"The library has a website?”
User-Centered Library Assessment
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
OCLC Research
Vice-chair , ACRL Value of Academic Libraries Committee
Thursday, April 24th 2014
Academic Library Association of Ohio’s Assessment Special Interest Group Spring Workshop
The Road Travelled
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Value of Academic Libraries Report
Freely available
http://acrl.org/value
3
Themes from Summits
Accountability
Unified approach
Student learning/success
Evidence-based
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Value of Academic Libraries Initiative
Keep Up-to-Date
• Value of Academic
Libraries Blog
•Valueography
Outreach &
Collaboration
• Presentations (e.g.
CNI, LAC, &
Northumbria)
• ACRL Liaisons
Assembly
Assessment
Management Systems
Under Discussion
• Librarian
Competencies
• Research agenda
• Library Poster
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ACRL Plan for Excellence
Value of Academic Libraries
Goal: Academic libraries demonstrate alignment with and
impact on institutional outcomes.
Objectives:
• Leverage existing research to articulate and promote the
value of academic and research libraries.
• Undertake and support new research that builds on the
research agenda in The Value of Academic Libraries: A
Comprehensive Review and Report.
• Influence national conversations and activities focused
on the value of higher education.
• Develop and deliver responsive professional
development programs that build the skills and capacity
for leadership and local data-informed and evidencebased advocacy.
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SHARING
PLANNING
6.
Planning
Change
March-May
2014
5.
Analyzing
Evidence
REFLECTING
January February 2014
June- July
2013
1. Defining
Outcome(s)
Cycle of Assessment
[focused on]
Library Value
2. Setting
Criteria
3. Performing
Action(s) &
4. Gathering
Evidence
ACTING
AugustDecember 2013
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Recommendations
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Define outcomes
Create or adopt systems for assessment management
Determine what libraries enables students, faculty, student affairs professionals,
administrators and staff to do.
Develop systems to collect data on individual library user behavior, while maintaining
privacy.
Record and increase library impact on student enrollment.
Link libraries to improved student retention and graduation rates.
Review course content, readings, reserves, and assignments.
Document and augment library advancement of student experiences, attitudes, and
perceptions of quality.
Track and increase library contributions to faculty research productivity.
Contribute to investigate library impact on faculty grant proposals and funding, a means of
generating institutional income.
Demonstrate and improve library support of faculty teaching.
Create library assessment plans.
Promote and participate in professional development.
Mobilize library administrators.
Leverage library professional associations.
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Recommendations
1. Increase the profession’s understanding of library
value in relation to various dimensions of student
learning and success
2. Articulate and promote the importance of
assessment competencies necessary for
documenting and communicating library impact on
student learning and success.
3. Create professional development opportunities for
librarians to learn how to initiate and design
assessment that demonstrates the library’s
contributions to advancing institutional mission and
strategic goals.
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Recommendations cont.
4. Expand partnerships for assessment
activities with higher education constituent
groups and related stakeholders.
5. Integrate the use of existing ACRL
resources with library value initiatives.
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Assessment in Action Goals
Professional Competencies
Collaborative Relationships
Approaches, Strategies, Practices
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Team Approach
Faculty
Member
Institutional
Researcher/
Assessment
Officer
Librarian
Leader
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AiA 2013 Institutional Teams
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Library Factors Examined
• instruction: games, single/multiple session,
course embedded, tutorials
• reference
• physical space
• discovery: institutional web, resource guides
• collections
• personnel
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Variety of Tools/Methods
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
survey
interviews
focus group(s)
observation
pre/post test
rubric
student portfolio
• research
paper/project
• other class
assignment
• test scores
• GPA
• degree completion
rate
• retention rate
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Some Initial Questions
• What is your definition of assessment?
• What comes to mind when you hear the term
“assessment”?
• What benefits do you see for assessment?
• What are your concerns?
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Assessment Defined
Process of…
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Defining
Selecting
Designing
Collecting
Analyzing
Interpreting
Using
Collecting
Analyzing
Interpreting
information to increase service/program
effectiveness
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Why Assessment?
• Answers questions:
– What do users/stakeholders
want & need?
– How can services/programs
better meet needs?
– Is what we do working?
– Could we do better?
– What are problem areas?
• Traditional stats don’t tell
whole story
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Importance of Assessment
“Librarians are increasingly called
upon to document and articulate the
value of academic and research
libraries and their contribution to
institutional mission and goals.”
(ACRL Value of Academic Libraries, 2010, p. 6)
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Formal vs.
Informal Assessment
• Formal Assessment
–
–
–
–
Data driven
Evidence-based
Accepted methods
Recognized as rigorous
• Informal Assessment
– Anecdotes & casual observation
– Used to be norm
– No longer acceptable
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Outcomes Assessment Basics
• Outcomes: “The ways in which library users are
changed as a result of their contact with the library’s
resources and programs” (ALA, 1998).
