participants: 3. Educators/
Instructors + Administrators
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There are three ITRL faculty educators who are the advisors
of the students in matters of course content and planning, in
consultation with the practitioner-mentors.
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Instructors of ITRL courses include tenured and tenureleading faculty and adjunct faculty and lecturers (including
rural librarians and practitioners) hired by the SIS.
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Other administrators and staff are helping to implement
various grant activities and address challenges that come
up owing to administrative bureaucracy, policies and
procedures, etc.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Methods: 3. Educators/
Instructors and Administrators
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Educator advisors meet on a weekly basis;
Email survey on a yearly basis.
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Course instructors communicate on an
ongoing manner as matters crop up; Email
surveys distributed every semester.
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Other administrators and staff report on an
ongoing manner as matters crop up.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Participants: 4. Appalachian Rural
Librarians + Community Members
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Community members include the ITRL partners
and others invested in promoting growth and
progressive changes in the SCA region while
seeking tangible and practical solutions relevant in
the 21st century.
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Our realization of this group emerged during the
ITRL recruitment stage (Oct. 2009) and since
when more than 200 individuals have established
contact (and continue to do so) regarding their
curiosity, support, and possible involvement.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Research Methods: 4. Appalachian Rural
Librarians + Community Members
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Ongoing information and communication
exchanges (via f-t-f, phone, email, and
UTSIS-ITRL list) are maintained with this group.
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Networking and data collection has been
facilitated via:
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Presentations and publications at professional
conferences and venues;
Press releases, feature stories, and ITRL website
development.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Findings:
Mapping the ITRL Student Journey
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
1. Developing Context of the Journey
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Content analysis of in-depth narrative essays
submitted during application helped evaluate:
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STUDENT CAPABILITIES: Writing abilities; Critical and
reflective skills; Immediate and long range career plans; Comfort
with IT; Description of their strengths in meeting ITRL goals;
Impact of the grant in their lives and communities.
LIBRARY CONTEXT: Description of library vision; Interaction
with professionals holding a master’s degree; Work in individual
and group-managed projects; Important IT management issues;
Change in their library over the next ten years.
COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS: How their library was
important to the community; Who were typical library patrons;
What library services they used most.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
2. Laying Out a Road-Map
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Attendance during an online and f-t-f program
orientation introduced students to expectations,
policies, and student life-cycle.
Strategic Academic Plan submitted by the end of 1st
semester included:
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Career path/choice and the kinds of IT and management outcomes
planned in each course.
Personal learning objectives, course recommendations, research
projects to enhance IT skills with rural library applications.
Profiles of work/position descriptions and IT expectations.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
2. Laying Out a Road-Map
“IS 565 Digital Libraries. Currently: We have done very little digitizing in our
library, although numerous materials are being now stored at our center in
digital format. So we need plans for both digitizing materials for dissemination
and also a records management plan for digital records. This is a big challenge
for non-profits. Goals: Develop ideas and plans and carry out a project for
developing [name of agency] capacity as a digital library. We are working to
organize and develop a digital/on-line finding aid for our library and I would like
to connect that project in this class. I also am interested in thinking through an
on-line version of our [name of agency] historical timeline, which will serve as a
guide for researchers and others interested in more detail about [name of
agency] work. We want to connect with other libraries holding [name of
agency]-related items. We also need a records management plan for our
institution, both for real and virtual files and materials. This class may provide
support for that effort.”
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
3. Ongoing Checks and Bounds
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Advising sessions are helping to regularly track
student experiences.
Provide a structured mechanism to maintain
ongoing communication; monitor educational
program and studies work experiences to deliver
relevant outcomes.
So far, conducted f-t-f or via phone in addition to
ad hoc emails to address matters of concern,
issues, unforeseen situations, and moments
reflecting student needs.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
4. Monitoring Performance Along the Way
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Each student shares course experience, point of
view, thoughts on performance, and development
of course deliverables via multiple channels that
have included:
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Participation in real-time text-chat and asynchronous
blog and/or discussion list contributions, course
discussions, contributions in course assignments, and
feedback collected via the online SAIS course
evaluation system.
Student’s performance has been evaluated as
reflected in their course grades.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
5. Assessing Short-Term Milestones
The Qualitative Student Experience
 Four-eight open-ended questions during narrative
interviews in odd-numbered semesters focus on:
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Overall experiences of the ITRL program;
Experiences in current courses;
Influence of assignments on work in their rural libraries;
Benefit of course applicability and impact of course content
on their library work practices;
Challenges students are experiencing in the process;
Improvements that can be made for future course
iterations.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
5. Assessing Short-Term Milestones
The Qualitative Student Experience
“We are just on the second exercise, so we’re not very far along, but I like
them because they give some structure but they don’t dictate all the
structure so they’re open enough for me to be able to adapt them to what I
want to think about and do. I like that it is structured and systematic and I’ll
be able to see as I make my way through, but I do think I may not have time
in the semester to do as much in depth as I want, but it sets up a structure
where I can follow up. That’s relating to a structure of trying to assess a
kind of research training for community groups that we could be doing
differently than what we do now or that we haven’t been doing but used to
do, so that’s kind of a question I’ve been wanting to think about, I don’t know
that I can do enough interviews to help me know the answer to that by the
end of the semester, but I’ll have a good basis, and it’s also making me think
about how do we document what we do better.”
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
6. Evaluating Short-Term Milestones
The Quantitative Measurement of Student Experience
 23-28 questions to be rated 1-5 in surveys for
each course during even-numbered semesters to
gather feedback pre-and-post course experience.
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Questions are based on analysis of course
objectives, content and topics, and assignments.
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Surveys are hosted on the website, password
protected, and analysis using standard software.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
7. Sharing and Disseminating Short-Term
Student Outcomes
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ITRL students are summarizing IT and rural management
deliverables that they developed during their courses every
year in the ITRL Annual Summits.
Students record online presentations that will be made
available online and circulated amongst professionals and
others invested in rural library communities in the SCA
region.
This will help disseminate ITRL experiences within the
larger body of professional and non-professional population
and provide recognition of ITRL students’ efforts over the
past year.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Conclusions
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Multiple data collection methods and analysis
are helping to identify and evaluate expectations and
accomplishments of all participants involved in the ITRL
program throughout the process and time frame of the
grant to provide formative and summative evaluations.
Research limitations
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Data collection: Voluntary participation means that not all
individuals in a given population are providing feedback.
Small size of the student population gives quantitative results
limited value; plus, the number of participating students from
pre-to-post class surveys may vary significantly, making
comparative analysis somewhat problematic.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Conclusions
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Select examples of collected data and glimpses of
analysis show the need to integrate the concept of
multiplicity in order to complement the strengths and
weaknesses that exist in application of isolated and
narrow strategies.
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Mixed methods in ITRL data collection are providing a
holistic understanding of the student’s experiences and
integrating an outcome-based, results-oriented
approach in the curriculum design to bring progressive
changes in the SCA regions.
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt
Questions and Comments?
Thank you for your attention and participation.
Bharat Mehra (bmehra@utk.edu)
IFLA 2011: Mehra, Black, Singh, & Nolt