These chapters definitely had me thinking about my experience at a small academic library in the Pacific Northwest. As a tech floater person who also helped with some reference, I interacted with assessment by writing down tally marks for different types of questions at the desk, and also more substantially by helping to redesign the web interface for our QuestionPoint portal.
Though I helped collect data or implement features, I ultimately was only at the very far end of this process, and didn't really fully understand what process the librarians were using to understand and improve assessment. Despite this, I remember how motivated and process-driven my librarian coworkers seemed to be about really understanding and addressing user needs. They seemed to have really internalized service and the goals of reference, and were trying their best to apply it to the complex tasks of supporting mostly Internet/distance-based learned in mostly-online classes, with a much smaller subset of students attending in person classes on campus.
The readings made me wonder: how do academic librarians in particular advocate for learners and students within institutions that may, in other ways, fail or underserve students? Many times the librarians were more motivated than the instructors or the administrators especially around core competencies of information literacy. Our university had an attitude of pushing off responsibilities for learning and supporting skill development to librarians with an expectation librarians would succeed by pursuing these goals in a self-directed way. But in reality, the librarians often lacked the necesary support to make instruction successful. It seems like instruction as a goal for academic librarians in particular can't exist as a vacuum, but must be integrated into broader academic goals and experiences to be effective.
It is great to read about how motivated your colleagues were regarding assessment! I love hearing about real world examples where employees are actually engaged and invested in the outcomes. Sometimes it is easy to forget that real life won't be quite so easy to navigate as the text book implies--which is exactly your point in your last paragraph. How can/should we advocate for our users when lacking support from other stakeholders? Really important stuff to think about.
ReplyDelete"It seems like instruction as a goal for academic librarians in particular can't exist as a vacuum, but must be integrated into broader academic goals and experiences to be effective."
ReplyDeleteAgree! It has been my experience (as a student and an employee at universities) that library instruction is a sorely under supported and utilized resource. I'd love to see universities get more integrated and creative with connecting librarians with courses and instruction. I really enjoyed how Shavon was able to participate in our 647 course in a meaningful way. But, I think you're right to highlight the need for a top-down investment in library instruction as a resource that's supported at schools.