Flexibility = Accessibility: Oregon State University Libraries’ Interactive Course Assignment Pages Ruth Vondracek & Maureen Kelly ALA New Orleans RUSA MARS Hot Topics June 24, 2006 ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek Who We Are Land Grant University Campuses in Corvallis, Bend & Newport 16,000 Undergraduates 16 librarians engaged in instruction ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

OSU Libraries Strategic Plan Our Challenge OSU Libraries Strategic Plan “OSU Libraries will be a critical partner with OSU colleges & programs by contributing to the life-long learning of OSU Students” 2004 OSU Libraries Strategic Plan http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/strategic_pw.pdf developed in support of the to the Oregon State University campuswide Strategic Plan http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/strategicplan/ Goal 2. Strategy A: Develop tailored services to the teaching & learning needs of OSU faculty & students. ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

What We Did: Assessment VCL Task Force Formed 2005 Literature & Web site review Exploration of Blackboard as a delivery mechanism Assessment of student library use using focus groups, an online survey and usability studies Hired MLIS Grad Student to perform Lit/web review & other activities Virtual College Libraries formed and merged with Interactive Subject Guides group. VCL was loosely defined as making making discipline relevant information easily available to students and the plan was to co-develop VCL with faculty. It quickly became apparent that we needed to talk to the students themselves to understand how to best deliver what they needed from the library. The VCL task force decided that to determine whether VCLs were necessary and what they should offer, it was critical to first determine what students need and how they use the OSU Libraries web pages to find information on specific subjects and for class assignments. For example, should the OSU Libraries provide a simpler means of access to “best sources” for subject research? Should the libraries present information that is filtered by discipline, subject area or course, and/or by the level of need, undergraduate through expert researcher? Focus groups: How do they approach their information needs? Would they use personalization features? Online Survey: What technologies & methods do they use? Usability tests April 2005: IRB proposal was approved for these assessment activities. ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek What We Learned Lit/web Review: Identified several intriguing sites, e.g. Ohio State, Cornell, U WA Blackboard: OSU has a “Libraries” tab -- 90% of students are enrolled in a BB course; only 52% of OSU faculty are using BB to deliver instruction *Conclusion: VCL needs to work both within and outside Blackboard ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

What the Students Told Us Library research is confusing & time consuming Technologies students most frequently use are Internet, chat, e-mail, text messaging Some students use MyYahoo or MyMSN, but few customize Blackboard From undergraduates in particular: Too many research tools to choose from; difficult to know which search words to use While most students don’t take the time to customize pages, they are open to being able to customize the library pages. Preference would be for this to happen automatically, ala Amazon. ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek What the Students Want Make the library page simpler, make the databases easier to select & search, provide more full text Automatic customization (ala Amazon) Library resources tailored to their specific assignments Lots of suggestions ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek What We Decided We decided not to pursue VCL or implement a “MyLibrary” feature. Instead we chose to focus on creating easily generated assignment driven course pages: ICA : Interactive Course Assignment Pages Course and subject research guides should accommodate keyword searching of selected and standard multiple resources and offer assistance in finding broader, narrower and related terms (a fusion of MetaFind and AquaBrowser). The challenge here is that databases currently cannot be accessed by off-campus users via Blackboard. Course pages and subject guides should link to the appropriate librarian (chat when available, email when not Focus efforts on working with faculty to link the faculty member’s Blackboard course and the Libraries’ course pages.  The VCL task force further recommends that these efforts continue as a strategic planning goal and be given a more relevant name and that the task force draft a plan, timeline and budget for pursuing these efforts for FY 2005-2006. ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

How the Project Evolved Phase II S.P VCL ICA Phase I Sept. 04 Aug. 05 Sept 05 June 06 July 06 …

Interactive Course Pages Virtual College Library Interactive Course Pages Generalized Subject Areas Highly Specific Topics Standardized Resources Focused Searching ICA Phase II ICA Phase I VCL Static Site Dynamic & Interactive

DHE 370 Textile and Market Apparel Analysis

What the Students Told Us Comments Didn't Use 34 didn’t know about the page 3 Did not need info; found off Google/ internet/Academic Search Premier Functional problems 1 -I forgot it was there, but I did look at it and it looked like it would have been a very useful tool.

What the Students Told Us

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek What Faculty Told Us Felt they needed to integrate ICA better – in syllabus, BB, in class Fewer questions where to look for information Difficult to assess impact on quality Felt that resources were relevant – worked closely with librarians Frustrated lack of use primary, non-online materials Focus on fewer resources ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek Next Steps: Phase II Hire a Programmer Increase Functionality Follow same process as Phase I Development Usability testing and user satisfaction Training, Implement in classes ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek Our Key Learnings Integrated Collaboration with faculty Placement Interactive Librarians/Faculty – Ease in generating / selection Students – ability to generate specific topics within larger assignment Sustainable Easily generated Substitute for face-to-face instruction ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek

Maureen Kelly & Ruth Vondracek Oregon State University ALA New Orleans RUSA MARS Hot Topics June 24, 2006 Maureen Kelly & Ruth Vondracek Oregon State University Maureen.Kelly@ Ruth.Vondracek@oregonstate.edu ALA June 2006 Kelly & Vondracek