Georg Romero Library Director Cabrillo College Library April 15, 2010

Presentation focus is on services ◦ Free-range audience, hard to capture ◦ Challenging Not on classes or workshops ◦ Captive audiences ◦ Easier

In 2005:  Almost nothing available on assessing services, plenty on assessing classes  Focus was on starting & having SLOs  This was all new to most of us

In 2010:  A little more information available  Timely SLO survey from 2009 (June Turner, Palo Verde)survey  Some services covered at some colleges (Cabrillo, Cuyamaca, Los Medanos)  A few sessions like this one  Focus is now on measurement, & actions taken  Not so new to us…

So, how did we begin, in 2005?  Challenge: how to attribute specific learning outcomes to transaction services?  Assumption: SLOs not intentionally onerous  Decision: we will make this useful for us!

 Key: campus SLO Coordinator appointedCoordinator  Early step: creation of campus “core” competencies competencies  Key: decision to measure service operations against the core competencies, rather than requiring individual SLOs ◦ Affected: Library, Student Services, Learning Centers, etc. ◦ Minimized the fear & trepidation

First step: what are our services? ◦ Regular meetings - invited all library staff, not just librarians ◦ Identified all services, both direct & indirect ◦ Correlated each with core competencies ◦ Identified possible assessment methods, if any

Some assessment alternatives identified: ◦ Narrative descriptions ◦ Focus groups ◦ Post-transaction sampling interviews/surveys ◦ User surveys Selected: survey – most actionable for the most services

 Having students self-assess on core competencies is legitimate, for what it is  More than just a general satisfaction survey:survey ◦ What are students doing? ◦ How long have they been here? ◦ Service trouble-spots  Change regularly, focus on current issues, look for patterns

 Key: SLO mindset among staff: “what are we teaching our students?”  Key: “Institutionalized” process into program planning cycle  Regular annual library user surveys  Statistics & other data posted on web, so we can find & share them easilyposted  Sailed through accreditation, with a commendation!

Looking back – would I change anything? No – the shared voyage of discovery, how we got there, almost more important than where we arrived.

 Students do tell us the Library improves their learning!

 Strong dissatisfaction with aging laptops (we got new ones)  Unhappiness with computer logon requirement (gone after initial semester)  Want more computers (working on it) and word processing (have it)  Newer students less satisfied/impressed with library (tried a “greeter” program)

 Focused Circulation more on teaching & learning, less on punishing  Increased Technical Services responsiveness to specific student needs  Increased “team” mindset, across the board

 Much left to be done: ◦ Useful survey data not yet acted upon ◦ How to maintain SLO mindset in spite of staff changes, time, budget issues ◦ Need to update & submit campus Assessment forms…

 - This presentation package  - Cabrillo’s library statistics & data web page  - Campus Planning & Research, with links to SLOs, Accreditation, etc.  - CCL-EXEC survey on library SLOs, by Janine Turner (Palo Verde College)

Thank You!