RARITAN VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
LIBRARY FACULTY SELF- EVALUATION REPORT
Name: Megan Dempsey
Position/Department: Reference/Instruction Librarian - Library
Date: May 29, 2009
To be submitted to the appropriate Department Chairperson annually by May 31, in accordance with the
Faculty Contract Agreement, (VII, b.1)
This Faculty Self-Evaluation report is limited to the current academic year. Please provide detailed
supporting information for the evaluation criteria below, focusing on the most important goals and
objectives addressed in the past year. Where appropriate, make specific reference to goals identified in
the Professional Growth Plan (PGP).
I.
EVIDENCE OF TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS
Developed Student Learning Outcomes
Collaborating with the Library Director and my librarian colleagues, I developed a set of Student
Learning Outcomes for the library’s Instructional Program. While a curriculum is in place for Information
Literacy I and Information Literacy II (the required library sessions that are part of English I and English
II), a set of defined learning outcomes was not. Using ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency
Standards for Higher Education as a basis, I developed five measurable learning outcomes which we
expect students to exhibit by the conclusion of their Information Literacy II class. With the learning
outcomes established, I also broke out specific skills, or performance indicators, that should be taught in
IL I and IL II, so that I could create consistency across our program. We have seven librarians teaching
these classes, so the learning outcomes and the performance indicators inform all librarians what the
basics of their lesson should be. I use the learning outcomes to establish my objectives for each class,
which I share with the students at the beginning of the lesson. I use the performance indicators to
create activities that give the students the opportunity to practice and demonstrate the skills they
should be learning.
These learning outcomes were then used to develop an assessment quiz that we administered
to the majority of our IL II classes. The results – an 85% pass rate – indicate that what we are teaching
and what students are learning align with these outcomes.
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Use of instructional technology
Over the summer, I facilitated the purchase of a student response system (SRS) for the library
classroom. This web-based system allows teaching librarians to ask a question and get immediate input
from everyone in the class anonymously. I began using student response questions in most of my
classes in the fall and taught the other librarians how to use it as well. By asking a series of review
questions at the beginning of an IL II class, I was first of all able to capture the students’ interest in what
can be a very dry topic. Everyone could get involved and answer, rather than me calling on one person
to answer the question, so I got a better sense of how many students retained the information they
were taught in IL I and I could adjust my lesson accordingly. Students were excited to see if they
answered correctly compared to their classmates, and this exercise established an atmosphere of
participation, discussion, and friendly competition that carried through the rest of the session. One of
the biggest challenges as a teaching librarian is that I have little opportunity to establish a strong rapport
with the class when they only come in for one 80 minute session. In classes where I used the SRS,
students were more relaxed, more willing to engage in the lesson, and more apt to answer questions so
I could gauge if they were learning.
II.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
RVCC Faculty Development
As a member of the Faculty Development Committee, I attended every faculty development
workshop this year. Two of these sessions in particular provided me with useful information for my own
professional development. At the Faculty Panel discussion in October, four faculty members discussed
various types of professional development that faculty of different ranks could be involved in. The
information about completing a dissertation while working as full-time faculty is helpful for me, while I
am completing my second Master’s Degree and considering pursuing a Ph.D. in the future. Another
faculty member gave excellent suggestions for presenting at conferences; these suggestions will be
useful this coming year, as I hope to either present a poster session or be part of a panel discussion at
next year’s regional academic library conference, VALE/NJ ACRL/NJLA CUS Users’ Conference.
The faculty development session on service to the college in February offered a lot of
information on additional ways to get involved with the college community. Although I already serve on
several committees, I was interested in the discussion of the Honor’s Program. Although I am not a
classroom faculty member, as the Instruction Librarian I believe there are opportunities for
collaboration with faculty teaching Honor’s courses to enhance honors students’ research experience. I
plan to pursue this type of collaboration in the future. There was also discussion about outreach to high
schools, which is something I’d like to get involved in. Part of my work on the VALE Shared Information
Literacy Committee will involve creating progression standards for students transitioning from high
school to 2-year colleges. There is a lot of potential for work with local high school media specialists to
prepare students for this transition in terms of information literacy.
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Regional, State & National Library Conferences
I attended this year’s VALE/NJ ACRL/NJLA CUS Users’ Conference, the NJLA Annual Conference
and the ACRL 14th National Conference.
At the VALE conference in January, I attended back-to-back sessions on assessment, which gave
me information and ideas to develop an assessment quiz for our Information Literacy Program. Based
on an assessment program at William Paterson that was discussed in the session, I approached one of
RVCC’s new Education faculty members about potential collaboration on an assignment that would
teach education students how to incorporate information literacy into their future classrooms. I was
also able to learn features of a successful objective assessment tool in these sessions, so I could develop
a short multiple-choice quiz to be used in our Information Literacy II classes.
The most significant session I attended at the 2-day NJLA Conference was sponsored by the
VALE Shared Information Literacy Committee and presented a proposal for a set of progression
standards for students transitioning from 2-year to 4-year colleges. The standards establish what a
student should know, in terms of information literacy, by the time he/she has finished 30 credits and
then by 60 credits. This is essential for my work here at RVCC, because we have two opportunities to
teach students these skills directly. The student learning outcomes I developed last summer are very
closely aligned with these proposed standards, so our Information Literacy Program is well on its way.
