The Brown University Library engages in ongoing evaluation of campus needs related to Library services and spaces. This project offers an opportunity to target information literacy instruction and connect it with broader campus initiatives, including First Year Seminars, WRIT (writing-designated) courses, and Liberal Learning Goals. This project is an opportunity for the library to work with campus partners to examine the impact the library may have on student learning and success and will provide insights into the role and contributions of the library on student research and learning. This work directly affects several functions within the library and will impact services carried out by others across campus. Results of this research will help shape services currently offered and inform new strategies and methods for providing research support to students.
Bordac, S., Quist, E., O’Mahony, D., Takayama, K. and Gaylin, A. (2014). Plugging into the process: Enhancing campus partnerships to provide robust student research support. Assessment in Action. American Library Association Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV.
Research Questions
To what extent do faculty expectations for student research skills align with student performance?
In what ways do research skills instruction provided by the library impact student learning outcomes?
Current Program 2014-2015
Program Summary 2013-2014
The focus of this research evolved from targeting research support for online courses to more broadly understanding research skills of first year students. Faculty who taught research-based First Year Seminars in the 2013–2014 AY were interviewed in Spring 2014. They were asked to talk about their expectations and perceptions of student research skills.
Methodology: The project design collects qualitative and quantitative feedback (rubric, comments from papers, interviews) from faculty in order to better understand to what extent first year students who receive some library intervention in their First Year Seminar research demonstrate strong research literacy skills in their academic work, as perceived by the faculty member.
Findings: This project has provided the library with the information needed to define a plan of action for a recasting of library instruction. Specific areas of focus are workshops on topics currently not addressed generally elsewhere on campus including media literacy, visualization, data literacy, reading scholarly material, and writing literature reviews. New ways of thinking about current services related to advanced research skills and issues related to academic integrity such as citation and copyright are also emerging from this research. As a result of this research the library will define a plan of action to offer a catalog of new and modified workshops and to evaluate the current instruction program. Opportunities to build on existing partnerships and reach out to new ones will be a part of this next step.
Begun in 2013 as part of Brown’s participation in the Assessment in Action (AiA) project led by the Association of College and Research Libraries and funded by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, this project continues as part of the Brown University Library’s goals to understand and support the needs of our community of researchers, teachers and learners.
The research design team is led by Sarah Bordac, Head of Instructional Design (Library), and includes: Edwin Quist, Associate University Librarian for Research and Outreach Services; Dan O’Mahony, Director of Library Planning and Assessment; Kathy Takayama, Director, Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning; and Ann Gaylin, Associate Dean of the College for First-Year and Sophomore Studies, Office of the Dean of the College.
Questions about this project, including participation inquiries, human subjects research questions, and research outcomes, should be directed to Sarah Bordac, sarah@brown.edu (401-863-3468).
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