Students’ awareness and use of point of need instruction (PONI) offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations will increase.
Some students may not be fully aware of the services Research & Instruction Librarians can provide through PONI at the Information Desk and through research consultations. Previous data from LibAnswers provided us with a baseline in regards to student use. Additionally, survey and focus group data identified where students looked to find information about our library research services to aid in developing our Student Outreach Calendar. Implementing this calendar, our goal for this year is to identify if student awareness and use of PONI offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations increases.
Measure 1: Collect and analyze qualitative data from student surveys [with at least 300 responses (n= 300 students)], interviews, and/or focus groups from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 to determine students’ awareness of PONI offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations.
Target 1: At least 70 percent of participating students will indicate awareness of PONI offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations.
Measure 2: Collect and analyze LibAnswers statistics regarding Information Desk interactions and research consultations from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 to determine if students’ use of PONI offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations has increased in comparison to 2017-2018 statistics.
Target 2: Students’ use of of PONI offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations will have increased by 5 percent.
Strategies: Implement Student Outreach Calendar developed in the attached 2017-2018 Point of Need Instruction/Outreach to Students Report throughout the academic year and analyze data collected via surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups (qualitative/indirect) as well as LibAnswers statistics (quantitative/direct).
Measure 1: We ran our Student Awareness of College of Charleston Libraries' Research Services survey through Qualtrics from April 15-22. The survey was distributed to all currently enrolled students (N=9.880) with 398 student responses (n=398). Our target was to have 70% of participating students indicate awareness of PONI offered at the Information Desk and research consultations. While 95% of students expressed that they were aware of services at the Information Desk, only 57% stated they were aware of Research Consultations with a librarian. Thus, we cannot definitively say that we fully met our target for this measure. However, we saw substantial improvement from last year's Research Services Survey in which only 23% of students stated they would come to the library and/or the Information Desk for research assistance. Only 2% of responses specifically said they would go to a librarian (assumed research consultation).
Measure 2: 'Data for the period July 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019 was collected and analyzed from Lib Answers (July 1, 2018-May 12, 2019) and LibInsight (May 13-31, 2019).We originally planned to analyze data through June 30, 2019, but the July-May time period was sufficient to determine if our target had been met. Our measure 2 target of a 5% increase in the use of PONI offered at the Information Desk and in research consultations was exceeded for research consultations (25% increase). However, we did not meet the 5% target for questions asked at the Information Desk.
Target met for measure 1? No.
Did results for measure 1 demonstrate improvement from previous assessments? Yes.
Target met for measure 2? N
Did results for measure 2 demonstrate improvement from previous assessments? Yes
Please describe your selections above for each measure:
Measure 1:
In the 2018 survey, 23% of students stated they would come to the library and/or the Information Desk for research assistance. Only 2% of responses specifically said they would go to a librarian (assumed research consultation). In this year’s survey, 95% of students expressed they were aware of library research service at the Information Desk, and 57% of students stated they were aware of Research Consultations with a librarian.
However, we observed that the design of our baseline survey had flaws that would impact our actual measurable improvement. In order to simplify our data collection process, we altered the survey we used last year from open-ended questions to multiple choice. We utilized the answers students provided in our 2018 research services survey to create the options in this year’s survey. By doing this, it was much easier for us to examine what percentage of students were aware of PONI services at the then Information Desk and with research consultations.
Measure 2:
Data was collected and analyzed from LibAnswers and LibInsight for the period July 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019. Even though we originally planned to analyze data through June 30, this time period was sufficient to determine if our target had been met.
In 2017-2018, there were 118 research consultations in the Research & Instruction Office. In 2018-2019 (July 1 - May 31), this number increased to 148, an increase of 25%. This well exceeds our target. Combined with the significant increase in student awareness of research consultations shown by the survey in measure 1, student awareness and use of point of need instruction has increased.
However, student use of PONI at the desk declined, from 9662 questions during 2017-2018 to only 7993 during 2018-2019 (note that the 2018-2019 total does not include June 2019, but June is typically a slow month and would not be nearly enough to account for the entire gap).
Measure 1:
The assessment findings were discussed within the Research and Instruction Department as PONI is a key component of our job descriptions and overall services. The fact that students were able to identify what the Information Desk and research consultations were in this year’s survey demonstrated an increased awareness of our PONI services. In this year’s survey, students were able to identify the areas of marketing provided in the 2018-2019 academic year that had not been previously offered. Furthermore, what they considered to be the most effective forms of marketing were consistent in our two years of data (emails and signage). Our recommendation moving into the 2019-2020 academic year is to continue our marketing and outreach efforts.
While we managed to meet our marketing efforts, it quickly became evident that the amount of time and work needed to successfully create and circulate marketing materials was not feasible with our shared schedules. Thus, the Associate Dean of Access, Instruction, and Assessment advocated for a part-time Outreach specialist position to be created within our department.
Lastly, given that we changed our survey design this, we believe that it would be beneficial to continue our study in the 2019-2020 academic year by adding our questions to the Library User Survey.
Measure 2:
Although we did not fully meet our target for measure 2, our survey results combined with the 25% increase in research consultations indicate that students are increasingly aware of and finding value in receiving in-depth research help from librarians. The decline at the Information Desk may indicate a change in how students use library point of need services, rather than a lack of awareness. In-person questions declined during 2018-2019 across all locations, not just at the Information Desk. Other physical indicators of library use also declined during this period, including door counts and checkouts.
The decline in student visits to the Information Desk and the corresponding increase in research consultation supports changes made at the beginning of summer 2019 to combine the Information and Circulation Desks. A combined desk with a larger, newly trained staff allows us to maintain our overall hours of PONI while freeing up librarians to emphasize instruction services that students are utilizing in greater numbers, including research consultations.
Implemented Strategies:
Planned Strategies
Budget Changes
During the 2018-2019 academic year, Smore and Canva licenses were purchased for various Research and Instruction Librarians. Moving forward, a temporary, 20 hours/week Outreach Specialist position ($13,800) will be advertised to assist with our outreach efforts.
Additional Comments
Comparing the data collected from the previous and current year, we have made improvements in certain areas of our PONI outreach. Student awareness of the services at the former Information Desk and of research consultations improve based on our Student Awareness of Library Research Services Survey. We recognize that changing the survey from one year to the next may have affected our overall results. Last year's survey was open-ended, while this year's survey include a multiple-choice list of options. Seeing "Information Desk" and "Research Consultation" on the list likely increased students' choosing these options. Nonetheless, we feel that our marketing has been successful since students recognized these items in the list and selected them at high rates.
Our research consultation usage also increased considerably from last year. While we attribute our marketing efforts to the increase in consultations, we also returned to the LibCal Appointments Module. This change was not made strictly for marketing purposes, but LibCal does have the advantage of making available consultation appointments more visible on the library website, which may have contributed to increased scheduling.
Despite the rise in student awareness and use of research consultations, we did see a decrease in interactions at the Information Desk. Perhaps the biggest change to point of need instruction in the last several assessment cycles was this year's merger of the Information and Circulation Desks. The new Access & Instruction Desk marks a huge shift in the library's service model and is the culmination of more than a year's worth of planning. The new desk streamlines service for library patrons and improves consistency, while also making better use of librarian staff time given the decline in research questions asked at the desk.
