Making Strategic Decisions: Conducting and Using Research on the Impact of Sequenced Library Instruction

Abstract

. © 2016 Kacy Lundstrom, Pamela Martin, and Dory Cochran, Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) This study explores the relationship between course grades and sequenced library instruction interventions throughout psychology students' curriculum. Researchers conducted this study to inform decisions about sustaining and improving program integrations for first-and second-year composition courses and to improve discipline-level integrations. Researchers began with transcript analysis but soon incorporated student surveys and a faculty focus group to supplement the data and influence future directions. Findings confirmed that students benefit from meaningful collaborations with the library at strategic, sequenced points in their curriculum, including at the discipline level. This research also provided concrete information that brought about change at the classroom and programmatic level. IntroductionLibrarians at Utah State University (USU) Merrill-Cazier Library have partnered with select academic departments to map research-related student learning outcomes throughout the curriculum. The library instruction program has made large strides in moving toward a cohesive, integrated instruction program that targets students at strategic points in their curriculum, including at the general education level and in the disciplines.These efforts parallel the university's curriculum mapping goals, including encouraging departments to map learning outcomes across programs and courses. USU has also been involved in tuning processes in both the elementary education and history programs. These changes support a liberal education that defines outcomes clearly for students and future employers and that develops and reinforces skills throughout a student's college experience.While the library has strong integrations at the general education level, especially in writing composition courses, its integration at the discipline level varies widely.doi:10.5860/crl.77.2.212 Making Strategic Decisions: 213One of the departments that strategically integrates with library instruction is the psychology department. Currently, two courses that have research assignments incorporate the subject librarian for a session to work with students in fulfilling their assignment.In order to expand the program, engage more deeply with departments on mapping research skills, and ensure that students are more successful as a result of sequenced library instruction, more information was needed about the impact of current practices. A positive relationship between library instruction and improved academic performance would affirm the effectiveness of current practices for librarians, students, and stakeholders and would help garner similar collaborations with less integrated departments on campus. In addition, exploring the weaknesses and strengths of library collaborations for departments that did participate more actively would provide needed information about what assumptions might exist regarding those collab...

Documenting the Value of Librarians in the Classroom: Results from a Mixed-Methods Research Collaboration with Campus Partners

“…Librarians and faculty need to ensure that IL concepts are properly scaffolded or sequenced through the curriculum, which has been shown to increase students' IL proficiencies. 58 Progress for both curriculum mapping and scaffolding will be assessed in upcoming annual reviews. Librarians have also instituted changes to their teaching and learning objectives.…”

Sharing Success: A Review of Strategic Planning, Annual Reports, and Publicly Available Information from Academic Libraries

“…Assessment may feel like the latest trend in libraries, but the use of data to inform library service decisions is well-documented in the literature (Lundstrom, Martin, & Cochran, 2016;Manzuch & Maceviciute, 2014;Paulus, 2014;Seago, Schlesinger, & Hampton, 2002;Van House, 1989). In fact, Van House (1989) documents examples of the use of performance or output measures dating back to the early 1970s.…”