• “Libraries cannot demonstrate institutional value to
maximum effect until they define outcomes of
institutional relevance and then measure the degree to
which they attain them” (Kaufman & Watstein, 2008, p. 227).
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Steps in Assessment Process
•
•
•
•
•
Why? Identify purpose
Who? Identify team
How? Choose model/approach/method
Commit
Training/planning
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Outputs & Inputs
• Outputs
– Quantify the work done
– Don’t relate factors to overall effectiveness
• Inputs
– Raw materials
– Measured against standards
– Insufficient for overall assessment
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Principles for Applying Outcomes
Assessment
• Center on users
– Assess changes in service/resources use
• Relate to inputs - identify “best practices”
• Use variety of methods to corroborate
conclusions
– Choose small number of outcomes
– Need not address every aspect of service
• Adopt continuous process
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Examples of Outcomes
• User matches information need to
information resources
• User can organize an effective search
strategy
• User effectively searches online catalog &
retrieves relevant resources
• User can find appropriate resources
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What We Know
About Assessment
• Ongoing process to understand & improve
service
• Librarians are busy with day-to-day work &
assessment can become another burden
• Can build on what has already been
done or is known
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“One size fits none!”
(Lynn’s Mom)
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Survey Research
“…to look at or to see over or
beyond…allows one to generalize from a
smaller group to a larger group”
(Connaway & Powell, 2010, p. 107)
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Survey Research: Advantages
• Explores many aspects of service
• Demographic information
• Online surveys (e.g., Survey Monkey) provide statistical
analysis
• Controlled sampling
• High response rates possible
• Data reflect characteristics & opinions of respondents
• Cost effective
• Can be self-administered
• Survey large numbers
(Hernon & Altman, 1998)
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Survey Research: Disadvantages
• Produces a snapshot of situation
• May be time consuming to analyze &
interpret results
• Produces self-reported data
• Data lack depth of interviewing
• High return rate can be difficult
(Hernon & Altman, 1998)
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Design Issues
•
•
•
•
Paper or Online (e.g., Survey Monkey)
Consider order of questions
Demographic q’s first
Instructions
– Be specific
– Introduce sections
• Keep it simple
• Pre-test!
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Survey Research
Interpreting Results
• Objectively analyze all data
• Interpret results with appropriate level of
precision
• Express proper degree of caution about
conclusions
• Use data as input in outcome measures
• Consider longitudinal study, compare results
over time
• Qualitative data requires special attention
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Example: Seeking Synchronicity CIT:
VRS Potential User Online Survey Questions
Think about one experience in which you felt you
achieved (or did not achieve) a positive result after
seeking library reference services in any format.
a. Think about one experience in
which you felt you did (or did
not) achieve a positive result
after seeking library reference
services in any format.
b. Describe each interaction.
c. Identify the factors that made
these interactions
positive or negative.
(Connaway & Radford, 2011)
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Interviews
Conversation involving two or more people
guided by a predetermined purpose
(Lederman, 1996)
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Types of Interviews
• Structured
• Semi-structured
• Formats:
– Individual
• Face-to-face
• Telephone
• Skype
– Focus Group Interviews
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Types of Questions
• OPEN
• “What is it like when you visit the library?”
• DIRECTIVE
• “What happened when you asked for help at the
reference desk?”
• REFLECTIVE
• “It sounds like you had trouble with the mobile app?”
• CLOSED
• “Have I covered everything you wanted to say?”
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Interviews: Advantages
•
•
•
•
•
•
Face-2-face interaction
In-depth information
Understand experiences & meanings
Highlight individual’s voice
Preliminary information to “triangulate”
Control sampling
– Include underrepresented groups
• Greater range of topics
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Interviews: Disadvantages
• Time Factors
– Varies by # & depth
– Staff intensive
• Cost Factors
– Higher the #, higher the cost
• Additional Factors
– Self-reported data
– Errors in note taking possible
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Example: Digital Visitors & Residents
Participant Questions
1. Describe the things you enjoy
doing with technology and the
web each week.
2. Think of the ways you have
used technology and the web
for your studies. Describe a
typical week.
3. Think about the next stage of
your education. Tell me what
you think this will be like.
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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Focus Group Interviews
“…interview of a group of 8 to 12 people
representing some target group and
centered on a single topic.”
(Zweizig, Johnson, Robbins, & Besant, 1996)
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Conducting Focus Group Interviews
• Obtain permission to use information & if
taping
– Report and/or publication
• Enlist note-taker or, if recording, check
equipment, bring back-up
• Begin by creating safe climate
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WorldCat.org Study Recruitment
• Difficult
– Little data of user-base
– Participants across 3
continents
– Hard-to-reach populations
• Historians
• Antiquarian booksellers
• Non-probabilistic
methods
– Convenience sampling
– Snowball sampling
(Connaway & Wakeling, 2012)
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Example: WorldCat.org
Focus Group Interview Questions
Tell us about your
experiences with
WorldCat.org.