However, this session demonstrated that there needs to be a lot of work done on my part to
communicate these standards to the teaching faculty, and to provide support for incorporating
information literacy skills into classes throughout the college, not just English I and II.
At the ACRL National Conference, I attended many sessions discussing how to incorporate
instructional technology into information literacy classes. I learned a lot about creating effective online
tutorials, creating online learning objects for point-of-need instruction, and using technology for
assessment. I also learned how certain Web 2.0 tools can be incorporated into library webpages and
subject guides to make them more dynamic and engaging. These are strategies I plan to use as I make
suggestions for refining instructional parts of the library website.
III.
COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS
Service to the college
This year, my second at RVCC, I served on four college committees. I was elected as Secretary to
the Forum, and have been re-elected to this position for next year. I served on the Environmental
Sustainability Committee, because this is an issue that I am personally interested in.
I was also invited by the Chair of the Faculty Development Committee to participate on that
committee. As a teaching Librarian, I was able to bring a unique perspective to discussions about
potentially successful Faculty Development sessions, because I interact with faculty from nearly every
department on a regular basis. Rather than being confined to my own classroom or department, my
teaching role allows me to collaborate with many different faculty on many different types of
assignments. This gives me a broad sense of faculty needs and concerns, which I used to inform
suggestions for Faculty Development.
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I served as the Library representative on the Curriculum Committee, and will continue in this
role next year. In this role, I stay current with changes to the curriculum, particularly as they affect
library services and collection needs. When new programs or classes are introduced, I communicate this
information to the appropriate liaison librarian. Although the library rarely brings curriculum issues to
the table, my participation in this committee ensures that the Instructional Program I oversee in the
Library meets the needs and mission of the college curriculum.
Service to the community
I participated on two committees at the community level: the Millenium OPAC Committee with
the Somerset County Library System; and VALE Shared Information Literacy (SIL) Committee. On the
OPAC Committee, I represent the reference librarians for RVCC providing feedback to the staff at the
county library who make upgrades to the consortium library catalog system. I receive feedback from
our reference librarians regarding usability, technological issues, and enhancements and pass this
information on to the committee. In this position, I stay aware of upgrades to the system and
opportunities to make our library catalog more effective and user-friendly.
As a member of VALE SIL, I bring a community college perspective to statewide information
literacy discussions. The Information Literacy instructional program at our library is particularly robust
compared to other community college libraries in the state, because we require students in English I and
II to participate in research instruction. On this committee I’ve been able to share with librarians around
New Jersey the methods and strategies we use at RVCC to reach as many students as possible and
establish a strong information literacy program. I’ve also been exposed to information literacy
strategies employed by other librarians on the committee. I am currently working with the other
members of the committee to establish a set of progression standards for students transitioning from 2year to 4-year colleges, to establish consistency across NJ colleges.
IV.
PERFORMANCE OF LIBRARIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
Coordinate Information Literacy Instruction Program
As discussed previously, my primary responsibility is coordinating the library’s instructional
program. This year, I created a web-based tutorial for IL I to be used in online English I classes and by
any students needing an introduction to research skills. I introduced a new instructional technology
which has been actively adopted by 2 other teaching librarians so far. I have participated in many
professional development opportunities particularly geared at effective and engaging instruction and
use of technology in the classroom. Additionally, I was responsible for scheduling myself and 6 other
librarians to teach more than 200 research instruction sessions this year. To do so effectively, I consider
librarian availability as well as teaching style and content area strengths to match a librarian with a class
where he/she will be the most effective instructor. I personally taught 104 instruction sessions this year,
47% of the total.
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Coordinate Reference Services
In addition to the instruction program, I schedule myself and 6 other Reference Librarians to
cover the reference desk, ensuring that there is always a librarian available at the desk to assist students
and public patrons. I work about 12 hours each week at the reference desk. In December, 2008, Laura
Palmer retired, and I worked with the Library Director to review and interview applicants for the Adjunct
Librarian position. I trained our new Adjunct Librarian, Stacy Cozin, both in reference services and
instruction. In summer 2008, I implemented a new system for tracking reference questions, based on
feedback from the librarians. This new method allows us to record statistics using the reference
computer instead of paper/pencil for easier evaluation of stats. It also provides three levels for
categorizing reference questions – basic, instructional, or research –intensive – to better reflect the
amount of time and effort that reference librarians devote to helping patrons at the desk. As such, we
saw a 13% increase in the number of reference questions recorded this year.
Liaison to English, Business & Public Service, Computer Science
As the liaison to three academic departments, I facilitated collection development in these
areas. I worked closely with the Library Committee of the English Department to develop a new
materials selection process, which enabled more faculty to have greater participation in selecting library
materials. I also work with faculty in the other departments to ensure library materials in their subject
areas support their curriculum and research needs.
Additional Comments and projected goals for the coming year.
 Develop a plan for ongoing assessment of Instructional Program, including a standard for
continued use of the Assessment Quiz each semester.
 Develop a marketing campaign and workshops to increase awareness and use of Safari Books
Online.
 Evaluate and revise content taught in English II library instruction sessions to reflect IL
Progression Standards (being developed by VALE SIL) and create Information Literacy II webbased tutorial along the same objectives.
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Signature
______________________
Date
Faculty Self-Evaluation form revised 05/09, T. Valesek
Librarian form revised to reflect changes, M. Dempsey, 05/09
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