National Library Week has the theme Libraries=Strong Communities.  How does an academic library help strengthen its community?  More specifically how does a library contribute to student learning?  As a profession we librarians are exploring this question.

We can assess our instruction in a one-shot session.  We can measure the effectiveness of a flipped model, for example.  One study assessed flipped sessions with quizzes, student presentations, minute papers, subsequent assignments, and faculty interviews (Carroll, Tchangalova, & Harrington, 2016, pp. 127-128).

We can also work at the course level.   Luetkenhaus, Hvizdak, Johnson, and Schiller (2017) describe the case of a required first-year course at Washington State University.  The researchers applied a rubric to a sampling of the course papers (pp. 344-345).

We can even take part in curriculum mapping.  Archambault and Masunaga (2015) discuss this process at Loyola Marymount University.  As they point out, the mapping can help librarians identify high-impact courses for collaboration (pp. 511-512).

I plan to read these studies more thoroughly.  In the meantime we USM librarians are refining our instruction, too.

References

Archambault, S. G., & Masunaga, J. (2015). Curriculum mapping as a strategic planning tool. Journal of Library Administration, 55(6), 503–519.

doi:10.1080/01930826.2015.1054770

Carroll, A. J., Tchangalova, N., & Harrington, E. G. (2016). Flipping one-shot library instruction: using Canvas and Pecha Kucha for peer teaching.

Journal of the Medical Library Association, 104(2), 125–130. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.104.2.006

Luetkenhaus, H., Hvizdak, E., Johnson, C., & Schiller, N. (2017).  Measuring library impacts through first year course assessment. Communications in

Information Literacy, 11(2), 339-353. doi: 10.15760/comminfolit.2017.11.2.6

 

Image Credit: American Library Association