Apparently 11 years ago, I started this blog. According to Forbes, Blogger is owned by Google. Not sure it that means it can be easily integrated into other Google products.

I think I need to take a 16 week class on how to be patient.  I really do feel like I am spending too much time waiting.  I am waiting to hear back from my "advisory group" on my survey and while I wait, I find myself making changes and starting a second survey--one of open questions and thinking it would really be nice to have a focus group.  It took 3 years to get an information literacy rubric developed and accepted by our general education council.  If that's the speed of deliberation, I shall resign myself to the fact that I will not see this needs assessment administered in time for my final paper. 

Rats!

Today, I read a column by Meredith Farkas called Asking the Right Questions: Meaningful assessment for learning.  It really does represent what my library does.  But I know that we (as an academic division) are trying to improve our data collection.  LibAnalytics is a product that we are trying to purchase.  The hold-up is the technology requirements and getting that all worked out.  However that works out, I don't think this product will really give us the kind of data that we need.  We don't want to collect data that may tell us that what we are doing is broken especially if we don't believe it is and we have data to prove this.

I continue to refine questions.  I have quite a few but only think 3 are in shape to share with my "advisory team".

What a week!  I had a few difficult classes that have led me to question the entire content of my "class".  I'm also finding it difficult to reconcile all the different surveys I'm reading with how thing operate here.  Several of them include disclaimers or statements to the fact that the survey is sanctioned by the college.  I really believe in the need for my library to know how faculty see us but convincing others--there in lies the rub.  The invite for guidance and advice with this project is still in my draft folder because I'm concerned that others don't share my feelings on the subject.  We, as a library, create Black Board modules, handouts, and LibGuides all designed to help faculty.  But I don't think we ever asked faculty what they want.  And if we did ask faculty, it was only selected faculty from one program and only in conversation with one librarian.  But I can't really speak to it because what if the responses we get from my assessment (knock wood!) are from those selected faculty?  Would we be any better off?  Or we could get responses that reveal our modules and guides to be a complete waste of time because faculty really want videos or some other type of product.  Who's ego will be bruised or validated? 

I have discovered either a) a new mania that only librarians suffer or b) a new law of motion that says a librarian will research a question until acted upon by another research question.

I started by looking for past surveys and studies into the information literacy skills of faculty.  The first fork in the road led me to surveys about how faculty perceive librarians as instructors of information literacy and finally I found studies into faculty awareness (or lack thereof) of the library and what it does.  I would still be traveling along this road had I not been given another "research question".  Pick a date for my portfolio and oral examination.  Now I must research my calendars.

Despite this, I do feel I am making progress in understanding my task.  I have found several surveys that give me ideas about the structure of my survey.  Friday is slow at my library so I will spend some time inviting people to sit at my "assessment table".

After our monthly all-staff meeting, the library instruction staff meets to discuss exercises, presentations, technology, etc.  Today's meeting was about library exercises and based on the discussion, I wonder if I am planning something that just will not work for the population.  Our reference/instruction librarian, Kevin,  has several exercises that he has developed in conjunction with specific instructors.  The assignments all address one or more of the ACRL information literacy comptencies, they all take time to administer as the assignments are designed NOT as homework but as classwork.  The thing that struck me is that through his position, Kevin has cultivated strong relationships with these faculty members.  While the exercises are very good, they are not something I would be doing in my randomly assigned 75 minute English 111 class or even an ESL class.  Kevin represents the library and the value of the library to these faculty members in a very personal way, almost to the point where he has become a brand.  Can my assessment generate enough responses to be meaningful?  Will I only get responses from those who have already been working with Kevin?  I hope these questions can be answered through my assessment design.  Either that or I am just having a bit of self-doubt.

My goal this weekend:  read the first set of articles I've found on surveys of faculty attitudes towards libraries.

Today, I began reviewing some of the literature I had found regarding attitudes and awareness of academic library services by faculty.  I probably should have started this sooner but 10 inches of snow can stop almost anything.  I have not gotten into any articles past the abstract and introduction and I can already see that most are looking into what faculty think of the library and its services in terms of helping the student, not in how the library can help the faculty member.  I will most like be doing another round of literature searching after this.

I have been in talks with Kevin, our Reference and Instruction Librarian, mostly by the coffee maker in the mornings. He is a member of the Council on General Education and someone who will be able to give me some insight as to how to move this assessment along into other channels.  Definitely someone I am glad to have a my table!