Tag Archives: assessment

Data Days Recap

The Library Assessment and Metrics Council (LAMC) hosted its first Data Days on Monday, July 10, at University Park. The event aimed to bring the Libraries together to learn about data use throughout the University Libraries. In all, 12 sessions were delivered, ranging in duration from 20 to 90 minutes by 12 presenters.

While many of the sessions were informational, two workshops were held, including an introduction to R and best practices in Qualtrics & survey design. Informational sessions included multiple perspectives on quantitative and qualitative methods, library data and external reporting, how to create representative samples, a primer on open data, as well as data used in decision making, where examples from Public Services, Acquisitions, a Commonwealth Campus library, and a University Park branch library were discussed.

Participation was broader than anticipated, with 34 individuals registered — 25 faculty and nine staff, who represented eight campuses and 23 libraries or departments. Evaluations were received from 21 participants and were overwhelmingly positive.

I’d like to thank the organizing committee for their efforts, Joe Salem for sponsoring the event, all the speakers for putting together and delivering excellent talks, and everyone who attended for making our first annual Data Days a really successful event. Slides available and sessions delivered in Foster were recorded. All are linked and available on the Data Days intranet page (accessible via login to all University Libraries employees).

– submitted by Steve Borrelli, head of Library Assessment

Register now for Library Data Days at University Park July 10

Library Data Days is a full day of hands-on and informational sessions around the use of data in our daily decision making and in research. This Library Assessment and Metrics Council event is scheduled for Monday, July 10 at University Park. Library Administration is funding the event and travel for anyone interested in attending from outside of University Park.

See the tentative schedule below for information on sessions.

Join us for part of, or the full day and learn from colleagues about different approaches to working with data, the data we collect, how it’s used, and how it informs our decisions. We look forward to seeing you there!

The tentative schedule is as follows:
8:30-9:00 a.m.
Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library
Light refreshments

9:00-10:00 a.m.
Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
Quantitative & Qualitative Methods and Theories
Heather Froehlich, Alessia Zanin-Yost, Nancy Adams

10:00-10:10 a.m.
Break
Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library

10:10-noon
Pattee Library, 211A
Qualtrics: Best Practices & Survey Design Workshop
Nancy Adams, Steve Borrelli

10:10-noon
Pattee Library, 211A
Gentle Introduction to the R Statistical Package
Rob Olendorf

Noon-1:00 p.m.
Lunch
Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library

1:00-2:00 p.m.
Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
External Reporting: The Data We Collect and Report Out On
Lana Munip, Steve Borrelli

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Location TBD
How to Create a Representative Sample for Research
Victoria Raish, Nathan Piekielek

2:00-3:00 p.m.
Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
Open Data, A Primer for Librarians and an Introduction to Library Data Services
Rob Olendorf

3:00-3:15 p.m
Break
Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library

3:15-4:15 p.m.
Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
Using Data in Decision Making
Nan Butkovich, Valerie Lynn, Heather Benner, Joe Fennewald

– submitted by Steve Borrelli, Assessment

LAMC projects aim to strengthen culture of assessment

by Steve Borrelli, Library Assessment

For this Focus on Assessment, I want to highlight the work of the Library Assessment and Metrics Council (LAMC). In 2016, the council expanded to 20 members, with four membership slots reserved for colleagues outside of University Park. Presently, the LAMC includes staff and faculty from seven campuses. Together, we’re working on four projects aimed at developing data and assessment skills and perspectives, and at developing an infrastructure to support the assessment needs of the University Libraries.

On Friday, April 21, we’ll be hosting researchers from the University of Minnesota, Jan Fransen and Krista Soria. They’re part of a research team that has been successful in connecting library data (checkouts, reference, database use, etc.) to student retention. They’ve also shown how first-year first-time students’ GPA is impacted by library use (check outs, using databases, reference, etc.). They’ll be visiting University Park to discuss their work and to discuss considerations for conducting our own similar analyses. They’ll also be delivering a talk about developing a research agenda. The presentations are open to all and will be available on Mediasite Live. The full schedule for the day is available here.
The Assessment Archive will be a place where faculty and staff can submit completed assessment projects, both large- and small-scale, so that others can find and make use of these assessment results. We see this as also having the secondary benefit of providing a central location for those looking for ideas for their assessments. Each project will have a searchable project page describing the project, the submitted materials and results. We anticipate launching this project by the end of July. More information about the Assessment Archive will come soon.
Library Data Days is envisioned to be a full-day event providing professional development around the central theme of “using data.” The project is currently in an exploratory stage to gauge interest and develop a loose budget. An interest survey was recently sent out and is available here for anyone interested who may have missed it. The event is tentatively scheduled for Monday, July 10, in University Park.
The Library Data Inventory project is aimed at learning what data is collected broadly around the libraries to support decision making. The first phase of the project is looking at the data collected through Desk Tracker. The idea here is to get an understanding of what data is collected consistently across the libraries, then to talk with those using the data in their decision making in order to make recommendations or suggest best practices for recording. The LAMC group working on this has met with representatives from the Desk Tracker Team, and will be touching base as we move forward on the project.

If you have questions about any of these projects, talk with anyone on the LAMC, or contact me directly at sborrelli@psu.edu.

Findings from the Ithaka Survey of Undergraduates

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, the Library Assessment Department held a forum to present the findings from the Ithaka Survey of Undergraduates conducted this past spring. This was a long survey asking students to respond to approximately 200 questions.

