DISCUSSION: CREATING A NORTHWEST LIBRARY RESEARCH NETWORK Robin Paynter, Portland State University Laura Zeigen, Oregon Health & Science Univ.

What?  Start Orbis Cascade Alliance interest group focused on library research   “Interest Groups are informal discussion groups organized around a professional topic of interest to the membership. Interest Groups arise from the membership and consist of a Facilitator and self-indentified participants from at least seven member institutions. Interest Groups are provided with an Alliance list but receive no consortium support for meetings.”

Why?  “For a profession that spends its time identifying, organizing and retrieving research evidence, librarians are not known for their own utilization of researching findings.” (Booth, 2002)  Crumley E., et al. (2002). Developing evidence-based librarianship: practical steps for implementation. Health Information and Libraries Journal 19:  Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 

Why?  Assessment  Self-advocacy  Unique, ever-changing environments  Create better quality instruments  Capitalize on strengths across institutions  Advance needed research quickly  Utilize available collaborative networks to …

How?  Seeking grant support to fund research activities  Examples of cooperative research utilized elsewhere  University Investment in the Library: What's the Return? A Case Study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Statewide Serial Collection Assessments ILLINOIS: Chrzatowski, T.E., et al. (2007). Feast and famine: A statewide science serial collection assessment in Illinois. College & Research Libraries (November): VIRGINIA: Metz, P. and Gasser, S. (2006). Analyzing current serials in Virginia: An application of the Ulrich’s Serials Analysis System. Portal: Libraries and the Academy 6: 5-21.

University of Rochester  Hired an anthropologist!  Compared to other sites  Useful for many reasons  Assessment needs both quantitative AND qualitative data  Qualitative research helps unearth needs, tell stories of library’s use  du/docushare/dsweb/View/C ollection du/docushare/dsweb/View/C ollection-4436

Benefits  Larger data pool  Development of valid/reliable instruments  Drawing on people’s expertise in various domains  Potential for consortial purchases  Research in rotation  One year focus on collection development research  Next year on user services  Next year on web

Benefits (continued)  Different areas/possible applications:  Instruction – pre-/post- test instruments  Web site design – usability testing metrics  Collection Development – Scholarly Stats / Ulrich’s Serials Analysis System  Developing in-house tools  Example: PSU’s Survey Research Lab ( develops high quality instruments for a fee. Consortial division of fee cheaper than each institution creating its own in-house instrument and end product higher quality

When? Next steps  Apply to start an Orbis-Cascade Alliance interest group  Start communicating with each other  Start creating a repository (wiki) for research instruments and tools that may be of use

Resources  To subscribe to the listserv   Until we have an official Orbis Cascade list  To subscribe to the wiki   Orbis Cascade Alliance resources (if an official research interest group)

Contacts Robin Paynter, MA-Library Science Social Sciences Librarian Portland State University Laura Zeigen, MA, MLIS Systems & Web Development Librarian Oregon Health & Science University