DRAFT

LIBRARY ASSESSMENT PLAN

APRIL 2008

Wells College Mission Statement

The mission of Wells College is to educate students to think critically, reason wisely, and act humanely as they cultivate meaningful lives. Through Wells’ academic program, residential atmosphere, and community activities, students learn and practice the ideals of the liberal arts. The Wells experience prepares students to appreciate complexity and difference, to embrace new ways of knowing, to be creative, and to respond ethically to the interdependent worlds to which they belong. Committed to excellence in all areas of its reach, Wells College equips students for lifelong learning and for sharing the privileges of education with others.

Library Mission Statement

The Louis Jefferson Long Library supports the mission and the institutional goals of Wells College by providing educational and information resources, and services including instruction in information literacy, to our campus and local communities

1.  Mission  

The Library’s assessment plan consists of two major components.  The first component is the public service and outreach/the technical service operation which plays an integral part in the Library’s mission statement.  The second component is the physical facility.  Though the facility is secondary, it has a huge impact on the Library’s mission to offer critical support to the teaching, learning, research and public service mission of the College.  In our assessment plan we address both components.  Goals 1-3 deal with the first component, Public and Technical Service Operations, and Goal 4, Facility, deals with the physical facility.  All goals are crucial to the progress of the Library’s continuous assessment.

2.  Library Goals

Section A.  Public and Technical Service Operations

            1.  Patrons will develop skills in researching based on the standards of information            literacy.

            2.  Patrons will find improved services.

            3.  Patrons will have improved access to educational and information resources.

Section B.  Facility    

            4.  Patrons will notice an improved physical facility which provides increased access          to support services and comfortable study areas for collaborative and individual study.

3.  Objectives and Outcomes

Section A.  Public and Technical Service Operations

Goal 1:  Patrons will develop skills in researching based on the ACRL standards for information literacy.

Objective 1:  Patrons will benefit from a proposed Information Literacy program.

            Outcomes

A.  Patrons taking Wells 101 and Wells 111 will receive extra support from the library’s information literacy program.

            B.  Patrons will learn to research in our electronic and/or print resources by first determining the nature and extent of the information needed.

            C.  Patrons will access the needed information effectively and efficiently.

            D.  Patrons will learn to evaluate the information and its sources critically and will be able to incorporate the selected information.

            E. Patrons will then be able to apply the information effectively, thus accomplishing the goal of their research.

            F.  Patrons will understand the ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of the selected information.

            G.  Patrons will be able to continue using information literacy in their chosen fields after graduation.

Objective 2:  Patrons will receive bibliographic instruction and follow-up support.

            Outcomes

            A.  Patrons will have many opportunities to attend workshops dealing with different topics, procedures and skills, such as ordering ILLs online, avoiding plagiarism, differences among individual databases, and using Boolean Logic in database searching.

B.  Patrons will opportunities for individual assistance in their research and development of skills.

Goal 2. Patrons will experience improved services.

Objective 1:  Patrons will benefit from updated and maintained technology in the library.

Outcomes

A.  Patrons have access to wireless connectivity throughout the Library.  Switches were purchased using Hagedorn Foundation funds.

            B.  Patrons will have access to software which is ADA compliant.

            C.  Patrons will experience library web pages that are easier to navigate.

            D.  Patrons now have remote access to our library databases.

            E.  In the fall 2008 semester, patrons will have a “Research by Subject” link to the Library databases.

            F.  By summer 2008, patrons will experience a faster and better indexed library online catalog due to the upgrade of our library server and an upgrade of Authority Control.

G.  Patrons are able to check out laptops for use throughout the Library.

            H.  Patrons will be able to use special software such as GIS and Atrix.

            I.   Patrons will be able to take advantage of a Reference/Help Desk located in the Library for technical and research purposes which will be manned by both technologists and librarians.

J.  Patrons now have access to a pilot electronic reserves program.

K.  Patrons will benefit from the library’s future disaster and preservation plans.

Objective 2:  Patrons will benefit from staff and student worker training and development.

            Outcomes

A. Patrons will benefit from the new collaboration between the Director of Security and the Library staff in developing fire and safety policies and procedures.

B. Patrons will receive better service due to the improved training program for library student workers.

C. Patrons benefit from the cross-training of the library staff.

D. Patrons are benefiting from the new reserve policies and procedures.

Objective 3:  Patrons will find it easier to obtain assistance from a librarian.

            Outcomes

A. Patrons will find an online form for appointments for the Archives.

B. Patrons will find it easier to order interlibrary loan materials.

C. Reference hours have been increased to accommodate the patrons, while we continue to accept appointments, drop-ins, emails or phone calls.

D. Patrons with challenges will receive library support due to a new program initiated by librarians and the disabilities specialist.

Objective 4:  Patrons will experience an atmosphere of community outreach in the library.

            Outcomes

A. Patrons will find an opportunity to share resources with the local high and middle schools.  The college and high school librarians are collaborating to exchange library services.

B. The student theses will be in electronic and print format allowing for greater sharing of materials.

C. Patrons will have digital access to some selected archival materials due to a regional digitization program which is to begin sometime in 2008-2009.

D. Patrons now have access to the Education Curriculum Center, the Writing Center, Janet Snoyer, the Learning Strategies Counselor, and in the fall of 2008, the Disabilities Specialist all located in the Library.

