The Libraries’ Role in Attracting and Retaining Graduate Students to meet the relevant goals of Flagship 2030 Libraries Assessment Committee October 15 th, 2008
Overview Assessment Committee Assessment Cycle Why graduate students? Prefatory notes Data Results “Recommendations” What’s next?
Libraries Assessment Committee The Committee will undertake and/or coordinate measurements of the quality of services and collections and the needs and expectations of the Libraries' clientele to support strategic planning, facilities planning, budget or performance review cycles, vendor contract renewals, or technology/systems conversions. It will endeavor to conduct library assessment in relation to institutional goals and outcomes. The Committee will recommend to Library Council and/or other committees actions based on the results of measurement and assessment.
Assessment Cycle
Why graduate students?
Prefatory Notes Data communicated to Learning Commons team and consultant Full report shared with Council Living document—we need your input
Data –2005 PBA survey (n > 1000) –2006 LibQUAL+ (n = 225) –interviews (n = 8) –circulation and ILL data –electronic database login tabulations –budgetary data dating from –departmental enrollment data –several informal polls –a comprehensive literature review
Results Use Perceptions –Collections –Facilities –Services Beyond the perceptions
Results: Use Three of the top four campus services utilized by graduate students are provided by the Libraries. 62% use Libraries facilities daily or weekly and 85% use Libraries websites daily or weekly. While they use the Libraries websites frequently, they appear to use it primarily to locate known items, using commercial search engines such as Google Scholar to discover new items.
Results: Perceptions On two measures, libraries services rate higher than collections or facilities Very high expectations for electronic collections
Results: Collections Scientists -> electronic (80pts below ARL) Humanists -> print (40pts below ARL) Social Scientists fall in the middle
Results: Facilities
What about Norlin? overall ambiance individual study space expert help provided hours how conducive the building is to studying
Beyond the perceptions Collections Facilities Services
Collections Comparison of ARL and UCB library expenditures as a percentage of campus expenditures
Collections
Interviews reveal Google Scholar is the index of choice for grad students They use Chinook to locate known items There is a significant correlation between website usage and positive perception of e-resources
Collections Transactions per studentScientists Social ScientistsHumanists Prospector Interlibrary loan Circulation Spring 2008 circulation/interlibrary loan sampling
Collections Database sessions per graduate student
Collections
Collections summary UCB is well funded for collections Serials cut impacted perceptions and underlying reality There are some differences in disciplinary use of format We can’t solve this problem by (merely) throwing more money at it
Facilities Norlin dedicates more assignable space to book stacks Branches dedicate more to study and computing space
Facilities
Multi-channel services “[there] is the need for customers to have a consistent experience across all of the channels that they use in communicating with the supplier. Indeed, such is the importance of ‘consistency of experience’ that determining how it can be achieved must become a priority for multi-channel marketers... [we] need to build bridges between channel silos.” --Madaleno, R., Wilson, H., & Palmer, R. (2007). Determinants of customer satisfaction in a multi-channel B2B environment. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 18(8),
Facilities Annual change in Libraries budget allocations
Staffing Colorado, 583
Putting it all together We do need to improve collections (we dropped from 68 th to 94 th in serials, back up to 86 th ) Improving facilities and staffing could help Diversifying Libraries investment is best strategy
What we’ve already done Business Library The purchase of several large electronic collections in the humanities The purchase of several large electronic indexes, electronic books, and back-files in the sciences The implementation of an ‘open-URL resolver’ A redesign of Chinook The inclusion of enhanced records in Chinook, The cataloging of special collections and government publications materials; The construction of a subject guides database The unveiling of CU-Digital Library The negotiation of consortia subscriptions. The recruiting of an Electronic Collections Assessment Librarian that can assist and provide leadership for continuous assessment of collections and their use; Begun desktop delivery of journal articles from PASCAL; OTHERS????
What we’re doing Learning Commons, Research Floor, Study Space Moving to a streamlined acquisitions process Cancelling print subscriptions An assessment of how monographic funds are allocated to various disciplines. Construction of a second off-site holding facility, PASCAL II. The investigation of “second-generation” catalog The investigation of further access to electronic book collections; The completion of a draft statement on scholarly communications The continued design of an institutional repository Others??
What We Still Have to Do Complete all phases of the Norlin Library Renaissance Plan Investigate federated search technologies Expand Collection Development’s monograph reallocation project to include serials Begin a grassroots campaign to increase graduate student awareness of the crisis in scholarly communications; Create an emerging technologies group Create a graduate student advisory group Seek a one-time “facilities renewal budget Reassess the use of PASCAL with respect to monographs and serials, paying attention to disciplines; Expand desktop-delivery services; Work with the campus to increase operations and personnel budgets to help diversify its investment in the Libraries; OTHERS????
Full report Draft available: ries_and_Graduate_Students_Oct2008.pdf