Higher Education and Assessment: Faculty and Librarian Collaboration
Collaboration
What does it mean to use 21st Century Skills in the classroom? And how can a partnership with a library strengthen this?
Different Perspectives
Image credit: Library Journal
Library Journal, in partnership with Gale, study examined faculty and academic librarian perceptions of the services offered by academic libraries, and found
- 87% of faculty feel that the academic library is important for providing resources for their own and their students’ research
However, service priorities and the whether communication was adequate differed.
- Librarians and faculty agreed that the central function of academic libraries is information literacy instruction and research consultation for students.
- Librarians rate their achievement in these areas much higher than faculty did.
- 61% of faculty rated repository services as very important or essential, compared to just half of librarians.
- Faculty also rated services such as text and data mining, and research grant management, higher than librarians did.
Communication seems to be the biggest barrier to faculty and academic librarians seeing eye to eye, though.
- 98% of academic librarians thought there could be better communication between the two parties
- 45% of faculty surveyed felt the same
- 27% of faculty felt that there was “no need” to communicate with librarians
Most cited reasons for a lack of communication included:
- Busy schedules
- Lack of easy ways to foster in-person contact
A Shared Responsibility
- A discipline-based approach to information literacyAnn Grafstein on the importance of teaching information literacy within specific disciplines and contexts.
Students as Digital Pioneers and Partners
- Developing digital championsSeeking partnerships for change, how one college used local peer champions" as a highly effective way of taking forward digital literacy issues.
- Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher educationA 2014 study sponsored by The Higher Education Academy.
- Toolkit for developing successful student-staff partnershipsSponsored by JISC, this guide offers curriculum design tools for setting up, sustaining, and embedding successful student-staff partnerships.
- Change Agents' NetworkA network of staff and students working in partnership to support curriculum enhancement and innovation, including multiple projects to implement digital literacy programs.
How Wide is the Gap Between Librarians and Faculty?
Faculty Survey of Academic Library
International Survey of Research University Faculty by Publication Date: 2017The study presents findings of a faculty evaluation of academic libraries from a survey of 500+ faculty in 55 research universities in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia. Faculty evaluate their academic libraries on a range of services and provide their input on whether their libraries should increase, decrease or maintain spending constant on a range of resources including but not limited to: journals, eBooks, print books, library technology, library staff, the library cafe and much more. In addition, faculty rate their level of satisfaction with a myriad of library resources including library seating and lighting, information literacy instruction, interlibrary loan services, online tutorials, reference assistance, ease of database searching, and the quality of the library collection and its subject experts, among other facets of the library experience. Faculty also offer their insights on what they would like to see in their academic libraries.
New Teaching Opportunities for Librarians
- Teaching at the Desk: Toward a Reference Pedagogy.Considers how reference is a form of teaching and addresses how librarians can be more intentional in forming these interactions.
Trust
Pew Research Center Survey found libraries top the list of the most trusted information sources
- 78% say their local library helps them find information that is trustworthy and reliable
- 76% believe libraries help them learn new things
- 65% argue that libraries help them grow as people
- 56% maintain that libraries help them get information that helps them make decisions
Maine State Library survey Librarians are the second most trusted professionals out of the 22 professions studied.
- 78% rated librarians as “very high” or “high.”
- Only nursing was perceived more trustworthy (81%)
Changing Roles of Librarians
- Roles and Strengths of Teaching LibrariansCreated by the Standards and Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators Revision Task Force.
Librarians and Instructional Designers
Librarians and Instructional Designers by Publication Date: 2016Demonstrates that when librarians and instructional designers pool their knowledge of curriculum and technology, together they can impact changes that help to better serve faculty, students, and staff to address changes that are affecting higher education.
Emerging Strategies for Supporting Student Learning : A Practical Guide for Librarians and Educators by ISBN: 9781783300709Provides a straightforward and accessible guide to the latest learning and teaching practices appropriate for librarians working with higher education students.
