STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES The Holy Grail of Academic Library Assessment Lisa Norberg, Barnard College ENYACRL Spring Conference 2012

Student use of the library -Resources -Services -Facilities Supports attaining learning outcomes defined & assessed by faculty During learning activities in the academic major Communicated to stakeholders using recognized frameworks (Tuning & VALUE) Understanding Library Impacts Framework Learning activities crosswalk Critical incident questionnaire The Understanding Library Impacts Project ULI Framework © Derek Rodriguez, 2012

Crosswalk for History at Barnard External Frameworks -VALUE rubrics -Tuning outcomes for History Learning expectations -Discipline-specific skills -Thesis & argument -Evidence & analysis -Writing and citing Learning activities -Getting started -Choosing a topic -Developing a thesis -Gathering evidence -Finding secondary sources -Citing -Writing -Preparing a presentation Barnard History department’s capstone expectations Constructed through content analysis of History rubrics & program-level expectations. Subjected to inter-coder agreement testing The Understanding Library Impacts Project

Critical incident questionnaire Library use -Electronic resources -Traditional resources -Services -Facilities Learning activities Helps and problems Open ended & local questions Demographics (+ non-traditional student scale) Academic challenge (NSSE) Anxiety and confidence The Understanding Library Impacts Project Developed and refined in qualitative studies (2006, 2007) Delivered using the Qualtrics web-based survey application

The Understanding Library Impacts Project

Locating primary sources Distinguishing between primary and secondary sources Evaluating and interpreting primary sources Advancing an argument using evidence from primary sources 92% of respondents used their ‘most important’ electronic resource when gathering evidence to support a thesis Linking use to expectations for learning A time when students demonstrate abilities of … Assessed by faculty when grading student work The Understanding Library Impacts Project

Advancing an argument using evidence from primary sources Communicating the argument in a coherent, well organized paper Following discipline specific style standards 58% of respondents used their ‘most important’ library facility/equipment when writing Linking use to expectations for learning A time when students demonstrate abilities of … Assessed by faculty when grading student work The Understanding Library Impacts Project

“Developing a thesis statement to differentiate project from other scholars.” “I had way too much information” “I was worried about finding primary source material” “I had trouble finding newspaper articles from multiple newspapers.” The Understanding Library Impacts Project

Learning objectives … to learn to develop a feasible and original research topic, to develop better research skills … to learn to engage meaningfully with my peers' academic work … engage at a more intense level with the primary and secondary sources relevant to my study “ Student B-16 is aged 18-22, a history major, and a senior attending college full-time. She works a job 10 – 20 hours per week. She used 18 types of library resources, services, and facilities when working on her project including reference and a research consultation One student’s experience Expected abilities - select a topic - develop a thesis - evaluate and interpret primary sources - advance argument using evidence Image courtesy of finaid.org

The Understanding Library Impacts Project Student B-16's most important library uses & challenge by learning activity getting oriented choosing a topic developing a thesis gathering evidence finding secondary sources citingwriting e-journals booksbooks I checked out from the library Borrow-Direct study space challenge Challenge At a somewhat early point in the project, I realized that the scope of my project was much too wide … and I had an extremely difficult time narrowing down my topic appropriately.

The Understanding Library Impacts Project How she overcame her challenge To narrow my topic, I consulted with professors and my thesis adviser. I also actually widened my research in an attempt to step back and try to determine the significant questions regarding my general field of study. My finalized topic came about in large part due to the suggestions of a professor. Affect She was anxious before (4 “agree”) and during the project (4 “agree”), but reported improved confidence after completing the project. (3  5 “strongly agree”) Image courtesy of Hollins University

Use Learning Outcomes institutional datasets Academic work tasks rubric scores grades id attainment Future work for ULI Repeat projects in History - Extend to Social Sciences - Extend to alternative information services, such as the ERL - Add assessment results The Understanding Library Impacts Project “These resources were very easy to use, but without meeting with library staff, I would have never known they were there …” For more information about ULI please visit