E. Patrons will benefit from an increase in promoting the library services.

F. Patrons can also partake of goods from the Coffee Café.

G. Patrons will enjoy more exhibits and events in the Library.

Goal 3.  Patrons will have improved access to our educational and information resources.

Objective 1:  Patrons will benefit from a maintained and developed collection (electronic and print).

Outcomes

A.  Patrons are benefiting from the purchased required readings for courses.

B.  Patrons will benefit from a comparison study of our reference collection done by the library staff which will result in an updated reference collection.

C.  Patrons are benefiting from the library’s new deselecting and development policies.

Objective 2:  Patrons can look forward to improved resources and services which are being planned for the future.

Outcomes

A.  We have invited Barbara Berger Eden, Cornell University, to assess the Archives and Rare Book Room.  We will have a new collection policy for the Archives and students will benefit from this reorganization of the Archives.

B. We are interested in creating an Advisory Board comprised of faculty,

librarians and students (it is recommended that this Board deal not only with collection development but with all library services).  This Board will give students an opportunity to participate.

C.  Patrons will have access to more electronic journals and databases.

D.  Patrons will benefit from a proposed subject liaison library program.

E.  Patrons will be able to participate in a new proposed library mentoring program for students interested in pursuing graduate study in library science.

F.  Patrons will be able to take a proposed for-credit library course which will cover information literacy for the first year student.

Section B. Facility

Goal 4. Patrons will experience an improved physical facility which provides increased access to support services and comfortable study areas for collaborative and individual research.

Objective 1: Patrons will experience an improved facility.

            Outcomes

A.  Patrons have access to the Pilot Information and Learning Commons which provides space for collaborative and individual study and houses the Writing and Peer-tutoring Centers.

            B.  Patrons have access to wireless connectivity throughout the Library.

            C.  Patrons now have easy access to printing from the NetPrinter Room in the Library.

            D.  Patrons will be more comfortable with a different location for our ADA compliant station.

Areas identified as problem areas which will need to be addressed in the future are:

Improve Lighting

Improve furniture-office and public spaces

Find remote storage (we have requested a room in Zabriskie for some archival storage.)

Ventilation system cleaned

Climate control

Security system

New and improved signage

Better outside security lights, phones, alarms

Objective 2.  Patrons will have a more secure facility

            Outcomes

            A.  Patrons will benefit from our improved fire safety and exit plans proposed by the library staff and the Director of Safety.

The library staff realizes that this assessment is a continuous process and will be updating the draft as we progress.

4.  Means of Assessment of Outcomes

The Louis Jefferson Long Library is a member of the American Library Association (ALA) and Academic College and Research Libraries (ACRL).  These professional associations are recognized for their invaluable service to academic libraries.  Long Library follows the ACRL standards for information literacy because these standards are applicable to the mission of Wells College and Long Library in regard to student learning outcomes.  We also use The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is a nation-wide library statistics program which includes the Academic Libraries Survey. Collections, expenditures, services, and staffing are some of the topics covered by the survey. We realize that acquiring resources and providing access to the resources may be sufficient but information literacy is necessary.  We are not looking, therefore, to gather only output data but are looking at the Academic Libraries Survey, the ACRL standards and survey for their sections on information literacy and their guidelines for measuring student learning outcomes.

We are also applying for a grant for the LibQual Survey. 

“LibQUAL+(TM) is a suite of services that libraries use to solicit, track, understand, and act upon users’ opinions of service quality. These services are offered to the library community by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The program’s centerpiece is a rigorously tested Web-based survey bundled with training that helps libraries assess and improve library services, change organizational culture, and market the library. The goals of LibQUAL+(TM) are to:

• Foster a culture of excellence in providing library service
• Help libraries better understand user perceptions of library service quality
• Collect and interpret library user feedback systematically over time
• Provide libraries with comparable assessment information from peer institutions
• Identify best practices in library service
• Enhance library staff members' analytical skills for interpreting and acting on data”.

Taken from http://www.libqual.org/

As an IT and Library unit, we also are considering the Bryn Mawr Survey to assess LIS. 

“The MISO Bryn Mawr Survey is a Web-based quantitative survey designed to measure the use and effectiveness for students, faculty, and staff of the services and resources of merged library and computing units.”

Taken from http://connect.educause.edu/Library/Abstract/MeasuringtheSoupTheMISOBr/42272

Additional assessment tools are the standard tools such as questionnaires, satisfaction surveys, observation, usability studies, focus groups, individual reference interviews, and narrative inquiry with analysis of faculty-librarian collaboration.  The librarians do not grade per se.  The following is an example of how we are using some of the above tools.

Observation

1.  After bibliographic instruction we observed that some students who attended the sessions still had many questions.  We are addressing this by offering follow-up workshops, short in duration, on specific topics and on individual databases.  These workshops will be refined and repeated.

Immediately prior to instruction or workshops, we will have patrons fill out a questionnaire which will determine the patron’s level of knowledge about the subject and also have the patron fill out an evaluation after the instruction or workshop.

2.  We will have our student workers participate in taking an actual count of patrons using the learning commons and the online resource room during certain periods.

Surveys

1.  We intend to use SurveyMonkey for brief surveys regarding services and changes in policies, services, resources, etc.

Conclusion:

The library staff will do continuous assessment.  January and July will allow for biannual assessment meetings. At that time we will evaluate our outcomes by applying the data received from the tools of assessment.  The results of the analyses will help us in management decision making, designing and managing projects, reference interviewing, collection development and in-house development review.

Assessment Draft 4/2008