Presented at LILAC 2016

1. LILAC 2016: Dublin
What a difference a year makes!
400 institutional requests for
information skills interventions
within the curriculum
Elizabeth Newall
Senior Librarian (Teaching & Learning Support)
elizabeth.newall@nottingham.ac.uk | +44 (0)115 82 32236

2. Thursday, March 31, 2016 Event Name and Venue 2
Spring

3. Critical Friends: Bringing Teaching and Learning
Support Teams Together to Define the University
Academic Development Strategy
LILAC: 9 April 2015
Elizabeth Newall
Senior Librarian, Teaching and Learning Support
Libraries, Research and Learning Resources
Ruth Allen
Academic Development Adviser
Teaching and Learning Directorate

4. 3/31/2016 Event Name and Venue 4
Suite launched in May

5. Undergraduate interventions
The suite of information skills interventions for undergraduates is as follows:
1. Engaging with Knowledge: Introducing your University Libraries
2. Resource Discovery: Using Library Collections for your First
Assignment
3. Critical Approaches to Sourcing Information on the Web
4. Extending Use of Library Resources in Independent Research
5. Applying Critical Appraisal to Published Literature
6. Why Reference?
7. Using Reference Management Software
8. Researching Employers
9. Taking Information Skills into Professional Practice

6. 3/31/2016 Event Name and Venue 6
No. 1
Title Engaging with Knowledge: Introducing your University Libraries
Who UG1
When Weeks 1-3 (If your timetable sits outside the standard timetable, e.g. Medicine, please mention
this when booking)
Format Large Group with Facilitated Discussion
Room Lecture Theatre / Seminar room
Duration 1 hour
Session
Overview
In this first interaction with Libraries, Research and Learning Resources, new students will
explore how the library will underpin their University and personal journey. They will see the
connection between the use made of library resources and academic achievement, as well as
how reading for pleasure can support wellbeing. In being introduced to a wide range of research
undertaken at the University of Nottingham, students will make the connection that academic
staff are both the knowledge producers as well as their teachers. Students will be exposed to a
range of scholarly communications accessible within the library’s physical and digital collections,
intended to excite and inspire them, and may even make surprising discoveries along the way!
Students will be signposted to library tours, both physical and virtual, to help them get started in
using the University’s libraries.
Learning
Outcomes
By the end of the session, students should be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding
 (B) consider University libraries as friendly, comfortable and accessible places in which
confidence in making use of library resources can be built;
 (B) recognise how academic research and scholarly literature support university studies;
 (B) appreciate how the library and its resources underpin learning throughout the academic
journey;
 (B) value the skills, time, and effort needed to produce knowledge (ACRL);
 (B) realise that knowledge can be contributed to, as well as consumed (ACRL); and
Professional Practical Skills
 (C) learn how to locate and access material and facilities at UoN libraries.

7. On Course for Your Masters
• Open to all taught postgraduates
• Supports:
– transition to PG study
– engagement with scholarly
resources needed to succeed
– preparation for what comes next
(research degree or employment)
• Meet students from all disciplines and campuses
(China, Malaysia and UK)
• Anytime, anywhere
• Shared learning, peer support

8. Thursday, March 31, 2016 Event Name and Venue 8
Slide one - introduction
• Example line of text
Second level
• Third level
– Fourth level
Summer

9. Initial signs of impact
400 requests by July deadline
13/87 split induction/post-induction

10. 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Pre-session
Week1
Week2
Week3
Week4
Week5
Week6
Week7
Week8
Week9
Week10
Week11
Week12
Week13
Week14
Week15
Week16
Week17
Week18
Distribution of Interventions in
Semester 1
2014/15
2015/16
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
Week19
Week21
Week23
Week25
Week27
Week29
Week31
Week33
Week35
Week37
Week39
Week41
Week43
Week45
Week47
Week49
Week51
Distribution of Interventions in
Semester 2 (and rest of year)
2014/15
2015/16
A shifting pattern

11. Teaching and Learning Support Team
Libraries, Research & Learning Resources
B34IP2, B34IPS (Pharmacy)
Taking information skills into
professional practice

12. Thursday, March 31, 2016 Event Name and Venue 12
Slide one - introduction
• Example line of text
Second level
• Third level
– Fourth level
Autumn

13. Week 1

14. Week 7

15. Thursday, March 31, 2016 Event Name and Venue 15
Slide one - introduction
• Example line of text
Second level
• Third level
– Fourth level
Winter

16. Impact headlines
Numbers in attendance:
• 11,896 student attendances/enrolments in semester 1
(17% increase from 2014/15)
• 13,322 by end of February
• 1,167 in NOOC, ‘On Course for Your Masters’
Point of exit surveys:
“With the vast majority of the responses stating that the students felt at
least ‘slightly more confident’, with ‘much more confident’ being the
second most frequently selected answer, there is no doubt that the
sessions were an invaluable addition to the students’ curriculum.”
Commissioned report, January 2016

17. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
PercentageofStudentResponders
Resource Discovery: Using Library Collections for Your First
Assignment
1 - Less confident
2 - About the same
3 - Slightly more confident
4 - Much more confident
Intervention No.2:
Confidence against learning outcomes

18. Case studies: academic staff
“The whole school is getting the same information from someone who
actually knows the [databases] very well. We may know it, but we
may not know it as well…we may know what we do with it, but not
what everyone needs. I think they get much better teaching this way.
Consistency.”
“I think it’s given them more confidence as well in what they’re doing.
And they do get the independence… they are more confident in their
projects now, definitely.”
“…and that kind of experiential learning where they’re actually doing
it, they’ll remember what they did…it’s helpful, particularly to those
that lack confidence because we’ve got a mixed ability group and
students that really struggle…they need as much help and support as
possible with all these underpinning skills.”

19. “It was potentially the most useful 3 hours of my academic career!
It's going to save me a lot of time in future research and essay
writing, and has made me feel much more confident in finding
relevant research systematically”
The last word…