ACRL Value of Academic Libraries

Recently I’ve been part of at least two separate conversations that included someone asking “how does an institution measure the impact that changes in library spaces may have on the student experience.“  In the Value Report, each of these questions included the use of library space as a possible area of correlation:

• How does the library contribute to student achievement?
• How does the library contribute to student learning?
• How does the library contribute to the student experience?

 In the section on student experience it was suggested that one technique would be to issue a survey that “ask[s] library users to describe what the academic library has enabled them to accomplish.” (p.124) For those libraries that have initiated changes in their spaces, it is possible that the survey could ask what has the new improved spaces enabled them to accomplish that they couldn’t accomplish before.   The following are just a few of many available resources that may assist libraries in conducting some means of assessment for their new spaces or assist in planning as well as assessing the impact of new spaces.

The new ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (SLHE) include a principle on space, which reads “Libraries are the intellectual commons where users interact with ideas in both physical and virtual environments to expand learning and facilitate the creation of new knowledge.” The SLHE are designed to guide academic libraries in advancing and sustaining their role as partners in educating students, achieving their institutions’ missions, and positioning libraries as leaders in assessment and continuous improvement on their campuses. They articulate expectations for library contributions to institutional effectiveness, with evidence collected in ways most appropriate for each institution. It is worth remembering that the SLHE provide a strong framework for demonstrating the impact and value of all types of academic libraries. Librarians can use the standards to prepare for accreditation, demonstrate value of their library to student learning and success and institutional initiatives, and improve quality in many areas, including library space.

At ACRL 2007 in Baltimore, Rachel Applegate presented a paper entitled, “Build it and Then What?  Measuring Implementation and Outcomes of Information Commons” which provides some guidance on developing programs of assessment for new Information Commons.  Based on the experiences of the University Library (UL) of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI, Applegate provided information on outcomes they were able to measure as a result of the new Information Commons.  She shared evidence that database usage increased based on data collected pre-Commons versus pilot-Commons.  (p.171) This was a demonstrated measurement showing that there was at least one significant change based on the implementation of the Information Commons.  As stated in the article:

“But merely proving that they use an area does not capture what kind of outcome it has achieved.

Outcome evaluation is a core goal of the academic assessment and accountability movement. Inasmuch as academic libraries are indeed academic, they are called to participate in this effort to determine just what student learning outcomes have been achieved. For libraries this is very challenging, as they serve an assistive, not a direct, role in learning.” (p.171)

Challenging as it may be to demonstrate learning outcomes, Applegate shared further details on a grant-funded survey that collected data in a limited study of eight courses: four graduate and four undergraduate.  Limited as the study may have been, it provided enough information to make a general assertion that the “results tend to show that library and Commons usage can be associated with positive outcomes, for undergraduates…”(p.172)  You can read the complete details in the report that is freely available online.  She shares information on methodologies and provides detailed background on the nature of their studies.  What is most important is that these are the types of studies that can be replicated in other libraries, including your own.

The main point is that projects such as these still require that some kind of data be collected and analyzed in order to demonstrate how these changes have contributed to improving the student experience in a quantitative manner.  In the publication, ARL Learning Space Pre-Programming Tool Kit a majority of the report focuses on assessment techniques after the planning process.  The report includes a detailed example of a survey that could be executed at a workstation within a multi-media lab.  Even though this is an ARL publication, the example of a survey that could be executed at a workstation could be applied to any type of academic library – community college, four year, or research level.  The important piece is that the survey might generate enough information to provide a means to initiate a more detailed follow up with selected participants.  A follow-up could be used to collect data that might be able to demonstrate improvements in GPA, or retention, or other correlations that could demonstrate that more has taken place beyond just improving the student experience as a result of creating a multimedia lab or Information Commons or new comfortable reading spaces.

The Value Report suggested that correlations with spaces and student achievement, student learning, and the student experience could all be compiled for the purpose of demonstrating value.  What is really needed now are more examples from libraries that have conducted studies and collected data and a sharing of those studies so that other libraries can learn and apply lessons learned in their own institutions.

Perhaps your library has recently initiated substantial changes in spaces within the library.  Have you implemented a plan of assessment to determine how these changes are contributing to student achievement, learning or their overall experience?  We’d like to hear from you if have and would love to see and share any reports you may have generated.  Use the “Share Your Reearch” feature to the right of this posting – 

Working on a Value of Academic Libraries project at your institution? Share your research through our VAL project survey. We’ll highlight many of these projects on our blog.

 

With thanks to Megan Oakleaf and Kara Malenfant for contributions to this post and to John Pollitz for the topic suggestion.

Guest post by Scott Garrison, Dean,Ferris Library for Information, Technology and Education

Ferris State University

Two articles to be published in the April, 2013 issue of portal: Libraries and the Academy describe two separate but related studies conducted as part of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Libraries’ Library Data and Student Success project. Both articles are based on data collected during fall 2011, and while each reveals limitations in current data analysis strategies available to libraries and their institutional partners, both effectively cite and contribute to the emerging library value literature.
 
The article describing the first study is entitled “Analyzing Demographics: Assessing Library Use Across the Institution.” According to lead author Shane Nackerud, this article “discusses data gathering techniques and demographic analysis of just who uses the University of Minnesota Libraries.” The Libraries partnered with the university’s Office of Institutional Research to analyze undergraduate and graduate student usage of various online and human-facilitated library services. Taking care to ensure user privacy, the authors connected usage to specific student IDs, thus being able to determine the proportion of undergraduate and graduate usage, in aggregate and by college. 

The article describing the second study is entitled “Library Use and Undergraduate Student Outcomes: New Evidence for Students’ Retention and Academic Success.” Led by an Office of Institutional Research analyst, the study dug deeper into the same data gathered for the first study, looking specifically at more detailed demographics, academic background (ACT and SAT scores) and student experience variables. The authors’ data analysis suggests that “first-time, first-year undergraduate students who use the library have a higher GPA for their first semester and higher retention from fall to spring than non-library users.”

To read fuller summaries of these articles, visit the Value of Academic Libraries Valueography. 

To read more about the Library Data and Student Success Project, and to preview these articles prior to their official publication, visit the project’s blog  posting, “Two Articles to Be Published“ 

ACRL is seeking applications from all types of higher education institutions for 75 teams to participate in the first cohort of “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success (AiA),” made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and described on the ACRL website. Librarians will each lead a campus team in developing and implementing an action learning project which examines the impact of the library on student success and contributes to assessment activities on campus. They will be supported in this work by a professional development program with sequenced learning events and activities at key junctures. The AiA program, part of ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries initiative, employs a blended learning environment and a peer-to-peer network over the course of the 14-month long program, which runs from April 2013-June 2014.

Read full details about participating in the first cohort and apply online by 5 p.m. Central, Friday, March 8.

Learn more about the AiA program in a newly available recording of an update session held during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle (best viewed in Firefox browser, browse to Sunday at 1pm for session recording).