In this Section:
Our Reference & Research Services program goals and outcomes drive our assessment; attached to these goals and outcomes are student learning outcomes, which are integrated into our assessment planning and practices.
All librarians providing reference service are involved in the recording of reference inquiries. Statistics and record keeping are essential in providing a factual base for review of reference service, staffing levels, and/or participation in professional surveys. Data also includes courses for which we make an impact. Each librarian on reference duty is responsible for recording the appropriate data during his or her shift; each librarian responding to email, phone, chat, or in-person requests, or faculty research requests is responsible for entering that data in our monthly data files, which are then cumulatively collected by the Research, Instruction, and Web Services Librarian.
The Research, Instruction, and Web Services Librarian oversees the consistent gathering and compiling of reference/instruction statistics. These statistics reflect number and type of reference queries daily, monthly, and cumulatively. Other assessments include user satisfaction questions, such as our research consultation exit survey.
We also keep usage statistics of our Research Guides and online instructional guides and tutorials. Our course-specific Research Guides are additionally equipped with student learning outcomes based on syllabi outcomes.The type of data tabulated should not be changed without the consent of the Director of Library Services, Resources, and Outreach.
Research consultations (in perswon, via email or phone, and in chat) end with the research consultation exit survey, the firswt two questions of which assess student learning. Research consultations provided in Teams, because they are pre-scheduled, use pre- and post-test, each individually structured according to the student's research needs..
Part of Reference and Instruction Services, our Research Guides, Course Research Guides, and online instructional guides and tutorials are also assessed. We keep usage data of these online guides. Quizzes to assess student learning are in place for some of these, e.g., Academic Integrity, Constitution Day, and TSL500.
Our course-specific Research Guides are additionally equipped with student learning outcomes that are based on syllabi outcomes.
Part of our assessment plan also includes starting student learning surveys regarding use of our Research Guides and Course Research Guides.