Broad introductory question to
reveal the extent to which users
have engaged with WorldCat.org,
and the information-seeking
contexts within which they use
the system.
(Connaway & Wakeling, 2012, p. 7)
43
Structured Observations
Systematic description focusing on
designated aspects of behavior to test
causal hypotheses
(Connaway & Powell, 2010)
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Structured Observations: A Guide
• Develop observational
categories
– Define appropriate,
measurable acts
– Establish time length of
observation
– Anticipate patterns of
phenomena
– Decide on frame of
reference
(Connaway & Powell, 2010)
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Ethnographic Research
Rich description
(Connaway & Powell, 2010)
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Ethnographic research
• Incredibly detailed data
• Time consuming
– Establishing rapport
– Selecting research
participants
– Transcribing
observations &
conversations
– Keeping diaries
(Connaway & Powell, 2010, p.175)
(Khoo, Rozaklis, & Hall, 2012)
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Analysis
“summary of observations or data in such a
manner that they provide answers to the
hypothesis or research questions”
(Connaway & Powell, 2010)
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Analysis
• Collection of data
affects analysis of data
• Ongoing process
• Feeds back into
research design
• Theory, model, or
hypothesis must grow
from data analysis
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Data Analysis:
Digital Visitors & Residents
I. Place
• Codebook
• Nvivo 10
A. Internet
1. Search engine
a. Google
b. Yahoo
2. Social Media
a. FaceBook
b. Twitter
c. You Tube
d. Flickr/image
sharing
e. Blogging
B. Library
1. Academic
2. Public
3. School (K-12)
C. Home
D. School, classroom, computer lab
E. Other
(White & Connaway, 2011-2012)
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Getting the Right Fit!
• What do we know?
• Where do we go from
here?
Use tools & research
design to customize
project to fit your
assessment needs
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References
ALA/ACRL. 1998. Task force on academic library outcomes assessment report. Available:
http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/Publications/White_Papers_and_Report
s/Task_Force_on_Academic_Library_Outcomes_Assessment_Report.htm
Brown, Karen, and Kara J. Malenfant. 2012. Connect, collaborate, and communicate: a report
from the Value of Academic Libraries Summits. [Chicago, Ill.]: Association of College &
Research Libraries. http://www.acrl.ala.org/value.
Connaway, Lynn S., Johnson, Debra W., & Searing, Susan. 1997. Online catalogs from the
users’ perspective: The use of focus group interviews. College and Research Libraries,
58(5), 403-420.
Connaway, Lynn S. & Radford, Marie L. 2011. Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and
recommendations for virtual reference. Dublin, OH: OCLC Research. Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/reports/synchronicity/full.pdf
Connaway, Lynn S. & Powell, Ronald R. 2010. Basic research methods for librarians (5th ed.).
Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited.
Connaway, Lynn S., & Wakeling, Simon. 2012. To use or not to use Worldcat.org: An
international perspective from different user groups. OCLC Internal Report.
Dervin, Brenda, Connaway, Lynn S., & Prabha, Chandra. 2003-2006 Sense-making the
information confluence: The whys and hows of college and university user satisficing of
information needs. Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library
Flanagan, John C. 1954. The critical incident technique. Washington: American Psychological
Association.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York: Basic Books.
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References
Hernon Peter & Altman, Ellen. 1998. Assessing Service Quality: Satisfying the Expectations of
Library Customers. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
Kaufman, Paula, and Sarah Barbara Watstein. 2008. "Library value (return on investment, ROI)
and the challenge of placing a value on public services". Reference Services Review. 36
(3): 226-231.
Khoo, Michael, Rozaklis, Lily, & Hall, Catherine (2012). A survey of the use of ethnographic
methods in the study of libraries and library users. Library and Information Science
Research, 34(2), 82-91.
Lederman, Linda C. 1996. Asking questions and listening to answers: A guide to using
individual, focus group, and debriefing interviews. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.
Oakleaf, Megan J. 2010. The value of academic libraries: a comprehensive research review
and report. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library
Association.
QSR International. 2011. NVivo 9: Getting started. Retrieved from
http://download.qsrinternational.com/Document/NVivo9/NVivo9-Getting-Started-Guide.pdf
Services (IMLS). http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/past/orprojects/imls/default.htm
White, David S., & Connaway, Lynn S. 2011-2012. Visitors and residents: What motivates
engagement with the digital information environment. Funded by JISC, OCLC, and Oxford
University. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/vandr/
Zweizig, Douglas, Johnson, Debra W., Robbins, Jane, & Besant, Michele. 1996. The tell it!
Manual. Chicago: ALA.
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Thank You!
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
OCLC Research
Vice-chair , ACRL Value of Academic Libraries Committee
@LynnConnaway
connawal@oclc.org
©2014 OCLC. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Suggested attribution:
“This work uses content from [presentation title] © OCLC, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/”
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