Research Consultations: Doing More With Less

1
Research ConsultationsDoing More With Less

• Sarah M. Frye
• Reference Instruction Librarian
• Pierce College, Lakewood, WA
• ALAO 2009

2

• Both public and academic librarians see fewer
  requests for short
• informational questions at their service desks.
  They are, however, seeing an
• increasing number of questions that come when
  users have not been able to
• locate the information that they are looking for
  via the Web. Sometimes it is
• because the information is not their, but often
  it is because their search skills
• are not focused.
• By reaching out into their user communities in
  new ways, libraries can
• expand the models for reference services and
  become more valuable to their
• users.
• - OGorman, J., Trott, B. (2009). What
  Will Become of Reference in Academic and
  Public Libraries?. Journal of Library
  Administration, 49(4), 327-339.

3
Background

• Research Consultations _at_ Wartburg College
• Service established in 2004
• Research Consultations _at_ Miami University
  Middletown
• Service established August 2008

4
Brainstorming

• July 2008
• Desire to promote information literacy
• MUM does not have formal Info Lit Program!
• Desire to reach more students
• Beyond 300 students (11 of student body)
  reached in library instruction sessions each
  semester
• Desire for unique, new service
• A little less lecture, a little more interaction
• Diverse students, diverse learning styles,
  diverse needs!

5
Brainstorming

• July 2008
• Limited budget
• Also, desire for in-house service
• Limited time
• 1.5 Months prior to fall semester!!

6
Planning

• August 2008
• Getting everyone on board
• Sharing my experience with Wartburg Colleges
  Service
• Simple but valuable service

7
Planning

• August 2008
• Logistics
• Determining Costs
• Discussing target audience
• Deciding staff roles in maintaining the service
• Keep in mind, 1.5 months to plan implement

8
Planning

• Cost
• Librarians salary
• Colored paper for printer
• Ink for printer
• lt 50.00
• (Librarians salary not included)

9
Planning

• Target Audience
• New and first-year students
• Post-Secondary Students, Non-traditional
  Students, etc.
• Students with need for remedial attention
• Students who may not otherwise receive library
  instruction
• Students working on advanced research
• Any of MUMs 2,700 students!

10
Planning

• Staff roles
• 3 Full-time Librarians
• 1 Librarian to coordinate the service (Sarah)
• 2 Librarians to help field consultation requests

11
Planning

• Time frame
• 2 weeks to plan before marketing the service
• Prior experience with similar service proved
  valuable
• Support from colleagues, also proved valuable ?

12
Marketing

• August 2008
• Student body Approximately 2,000 FTE
• Full-time faculty Approximately 124
• Part-time faculty Approximately 157
• Full-Time Librarians 3

13
Marketing

• August 2008
• Consultation forms
• Print and online versions
• Library website
• Library blog post
• Library newsletter
• Word of mouth
• During instruction sessions
• At the reference desk
• In conversation with faculty and other colleagues

14
Marketing

• Consultation forms
• Student name and contact information
• Course and instructor information
• Research topic
• Time for librarian to prepare ahead of time
• Preferred date and time of consultation
• Prompts students to plan and work ahead

15
Marketing

• August 2008
• 2-4 weeks, working diligently
• Marketing the research consultation service
  occurred simultaneously with re-design of Library
  Newsletter
• Service in place by 1st day of fall semester

16
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Slim, but positive response
• First consultation on September 5, 2008
• 19 Total requests during fall semester
• September 6 Requests
• October 6 Requests
• November 7 Requests

17
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Breakdown of requests
• 1 MUM staff member
• 18 MUM students
• 12 Females, 7 males

18
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Continued
• 14 Completed consultations
• 9 Females, 5 Males
• 1 Cancelled consultation
• Female
• 4 No-Show, no contact
• 2 Females, 2 Males

19
Response

• One question that arose early in this study was
  the relationship
• between gender and preference for in-person
  interactions with
• librarians.results from this study do not show a
  significant
• relationship between gender and comfort levels
  with in-person
• communication in the library. The two genders
  show strikingly
• similar patterns in reported comfort levelswhich
  indicates that
• there is no relationship between gender and
  comfort level.
• - Sobel, K. (2009). Promoting Library
  Reference Services to
• First-Year Undergraduate Students, What
  Works?.
• Reference User Services
  Quarterly, 48(4), 366.

20
Response

• Of factors over which librarians have direct
  control, the influence of
• discussing reference services during instruction
  sessions is the
• strongest. This is an encouraging statistic, as
  librarians can easily
• provide a brief introduction to these
  services
• Thishighlights a great opportunity for library
  instructional staff.
• Verbally introducing reference services only
  needs to take a few
• minutes of classroom time. These few minutes can
  mark the
• beginning of many years of successful use of
  reference services and, by
• extension, better library usage overall.
• - Sobel, K. (2009). Promoting Library
  Reference Services to
• First-Year Undergraduate Students,
  WhatWorks?.
• Reference User Services Quarterly, 48(4),
  367.

