"Greening" the Library Event and Cleanup

Dealing with event waste provides opportunities for examining and changing practices involving single-use materials, especially plastics. Reducing event waste is one way to act on and practice the library's commitment to sustainable library operations. Using the Party Pack (reusable place settings) eliminates the purchase and disposal of single-use plastics

Library Instruction Y/Our Way: Examining Librarian-Developed Stand-Alone Workshops for Student Learning

Background Today’s college students, though stereotyped as technology savvy, still require instruction to develop robust information seeking and management skills. While library instruction at Oregon State University has historically been tied to single-session lectures for individual courses provided upon teaching faculty request, this model ensures that some students receive multiple library instruction sessions over the course of their program while others receive none. OSU teaching librarians, knowledgeable about the gaps in students’ information seeking skills and motivated to meet students’ instruction needs outside of the traditional model, offered a series of course-independent, stand-alone library information skills workshops in AY 2012. Methods Librarians developed four workshops addressing topics that are often overlooked in course-based workshops or are cursorily addressed given the need to cover multiple topics in a single library session: the research process (big picture), citation searching, copyright/fair use and citation management tools. Each session was offered multiple times (different times/days) in each of three terms. Students completed post-session feedback forms. In Spring 2012, all Fall/Winter attendees were surveyed to gather qualitative evidence of student learning. Results 124 unique students attended 37 workshop sessions offered in Fall 2011/Winter 2012. Majors represented included 49 academic departments though Biochemistry/Biophysics,Biology and English predominated. 35% of Winter 2012 attendees had never received library instruction at OSU or elsewhere. While partnerships with some academic programs resulted in students’ required attendance, 32% of Winter 2012 participants attended voluntarily. Survey respondents (n=24) reported that 84% of the workshops attended were relevant to their coursework/projects, and 93% reported learning “some” or “all new” skills. 60% of respondents promoted the workshops they attended to their friends. The Top 3 skills respondents reported acquiring include learning to broadly explore a topic, using relevant databases and using reference lists to develop additional sources. Conclusion This pilot workshop series reached its intended audience - those students with no previous opportunity for library instruction. Attendance patterns indicated that Fall and Winter terms are the most appropriate times to offer library workshops. Relevant workshop content and flexible learning opportunities contributed to workshop attendance. Student self-assessments of learning matched workshop learning outcomes, indicating that selected workshop topics were appropriately chosen and developed. Students’ own words provide evidence of learning and the rationale for continuing the workshop series: “The [citation searching workshop] has helped me on pretty much every research paper I've written for any class since then. Mostly I've used it as I work on my senior research project of land use change in Eastern Oregon.”Poster presented at American Association for the Advancement of Science Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, February 17, 2013.KEYWORDS: student learning, assessment, library instructio

We're listening : using patron feedback to assess and enhance purchase on demand

Oregon State University Libraries piloted a one-year ILL purchase on demand service beginning in February 2009. An online survey was used to measure patron satisfaction and determine future borrowing and recommendation behavior. These results, along with patron comments, were used to explore future success of the service and ways to enhance the permanent service. Results provide context for the success of purchase on demand programs and support the development of innovative tools that increase the efficiency of purchase on demand workflow. Oregon State University Libraries permanently adopted the successful service and is working to incorporate patron input on purchase decisions.Keywords: Buy Request, collection development, interlibrary loan, just-in-time acquisitions, patron-driven acquisitions, patron feedback, purchase on demand, patron satisfaction, patron surve

Composting in Academic Libraries: Navigating the Smooth Seas and the Rocky Shoals

Session attendees will learn from, and engage with, three panelists who have/are planning compost collection programs in their academic libraries. Each program is in a different stage of implementation. Panelists will share their experiences and lessons learned with library composting and user education. Attendees will take away practical steps to initiate their own library composting programs, as well as ideas for library user education

