ARLG 2019: H Lawrence: talking to faculty staff about reading
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How strategi conversations influenced the way we talk to the academic about reading
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ARLG 2019: H Lawrence: talking to faculty staff about reading
- 1. Talking to Faculty Staff About Reading How strategic conversations influenced the way we talk to about academic reading Helen Lawrence Academic Liaison Librarian (Faculty of Technology) University of Sunderland
- 2. Library campaign Jan-March 2018 was ‘Demystify The Journal Universe’ We surveyed students about their understanding of journal articles; how they found them, how they used them and what their experiences were
- 3. Our Liaison Team experiences told us that there wasn’t only one way that journals were being used and promoted to students We wanted to gather some information about the messages students were receiving about journals and what expectations academic staff had about the use of journals by undergraduate students
- 4. How did we do it? Faculty staff were invited into the Library for a chat As informal as possible with circular seating Invited Head of School and Researcher Liaison Librarian and 2 members of senior leadership
- 5. What did we want to know? o What priority do staff place on journal use in assignments? o What are the expectations from staff about students using journals in assignments? Would it be commented on in student feedback if they did or didn’t? o Do your students read to be informed or do they read retrospectively to find references for their bibliography? o Do staff in your faculty recommend journal titles to students? o Do staff discuss keywords for journal searches? o Do students find journal articles and titles from their reading lists?
- 6. What did we learn? Common theme across Faculties: students find reading at level hard Students can find information but struggle to know how to apply it to their writing Faculties were providing guidance ‘in house’ Staff were looking for a range of relevant references in assignments – there wasn’t any major requirement for these to be journals
- 7. What went well? Crucial insight into student experience of journals Highlighted the common ground between the Library and the staff Raised the profile of the Liaison Librarians Team and the Library Strengthened relationships between Liaison Librarians and staff
- 8. What were the challenges? Lots of information gathered Big job to type up all of the meeting notes, took a while to get the information to be able to act on it One faculty would not meet with us for discussion
- 9. What have I done as a result of this project? Developed and delivered new sessions for Computing students (collaboration with Head of School) Developing support for Engineering TNE students Used information gathered to inform Action Planning in 2018 and 2019 – targeted support where needed
- 10. How has this impacted our service? Read Higher Campaign 2018/19
- 11. Thanks for listening – any questions? helen.lawrence@sunderland.ac.uk @uniofsunlib @LibraryLass81 (Helen)
Editor's Notes
- Previous campaigns (16/17) identified that many students did not realise that journals were a resource that the University paid for. Fuelled by a need to get the best value for money out of our existing collection we wanted to promote the journals we had and make sure students were using them effectively
- As part of our focus on relationship management between Liaison Librarians and staff in the Faculties, we decided to set up some meetings to discuss journal use in the Faculties and try to better understand the messages students were receiving from their teachers about journal use.
- In Spring 2018 we invited representatives from all of our Faculties into the Library for an informal discussion about journals with a cuppa and cake! Meetings were attended by Liaison Librarian, Library Campus Manager and Service Engagement and Impact Manager Discussed outcomes beforehand but the meetings were kept informal and unscripted – we wanted to have productive conversations, not interviews!
- Key questions agreed beforehand – we discussed who might say what but the conversations flowed: some questions were answered in the conversations, others led to one another so we didn’t follow any agreed format
- Loads! The conversations were intended to be about journals but very quickly developed into something else – we realised that in many cases the difficulty students had was with reading, not specifically with journals! Picked out some key points: Feeling that joy of research was being lost Generally students would not be expected to find their own journal articles until Level 6 – before this they would be given articles to read Several faculties were teaching search skills in house and had no idea that we could offer this support; never occurred to them to ask us Students in Computer Science were very daunted by having to do a research project in final year; illustrated themselves crying when asked to draw what research looked like Lots of things we already knew/suspected!
- Ideas about how influential staff are when it comes to student experience of journals Great opportunity to promote the work and capabilities of the Liaison Team Interesting to note how staff were not aware of services/offers that have been available for a long time! Could be disheartening but also an opportunity Staff shared many of our concerns about student reading and we discussed several areas of common ground
- Took a while to get the notes from the meetings typed up (one person doing this) So much information – has to be digested and considered As already mentioned – the perception of Librarians – academic staff didn’t realise the skill set of our Liaison Team! This has also been a golden opportunity so not all bad but was disappointing at the time
- My personal actions (in Faculty of Technology) as a result of this project: Big impact on my Action Planning for 18/19 and also again in 19/20 – able to go deeper this year and build on some of the progress we made last year e.g. skills support for PG Computer Science students came from these conversations with the HoS, who mentioned to the Programme Leader that I could help with their Fundamentals module… Met with Computing students at the end of Level 5 to help them prepare for their Research Project over the summer break. Follwed up with support at the beginning of Level 6 Staff unaware of range of support available from the Library for TNE – great opportunity to develop links and build in this support I was relatively new in post for Faculty of Technology so a really effective way for me to forge links and build relationships with staff. Helped me to get a much deeper understanding of the two schools and how they operate which has been invaluable
- As a result of the Journal Engagement project, we realised that we needed to go back to basics and we launched the Read Higher campaign **play short video** This campaign has posters and videos on plasma screens around the Libraries, links to our ‘Suggest A Book’ initiative where students can suggest titles for purchase (under £70 bought immediately, over £70 referred to Liaison Librarian) Overall, we have a greater understanding of what we can do to help: what our students and staff need from us rather than what we thought they needed. Looking at actual student behaviour and experience rather than what we thought they were reading or doing! Appreciation that there are differences between the Faculties