Our analysis looked at demographic characteristics to learn more about differences across sub-populations. One finding in particular, that no difference was found in terms of sense of belonging between international and domestic students, will be used as a seed for an assessment slated to be conducted in the spring.

The presentation is linked on the Ithaka Survey Intranet page along with the data, and other products resulting from the study. Findings from the study relate to major, ethnicity and first-generation status among other demographic characteristics.

Overall findings suggest that undergraduates:

Overwhelmingly value our services and facilities
Visit our facilities frequently and stay for long periods of time
Feel a sense of belonging when in our libraries and are motivated to be productive while there

Results relating to specific populations:

First-generation students:

Report a stronger sense of belonging than other students
Find librarians and core library services more useful than other students
Know where to ask for help on questions relating to resources for their coursework

Minority students (African Americans & Hispanic/Latino):

Report a stronger sense of belonging than White students
Find librarians and core services more useful than White students

International students:

No difference found in terms of sense of belonging compared to domestic students
Have more difficulty accessing resources for their coursework and research
World Campus students who have attended a library instruction session are more likely to agree that librarians help them develop research skills

Library Assessment is happy to work with units with specific questions about the data.

– submitted by Steve Borrelli, Library Assessment

Reminder: Respond by Jan. 8 if you want to be involved in survey assessment

The Library Assessment and Metrics Council (LAMC) is pleased to announce the creation of a working group to assist the LAMC with the assessment of the recent LibQUAL survey comment responses. Members of this group will assist in the categorization and analysis of our patrons’ responses to the open-ended question regarding library services. Results of this analysis will assist the libraries assessment of currently provided services, while also providing analysis of our users’ service needs compared to the results of our previous LibQUAL surveys.

If you would like to be a part of this working group, please submit a brief statement of interest via email to the LAMC (ul-assessment-council@lists.psu.edu) by Wednesday, January 8, 2014. The first meeting of this working group will occur in late January or early February of next year. The categorization and analysis done by the group should be completed within one month’s time. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the continual assessment initiatives of the University Libraries. Please consider expressing your interest.

Thank you,

The Library Assessment and Metrics Council
https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/groups/assessmentcouncil.html

Members needed for new LibQUAL assessment group

Submitted by Alan Shay, data analyst

If you would like to be a part of this working group, please submit a brief statement of interest via email to the LAMC (ul-assessment-council@lists.psu.edu) by Wednesday, January 8, 2014. The first meeting of this working group will occur in late January or early February of next year. The categorization and analysis done by the group should be completed within one month’s time. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the continual assessment initiatives of the University Libraries. Please consider expressing your interest.

Thank you,

The Library Assessment and Metrics Council
https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/groups/assessmentcouncil.html

Dean’s News

By Barbara I. Dewey

I learned this week that we have approximately 16,000 Penn State freshmen (8,000 at University Park and 8,000 at the Commonwealth Campuses) which is about 700 more than last fall. I am sure you have met many of them in our libraries and on our campuses.

Posted on the Dean’s intranet page (https://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/admin/intranet.html) under the heading of Assessment-Related Topics is the excellent report “Moving Forward: Envisioning Instructional Services for the Future“ completed by our first cohort of Library Leaders – Anne Behler, Ellysa Cahoy, John Meier, John Shank. Congratulations to them for their fine work and for completing the program. I hope you saw the call for interest for our next Penn State Library Leaders cohort.

Loanne Snavely reported (from work done by Alan Shay) that Penn State was the top University Library (for the past two years) and the 2nd in the last several years in teaching and outreach efforts among ARL libraries as per the ARL Instruction Statistics. We Are!! Thank you to everyone who made this outstanding statistic possible. Our students and faculty are very lucky to have this extensive and valuable teaching expertise in their Penn State Libraries.

I hope you will save the date, October 2, 2013, 2-3 p.m. for the first Dean’s Forum of the year in Foster Auditorium and on Mediasite Live. The agenda will be on our strategic planning and space planning work. Let me or Sandy know if there are other items you would like to hear about or if you have good news I can share in the Kudos section.

Save the date: Presentation and workshop on library assessment on 9/16

The University Libraries will host Megan Oakleaf of Syracuse University, on Monday, September 16, for a visit focused on library assessment. Oakleaf will help us learn more about assessing library services so that we can document the value that we provide to our users. All are welcome to attend the activities of the day, which begin at 10 a.m. with her presentation, “The Value of Academic Libraries: Research and Recommendations,” detailing Oakleaf’s findings from a major ACRL-funded research project on assessing the academic library’s impact in light of increased calls for institutional accountability. This presentation, followed by a Q&A period, will be held from 10 – 11:30 a.m. in Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, and broadcast live on Mediasite.

Continue reading →

Presentation and workshop on library assessment

In the afternoon, from 1 – 4 p.m., Oakleaf will facilitate “The Value of Academic Libraries: Reframing and Reflecting,” a set of highly interactive workshops in Foster Auditorium. In small groups, attendees will create a library impact map to identify alignment between library services and institutional mission; reflect on needs and goals of various library stakeholders; and discuss potential partnerships to better position the library to meet institutional goals. Following the workshops, an optional wrap-up session with Dr. Oakleaf will be held from 4 – 4:30 p.m. All of these activities will use materials from Dr. Oakleaf’s “Academic Library Value: Impact Starter Kit” (all materials will be provided). The afternoon session will not be broadcast on Mediasite due to the highly participative, small group nature of the activities. Individuals requesting travel funding to and from campuses may indicate this on the RSVP survey arriving in your e-mail.