21
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Breakdown of requests per librarian
• Sarah responded to 13 requests
• 11 Completed
• 1 Cancelled
• 1 No-Show
• A majority of these requests came from students
  who attended an instruction session with the
  librarian.

22
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Breakdown of requests per librarian
• John responded to 3 requests
• 1 Completed
• 2 No-Show
• Beth responded to 3 requests
• 2 Completed
• 1 No-Show

23
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Breakdown of requests per academic dept.
• 10 Consultations English
• 3 Consultations Humanities (Psychology,
  Sociology)
• 2 Consultations Nursing
• 2 Consultations Sciences (Botany)
• 1 Consultation Bachelor of Integrated Studies
• 1 Consultation Staff

24
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Breakdown of requests per course level
• 14 Consultations at 100-level
• 3 Consultations at 200-level
• 1 Consultation at 400-level
• 1 Consultation for MUM staff member

25
Response

• Fall Semester 2008
• Students seemed to prefer drop-in method over
  planning ahead and scheduling
• Unexpected, but not surprising
• Students directly sought out librarian, rather
  than consultation form
• Did not collect statistics for drop-in
  consultations
• Had not planned for this!

26
Response

• Spring Semester 2009
• Decline in response from fall semester
• First request March 3, 2009
• 2 Total requests during spring semester
• March 1 Requests
• April 1 Requests

27
Response

• Spring Semester 2009
• Decline due to
• Fewer ENG 111 courses
• Fewer new students
• Fewer library instruction sessions

28
Working With Students

• Tailor instruction to students learning style
• Visual, auditory, hands-on, conversational, etc.
• Tailor instruction to students needs
• Specific assignments and topics
• Beginning, intermediate, advanced level research
• Essential information literacy core abilities

29
Working With Students

• Ability to cater to students personality
• Shy, outgoing, inquisitive, confident, nervous,
  etc.
• Ability to gauge student learning during the
  consultation
• Consultations lasted 10 minutes 1 hour
• Ability to recommend additional consultation
• Ability to follow up with student after the
  consultation

30
Maintaining the Service

• Fall Spring Semesters
• Marketing the service
• Fielding requests
• Keeping statistics
• Spring Summer 2009
• Discussing possible improvements

31
Assessment

• Statistics on of requests
• Minimal data due to drop-in consultations
• Feedback from students
• Minimal data due to lack of formal follow-up
  survey
• Positive feedback based on word-of-mouth
  interactions
• Feedback from instructors
• Minimal feedback from Miami instructors
• Substantial ( positive) feedback from Wartburg
  Instructors

32
Assessment

• Overall, MUM librarians decided that the Research
  Consultation Service was
• Well-marketed
• Effective
• Under-utilized
• Worth continuing and expanding

33
Possible Improvements

• Marketing
• Working closely with faculty and Student Services
  to further promote the service
• Requiring consultations for students
  demonstrating the need for research assistance
• Gauging Response
• Collecting substantive data for drop-in requests

34
Possible Improvements

• Assessment
• Gathering feedback on perceived quality and
  effectiveness of service
• From students
• From faculty and staff
• Utilizing an assessment questionnaire
• For students who have participated in a research
  consultation
• For instructors with students who have
  participated in a consultation

35
How you Can Implement

• Things to consider
• Overall size, demographics, and academic
  abilities of students at your institution
• Is there a need for this service?
• Faculty at your institution
• Will there be buy-in?
• Library staffing needs and time management
• Marketing
• Fielding requests
• Keeping statistics
• Assessment

36
Discussion

• How many times to students need to interact with
  
• reference librarians to form a lasting personal
  research
• style that consistently includes consultation
  with
• librarians?
• - Sobel, K. (2009). Promoting Library Reference
  Services to
• First-Year Undergraduate Students,
  WhatWorks?.
• Reference User Services Quarterly, 48(4),
  367.

37
Discussion

• Does your library currently have a research
  consultation service?
• If so, how is it similar or different?
• If not, are you hoping to implement one?

38
Works Cited

• Callinan, J. (2005). Information-Seeking
  Behaviour of Undergraduate Biology Students A
  Comparative Analysis of First Year and Final Year
  Students in University College Dublin. Library
  Review, 54(2), 86-99.
• OGorman, J., Trott, B. (2009). What Will
  Become of Reference in Academic and Public
  Libraries?. Journal of Library Administration,
  49(4), 327-339.
• Sobel, K. (2009). Promoting Library Reference
  Services to First-Year Undergraduate Students
  What Works?. Reference User Services
  Quarterly, 48(4), 362-371.

39
Thank You!

• Sarah M. Frye
• Reference Instruction Librarian
• Pierce College, Fort Steilacoom Campus
• 9401 Farwest Drive SW
• Lakewood, WA 98498-1999
• 253.840.8319 (office)
• sfrye_at_pierce.ctc.edu
• www.pierce.ctc.edu