Month: September 2018

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is embarking on a field test of an outcomes assessment project that aims to improve library instructional assessment by standardizing outcomes nationally, which would provide national comparison benchmarks.

Based on the Public Library Association’s Project Outcomes, ACRL will adopt similar survey measures for an academic library setting. This undertaking will allow academic libraries to consistently collect instruction outcomes data that can be compared at an institution, state, or national level. Data will also be aggregated by Carnegie Classifications to enable comparisons with peer institutions.

Boston College Libraries has signed on to assist ACRL in field-testing for this groundbreaking program. This testing consists of a survey measuring both qualitative and quantitative data. What makes this survey unique is that it measures instruction based on four themes: Knowledge, Confidence, Application of New Skills, and Awareness of Resources on a Likert-type scale. Standardized themes resolve a persistent problem of comparison when instruction sessions are distributed among many staff in many different contexts, as in academic libraries.

This Fall, BC Libraries will be participating by administering the survey, which has an online and print version, to BC students after each instructional session. BC Libraries Staff will provide feedback on the surveys to ACRL while also collecting data for national benchmarking. The project ends in October. The rollout of the finalized outcomes database will occur at ACRL’s Conference in Cleveland, April 2019. If successful, this program will provide a very useful tool for assessing instruction in libraries.

Expect to see brief surveys after most instruction sessions provided by BC librarians between now and mid-October, when the trial will finish.

The Boston College Libraries serve as incubators for ideas and storehouses of knowledge. Our services are designed to help students bring the two together. We are more than buildings with books, and our services extend far beyond finding content. Here are some examples of how the Boston College Libraries have expanded our value proposition to the BC Community.

Our libraries play an important role in student formation; discernment necessitates consideration of varying viewpoints as well as courses of action. Libraries provide content to represent all reasoned perspectives and facilitate these inherently spiritual exercises.

The Burns Library has continued its transformation to a teaching collection. Faculty are increasingly using the spaces and services for both instruction and research, and students are encouraged to access the collections. In 2017 over 1800 undergraduates attended a class session or did research in the Burns Library. It’s not a museum, it’s a teaching library.

The Digital Studio on level two in O’Neill Library offers services that support teaching and learning with technology. The services are by nature experimental and open-ended. If you have an idea, we want to explore it with you. Check it out!

We continue to develop our instruction services; we focus more on digital competencies, including and beyond traditional forms of information literacy. Our subject liaisons can customize these services for your students and class content; we can come to you or use library facilities. And yes, we can help with the “fake news” problems…

Speaking of classes and content, did you know we have a robust “Affordable Course Materials Program initiative”? Last year we estimate students saved over $300 thousand. Interested? Contact Margaret Cohen at margaret.cohen@bc.edu. Your students will thank you!

Our Social Work Library, the Educational Resource Center, and Theology and Ministry Library are all part of the Boston College Library system.  Although they primarily serve their respective schools, they are, like O’Neill Library, Burns and Bapst, open to everyone. In 2008, 650 thousand patrons walked through the doors of O’Neill Library. Last year O’Neill gate counts exceeded 1.6 million. (Law Library visits are tallied separately.)

Faculty and students still rely our print collections, and we have about 3 million print volumes. Last year about 171 thousand print volumes circulated. We added about 27 thousand print monographs and an equal number of e-books in 2017. Contact your subject liaison librarian if there are titles you think we should add.

As a reminder, we no longer have book recalls and instead rely on our interlibrary loan department (ILL) to get the requested items through one of our consortial partners. ILL does a brisk business and continues to perform efficiently. If we don’t have the book or article, ILL will find it. Count on it.

Now in my 10^th year at BC, it continues to be an honor and privilege to serve as the University Librarian to a dedicated staff, appreciative and collaborative faculty, and engaged and thoughtful students, at a University that recognizes and values the intersection of faith, service and knowledge in our shared Mission.

I sincerely hope you all have another great year. Please let us know how we in the BC Libraries can help.  Constructive criticism and ideas are appreciated and taken seriously.