Special Users, Special Needs:  Designing an Instructional Toolkit for Research Assistants at a Research Library Kate Scherler, Molly Stewart, and Judit Ward Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University VALE/Users'/ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS Conference 2012

Agenda About our library and this project Planning Creating Implementing Evaluating Discussion

The Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University

The Center of Alcohol Studies

The Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University The CAS is a small institution in a much larger network of institutions at Rutgers University.

The Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Other Drugs (JSAD) is also published at the CAS.

Library and Information Services at the CAS The CAS Library website has information on some of the services offered to faculty.

Current Services at CAS Library Computers and wireless for online research (CAS IP) Article request & delivery Literature searches Creating bibliographies Scanning, OCR Proofreading Fact checking Bibliographic instruction Reference management Special collections

Special needs: Research

Special needs: Education/Training and Treatment Add details to slide – stopped here on TUE

The Need for a Specialized Toolkit Frequent requests for training Quick turnover of research staff Large UGrad populations Volunteers without RU access Many students are reluctant to ask for help CAS library has limited hours and a small staff

Research Assistant Toolkit (the project)

Planning, part one Meetings! Research groups Lab staff Grad students CAS core faculty– one on one Needs analysis

Planning, part two How do we define our users and their needs? Rubrics? Benchmarks? Minimum requirements? Immediate needs created by the task

Planning, part three What have others done? http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/nursing/tutorial/view_content.html

LibGuides versus Sakai Creating, part one LibGuides versus Sakai easy to use – clumsy variety of options – limiting modifications RUL resource – RU resource existing guide – new content open to everyone – invitation only

Creating, part two What’s most important? What key words will people look for? 3. What was requested most frequently in the past for training and orientation?

Creating, part three Forever?

The LibGuide

The LibGuide: Find Articles

The LibGuide: Statistics

The Sakai site

The Sakai site Syllabus Tab = Site Directory

The Sakai site (cont’d) Resources Tab: general and RUL info getting started guides library-specific information

The Sakai site: CAS Library Services A detailed guide to services and equipment available in the library, meant to orient those to new to the center. CAS Library Special

Quick Reference Guide

Implementing, part one Publicize, publicize, publicize!

Implementing, part two One-on-one and group training sessions for Women’s Treatment Project Emotion and Sensation Study NeuroPharmacoGenetics Laboratory Integrative Data Analysis Lab for College Alcohol Intervention Research Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory Proactive steps: more meetings with faculty to identify evolving needs

Implementing, part three Introducing LibGuide to key people: PI’s, Lab directors, instructors, project managers Finalizing Sakai site (still creating documentation) Print and distribute quick reference guide (in progress)

Evaluating, part one Feedback!

Evaluating, part two After the training sessions: Forms of feedback Immediate feedback from participants Long-term evaluation by key CAS members Forms of feedback Formal survey Informal feedback, fits CAS profile more

Evaluating, part three What we think works What we might change What else to add How often to update

Overall, what we learned from this….. Just do it!

Questions?