Presentation given by Jenny Collery and Dr Marta Bustillo, College Liaison Librarians at University College Dublin Library, at the CONUL Annual Conference held on May 30-31, 2018 in Galway, Ireland.
5. New Research Paradigm
➔What activities do
students undertake
when assigned an
essay, assignment or
project?
➔What do academic staff
define as good student
research?
Foster & Gibbons, 2007
6. Ethnographic & User
Experience Research
Methods
➔Academic Interviews
➔Customer Journey Map
Workshop (Students)
➔Photo Diaries
➔Student Interviews
7. Team Approach
Dr Marta Bustillo
Jenny Collery
Dr Amanda Doran
Avril Patterson
Client Services &
College Liaison
Team
16. Academic Interviews
Mid-April to early May 2018
N = 9
Academics across all six colleges in UCD: Arts & Humanities, Business, Engineering &
Architecture, Health & Agricultural Sciences, Science, Social Sciences & Law
Team: Jenny Collery, Amanda Doran, James Molloy, Carmel Norris, Maolsheachlann
O'Ceallaigh, Diarmuid Stokes, Marta Bustillo
17. The rationale….
We want to find out what
students do when carrying
out research and also what
academics expect them to
do in order to plan library
services that successfully
meet users’ needs
18. 8 questions….
1. Do you teach undergraduate or postgraduate
modules?
2. What would you say are the hallmarks of a good
quality assignment?
3. How do you expect students to find information for
their assignments? What steps would you expect
them to take in undertaking this work?
4. What sources do you expect them to use? Do you find
that they use these sources?
19. 8 questions….
5. What are the common pitfalls you have found in how
students undertake research for their assignments?
6. What “stumbling blocks” do you see that your
students face in producing good quality assignments?
7. Do students receive any instruction or tutorials on how
to embark on research for their assignments?
8. In what way could the library assist your students to
develop the research skills needed for academic
assignments /research and improve their academic
performance?
21. I moved away from
the reading list only
to come back to it,
but I don’t want to
be too stuck to the
reading list at the
same time, too
prescriptive
I would say it’s well
researched, first of all... I
mean that it shows careful
evidence of reading of the
primary text[s] as well as
the secondary material. It’s
well argued and supported
with primary and
secondary evidence
I would tend to recommend either
Google Scholar, Science Direct ... also the
Web of Science ... at least from my
perspective you can pick up about 80 %
of what you want to find there…. as a
search engine
22. Actually the
resources are
really
good...sometimes
it’s hard to find
them on the
website
How often do I use
the library? For
accessing texts, yes
occasionally, but for
literature everything
is done online and I
think that is what
most students would
say as well
23. I put up links
to all the
library
videos
The library
connecting with
the lecturers
more to say ‘this
is what we have’
24. Preliminary themes of interest
Different set of expectations depending on the level of the modules,
from first year undergrad to MA or PhD
Concern over students’ lack of critical thinking skills and the fact
that they read less
Academics designing their own information skills training for their
students, using library resources
Lack of awareness of library resources
Need for a programme based, coordinated approach to information
skills training, with Colleges and the Library working together
26. The interviews were a great tool to start
conversations with academics about student
training in information skills
Academics’ expectations of student assignments
are not necessarily centred on the Library
There was a clear gap between students’ and
academics’ perceptions of what was expected - can
the Library bridge this gap?
Transcribing and coding the interviews takes
longer than initially planned!
28. Bibliography
American Libraries Association (2008) Academic Libraries in the United States - Statistical
Trends. Available at: http://www.ala.org/research/librarystats/academic/academiclibraries
(Accessed: 15 November 2016).
Dinkins, D. and Ryan, S. M. (2010) 'Measuring Referrals: The Use of Paraprofessionals at the
Reference Desk', The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(4), pp. 279-286.
Dunne, S. (2016) 'How Do They Research? An Ethnographic Study of Final Year Undergraduate Research
Behavior in an Irish University', New Review of Academic Librarianship, 22(4), pp. 410-429.
Flick, U. (2014) The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis. London: SAGE.
Foster, N. F. and Gibbons, S. L. (eds.) (2007) Studying students: The undergraduate research
project at the University of Rochester: Association of College and Research Libraries.
Gibbons, S. (2013) 'Techniques to understand the changing needs of library users', IFLA Journal,
39(2), pp. 162-167.
Hockey, J. M. (2016) 'Transforming library enquiry services: anywhere, anytime, any device',
Library Management, 37(3), pp. 125-135.
Leavy, P. (2015) The Oxford handbook of qualitative research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McLaughlin, J. E. (2015) 'Focus on User Experience: Moving from a Library-Centric Point of View',
Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 20(1-2), pp. 33-60.
Peters, T. (2015) 'Taking librarians off the desk: one library changes its reference desk staffing
model', Performance Measurement and Metrics, 16(1), pp. 18-27.
Ryan, S. M. (2008) 'Reference Transactions Analysis: The Cost-Effectiveness of Staffing a
Traditional Academic Reference Desk', The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34(5), pp. 389-399.
Saldana, J. (2015) The coding manual for qualitative researchers. 3rd edn. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Stevens, C. R. (2013) 'Reference Reviewed and Re-Envisioned: Revamping Librarian and Desk-Centric
Services with LibStARs and LibAnswers', Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(2), pp. 202-214.