Partnerships in Instruction: Summary of Discussion

Summary of Strategic Reports Discussion: Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Partnerships in Instruction: (http://www.bu.edu/library/about/strategic-plan-9-06.html)

Strategy Reports #8-11 (http://www.bu.edu/library/planning/2007/reports/index.html)

Convener: Holly Mockovak

Notes: Tom Casserly

Participants:  Linda Carr, Tom Casserly, Bob Hudson (briefly), Arlyne Jackson, Mary McGowan, Holly Mockovak, Mary Nicolini, Linda Plunket, Chris Smith, Sarah Struble, Gretchen Walsh (the attendance list may be incomplete/inaccurate as the notetaker did not think to write down who was there)

The goal of the meeting was to discuss the status of each strategy, articulate the issues and challenges, and outline the support needed to succeed. Following the lead of President Bob Brown, who over the last several months has been presenting the “One Boston University” strategic plan to all of the university’s constituencies while narrowing and sharpening the focus, we will use this forum to look at ways to streamline our own strategic plan.

Holly Mockovak, convener, opened the meeting by describing the desire to have a conversation about the Instruction strategies and not just reports on them.  This was achieved with a wide-ranging conversation over the course of the meeting.

Initial discussion focused upon strategy eight, Reconfigure Instruction Programs and Mary McGowan's report (http://www.bu.edu/library/planning/2007/reports/s8-5-07.html). Gretchen Walsh described the work that the Instruction Advisory Committee has undertaken in a variety of areas. Recent activities of this group have included practical issues about how best to develop library FAQ information on the World Wide Web and the use of a wiki by the Instruction Advisory and by Capstone committees.  Arlyne Jackson wondered if the library should have a wiki or the like to let faculty know what we would like to teach and to be able to solicit faculty input. Discussion included noting the the libraries did not have a well-developed curriculum at this time and varying degrees of cooperation with faculty and that work in this area certainly dovetails with strategy eleven, Foster Ongoing Faculty Partnerships.

One aspect of reconfiguring instruction programs is to draw a complete picture of existing instruction activities.  There is no central report with all this information.  This is an important component of strategy eleven, Foster Ongoing Faculty Partnerships, and is mentioned in the current report (http://www.bu.edu/library/planning/2007/reports/s11-5-07.html). The Instruction Advisory Committee has explored this issue and the current approach is to request that libraries contribute basic instruction information to a central location.  Mary Nicolini demonstrated how Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) could be used to upload instruction statistics from each library. This data could then possibly be manipulated and organized into librarywide data. Mary Monaco, Pardee Management Library, collates the information for the reports now posted to Google Docs by that library.  Please contact Mary Monaco for the Google Docs account name and password to upload spreadsheets from your library to this account. This work to accurately describe existing instruction activities dovetails with yet another strategy, number twenty-six under Infrastructure, Make Available Statistics for Improving Processes. Boston University Libraries report the number of instruction sessions held and the number of people who attend them annually to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) .  Success in gathering statistical information about instruction activities from a number of libraries and posting it to a single location could facilitate and improve the accuracy of this ARL reporting.

Mary Nicolini demonstrated another instruction project undertaken at the Pardee Management Library highlighting techniques for systematically gathering information about faculty contacts and any resulting instruction initiatives.  This information, kept in a spreadsheet, helps one remember what has been done in each instruction / need area. This reporting system included the following categories:  Issue, Faculty Member, How Contacted, Follow-Up, Initiatives.

As discussion evolved the overlap between instruction initiatives became apparent and the question was asked if some could be collapsed into each other.  A very wide ranging conversation ensued duing which more questions were asked than answered:

• Where do we see the role of the librarian in instruction? The Instruction Advisory committee plans to initiate some conversations with faculty to explore this issue.
• How do we keep on top of what is happening in instruction at the university and how the libraries can fit into this? One of the difficulties with formal library instruction at Boston Universityis the attitude of some faculty toward library instruction and the reluctance to cede class time to this purpose.
• There is the anecdotal evidence approaching prejudice among librarians that instruction should be tied to an assignment to achieve any effectiveness. Is this, in fact, warranted?
• SAILS - what should we do with this information? Should we emphasize to faculty the clear lack of skills among students that this test reveals, rather than in carefully couched descriptions, in order to get faculty attention?
• There is a recent report highlighting the information skills that employers are looking for and not finding among current graduates: How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today's Global Economy?, conducted on behalf of The Association of American Colleges and Universities by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc.  This report can be found at http://www.aacu.org/advocacy/leap/documents/Re8097abcombined.pdf. Emory University's Goizueta Business Library was cited for developing a free-standing library certificate in company research that students could earn and highlight on resumes and in inteviews, the Goizueta Business Research Certificate as described at http://business.library.emory.edu/whatsnew/bbacert.html. A recent College of Communication student was looking to learn research skills to pitch to internships that requested these skills. Is there a potential constituency on campus here for library instruction that has been overlooked?
• It was pointed out that librarians have not been taught how to teach in any formal way. How can we instruct effectively?  We need to draw from each other.  There are instructional design courses offered on this campus at the School of Education and other professional association programs from which we can learn and share.
• What about the shelf life of what we do? Show Me (http://www.bu.edu/showme/) took two years to develop. The present environment is moving at a faster pace. Susan Wishinsky is now using small web files from Show Me in Research Guides. Other staff might use such snippets effectively.  How do we know where they are and what is available?  A wiki?  An object repository?

This led to conversation about strategy nine, Build a Multi-functional eClassroom (http://www.bu.edu/library/planning/2007/reports/s9-5-07.html). Bob Hudson is working on securing funding to undertake this strategy and anticipates a process that might include physical work in the library during the coming academic year.  Tom Casserly has long recomended that this facility be located in the public eye on the first floor of Mugar.  There should be concrete developments, including seeking staff input, towards this goal in the near future. In the meantime the electronic classroom at PERL is available for staff and library instruction, if booked in advance.

Progress on strategy ten, Collaborate with Faculty, ODE, and OIT, is most focused upon development of an online library module.

Interlaced with all this conversation was that recurring theme of consolidating instruction strategies.  There is a need to look at One Boston University and apply a lens to library strategies the way that Mr. Nichols did at the Office of Development, as described in his recent presentation to management staff.  What support would staff like to see under instruction initiatives, especially if two or three of them are combined?  Is there consensus here to merge strategies?  These questions will be pursued by the Instruction Advisory Committee, already standing, and individual strategy leaders should feel free to explore these interesting ideas and edit reports at will.