Susan Hurst, Business Librarian Lilly Conference, 11/16/07 Miami University

 Students are already proficient at searching online  Students receive a library orientation session in their first year at college  Library instruction sessions are not very helpful to students  Students will only search on Google  Hands-on training sessions are more effective than viewing a demonstration

 Upper-Level International Business Course Professor wants library instruction  2 class sections – computer classroom only available for 1  Culture of assessment – encouraging use of pre & post-tests

 Students in both class sections given a pre-test, to be handed in on day of library session  Students in 1section viewed demonstration of library resources in their normal classroom  Students in 2 nd section met in a computer classroom, and had short demo & an in-class, hands-on exercise  Both sections were given post-tests the next class session

 Both Pre & Post-Tests were very similar, each designed to have factual specific answers  Answers could be located using library resources demonstrated in class  Focused on types of information needed for their course project  Credit given by professor for completion of tests, as a way to improve participation

1) How large is the Chinese pharmaceutical industry? (Answer - China's pharmaceutical market is valued at $12.6 Billion, Source Marketline) 2) What percentage of Volkswagen's sales come from the US? (Answer -14% of VW's sales are in North America, Source Hoover’s)

 Business Source Complete (source for journal and newspaper articles on companies & industries)  Hoovers (source for company information, particularly financial data)  Marketline (company and industry market research reports)

1) Use Business Source Complete to find an article about a company 2) Find a company report & SWOT analysis in Marketline 3) Find an industry report in Marketline and note the size of the industry 4) Use Hoover’s to find a company report and locate the company’s net profit margin and compare to their top competitors.

1) What is the gross profit margin for General Mills? How does that compare to Kellogg’s? (Answer - Gross Profit Margin for General Mills was 37% versus 44.2% for Kellogg’s, Source Hoover’s) 2) What is the projected size of the computer hardware industry in Russia in 2010? (Answer - computer hardware market in Russia is forecast to be $17.5 Billion in 2010, Source Marketline).

 1) Small exploratory study but does give us ideas  2) Pre-tests are useful for instruction, shows you (and them) what they don’t know  3) Pre & Post-Tests, great for assessment, see the change in responses, what did they “get”  4) Method of instruction seems to be less important than presence of instruction at all

 5) After instruction, usage of library resources increased, Google/Yahoo usage decreased  6) Much higher percentage of correct answers in both post-test groups, as compared to pre-tests  7) Similar evaluation results for each class, both instruction methods scored highly

 1) Don’t make assumptions about students’ research abilities or exposure to library resources  2) Ask students if they would find library instruction useful in the class  3) Use Pre & Post-Tests for assessment and as an aid in instruction  4) If a computer lab isn’t available, provide a library demonstration in the regular classroom

 Questions?????????

 Susan Hurst  203 King Library  Miami University  Oxford, OH 