1. Librarian Class Attendance: Methods, Outcomes and Opportunities
Dianne Cmor & Victoria Marshall
Distributed eLibrary
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar
IATUL 2006 Conference, Porto, Portugal

2. Overview
Case study of pilot project wherein a librarian is embedded in Journal Club and given an active role with students
Dual set of objectives - student learning & service measurement
Measuring student learning outcomes in relation to librarian activities
Evaluating our measurement methods in relation to demonstrating value

3. Setting/Background
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar - mirror curriculum in NY
Distributed eLibrary - mandate to distribute resources/services beyond physical space
Attempts to distribute library services
Attempts to demonstrate positive outcomes
Concerned faculty as the entrée we needed

4. Objectives Student Learning Objectives
To expand student knowledge and use of high quality resources
To introduce students to concepts relating to scholarly communication and publishing
Library Measurement Objectives
To develop and test a triangulated approach to measuring outcomes
To assess a participatory model in terms of student learning and outcomes measurement
SLO - defined in consultation with faculty
LMO - defined in consultation with Manager, Information Services

5. Method - Student Learning
Weekly meetings with student presenters only
Standard content plus article specific content discussed
Resources, concepts and tips all compiled on a course webpage for all students
Librarian attended Journal Club to ascertain level of knowledge, note gaps, act as an immediate resource person
Weekly meetings - required (strongly encouraged) by faculty
Standard content specific resources; intro to SC concepts of citing, being cited and the tools used e.g. bib and citation searching
Specific content - fed by article and previous displays of student knowledge gaps in relation to SC e.g. article types, journal IF, errata, etc.

6. Method - Library Measurement
Participant Observation
diary of interactions and observable outcomes; textual analysis of qualitative data
Quantitative Data Gathering
RefTracker for number/type of interactions, time spent, associated outcomes
Survey
student and faculty perceptions of value
As we know that each method has its strengths and weaknesses - using a triangulated methodology increases validity of overall results

7. Results - Student Learning
Textual analysis of diary data
Categories derived from data
Counted all outcomes - meetings and classroom
Analysis done by uninvolved librarian; validated by faculty member
Bored - here’s a pretty picture I can speak to, but let’s summarize the method and move on to the most significant results

8. Results - Student Learning (cont.)
Observation Data
Students were introduced to a range of resources - little evidence of their use
Students demonstrated knowledge of scholarly communication concepts, tools, and analysis
Socialization to information/librarians
Peer learning; colleagues as information sources
Survey data
Reinforced that concepts of scholarly communication were learned by students
Most students and all faculty perceived positive effect(s)
Student Questionnaire - 14 responses; 11 met; 8 found it positively effected presentation - noted SC concepts and new resources (though not used)
Faculty interviews - 2 interviews (of 3) plus s and conversations with all 3 faculty throughout pilot

9. Results - Library Measurement
Observation Data
provided reasonable evidence of learning outcomes; reinforced survey data
Quantitative Data (RefTracker)
provided time spent and types of activity, but failed to associate activities with outcomes
37 hours of librarian time, 5 categories of activity
outcomes available in RefTracker too broad for purpose
Survey Data
provided insight into student and faculty perceptions of value; reinforced observation data
Obs. Data and Survey data - observed outcomes coincided with perceived value
Quantitative Data - helped us track exactly what we were doing and time spent; need to have a tool that allows us to track all of those outcomes from the diary - then may not need separate diary e.g. spent 1 hour in JC - observable outcomes of that attendance included 1 clarification of SC concept; 1 demonstration of a resource; 2 instances of socialization to information/librarians

10. Conclusions/Future Directions
Librarian class attendance can produce positive outcomes that are worth the time spent
Measuring this kind of worth is possible with the right combination of tools and approaches
In future, more clearly articulated goals of program which will allow us to refine means of measurement
Impact is elusive - define what we are measuring, refine measurement tools, and involve faculty in assessing the value of outcomes