Graduate students' space and service needs report

Graduate students from across all departments at OSU were invited to participate in focus groups to share their insights about current and potential research spaces and services. Themes were created based on the participants’ responses. The space theme clearly points to a desire for graduate student-specific space at OSU, particularly among students in “have-not departments.” Students were interested in a variety of spaces, including private, group study, social and virtual spaces. The services theme revealed that participants desired a range of services and training options from both the library and other departments on campus, as well as better communication about what is currently available. Desired services and resources emphasized rapid delivery of library materials and easy access to a wide range of databases and software programs. Participants wanted training opportunities that included basic orientations to OSU and OSU Libraries (OSUL), software packages, citation management workshops, and thesis writing and formatting. The support, communication and collaboration theme emphasized the need OSU students have to connect with other researchers across disciplines, to be supported within mentoring relationships, and to receive adequate support as GTAs so they can be successful teachers

Graduate student space and service needs: a recommendation for a cross-campus solution

Focus group methodology was used to investigate graduate students' cross-campus technology, space and service needs. Although the library provides valued services and spaces, graduate students need enhanced and more equitable support for their roles as teachers and scholars. Librarians can provide leadership and act as advocates for graduate student needs in partnership with other campus stakeholders.Keywords: Needs Assessment, Graduate Students, Focus Groups, Librarie

The library as learning commons: rethink, reuse, recycle

At Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries, librarians are evaluating the decade-old information commons in the transition to a learning commons. Visits to commons spaces at libraries across the country provided perspective on this transition. This paper describes the development of the OSU Libraries Information Commons, identifies themes from our trips to other commons, and discusses the idea that we need to incorporate the concepts of the commons throughout the library in recognition that wherever our students are in the library becomes their learning commons.Keywords: information commons, learning spaces, learning commons, collaborationKeywords: information commons, learning spaces, learning commons, collaboratio

Academic library staff and e-readers: understanding adoption, rejection, and service development

In August 2011, a cohort of 30 Oregon State University Libraries and Press librarians and staff received free e-readers (Kindle Keyboards, Nook Simple Touches, Kobo Touches, and Sony PRS-350 Reader Pocket Editions) to use and adopt as they wished. In return, they were asked to participate in a year-long study exploring factors influencing their decisions to embrace or reject the e-readers. By removing barriers to trialing e-readers, investigators sought to: 1) understand the difficulties and hurdles encountered when adopting and using an e-reader; 2) explore factors that influenced library faculty and press staff to embrace or reject e-reader technology; and 3) learn if the experience of trialing e-readers would lead to enhanced services. The investigators used Everett M. Rogers’ innovation-decision process as a theoretical framework to analyze participants’ e-reader adoption. Key findings confirm that trialing new technology is crucial to determining if the technology fits an individual’s needs and is necessary to inform the development of library services and professional knowledge.Keywords: innovation-decision process, adoption, rejection, e-reader

OSU Libraries Framework for Teaching Excellence

To help ensure that every library instructor engaged in teaching has the context they need to develop their skills, and to ensure that they can do so in a supportive, collaborative environment, the OSUL Teaching and Engagement Department (TED) has articulated a set of standards for OSUL library instructors. These standards, adapted from the Association of College and Research Libraries Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators 1 provide a framework for goal setting and professional development activities that move all OSUL library instructors toward individual and collective teaching excellence. The document focuses on those standards and proficiencies particularly valued by OSUL library instructors; these include Communication & Outreach, Instructional Design & Assessment, Teaching, Presentation and Leadership

Adapting and Using Instruction Proficiencies to Encourage Reflection, Goal Setting and Professional Development

Librarians at Oregon State University undertook a teaching competency project to lay the foundation for practices that improve teaching by adapting the core teaching proficiencies in the ACRL Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators. This article describes one model for locally adapting those proficiencies, the Oregon State University Libraries (OSUL) Framework for Teaching Excellence. This framework promotes reflection on, goal setting for, and professional development around teaching. The project team utilized a survey to determine the proficiency categories most valued by OSUL instruction librarians. The development and inclusion of context material for each proficiency category included in the OSUL Framework encourages use of the document in the intended way. Also included in the document are specific use guidelines for three stakeholder groups: library faculty with teaching responsibilities, supervisors, and faculty involved in the tenure process