Notes from Meeting with members of SLAC (& Xin Lee & Gerald Beasley)

PSEC Instruction Attendees:  Mary Ochs, Kelee Pacion, Kelly LaVoice, Gaby Castro (Note-taker)

• 13 SLAC students attended – mix of UG and GR students
• We posed three initial questions (below) to get their reactions and feedback.

What makes library instructions effective and what doesn’t?

1. Has a librarian ever come into one of your courses? 

• 6 students had a librarian come to their class

2. Did the librarian’s session help you with your assignment or to succeed in your course?

• Experiences:
  • ALI- Chemistry Student - had 2 instances: one as lower level UG and later as upper level.  Both were helpful and geared to introduction and more advance software /database use for Chemistry students.
  • No one reported having to sit through 2 instruction session in two different courses that covered the same things.
  • Entomology club benefited from Sarah Kennedy's liaising activities to RMC; not a class per se, but student reported finding it very valuable interaction in a more informal context – personalized.  When asked if librarians were too formal, student reported no... it just so happened that this was an out of class activity.
  • Several students reported librarians came to their FWS twice, the latter time when they were writing their paper and found it very useful.
  • SUGGESTION:  The suggestion is to make some library instruction broader.   Background: Library instruction sessions are too focused on one subject, and the knowledge acquired is not as easily transferred to other subjects.  Student was referring to focus on Art HIstory was not useful when when she needed information relating to sciences in another course, for example. 

3. What is one thing you wished you had learned about the library early in your academic career that you didn't learn until your junior or senior year?

• SUGGESTION: Awareness about access to resources; need better advertising that students at CU have access to scientific articles (and other sources) for FREE.
• SUGGESTION: Passkey - need to advertize better and more...   Back story was that student spent one Thanksgiving on campus because he didn't know he could access resources from home. (!!)
• SUGGESTION: Rebrand passkey?  Library to go?
• SUGGESTION:  Could the library send a pre-holiday reminder about :  Resources available off campus (passkey); use of Lynda.com for brushing up on software knowledge.
• SUGGESTION;  Analysis of chat transactions provided to CU students by non-CU librarians; apparently not all experiences have been helpful.

4. How can we make you aware of library instruction sessions? or how to request library instruction sessions?

• SUGGESTION:  reach out to head of student clubs that could distribute info to their members; or talk to director of campus activities.
  
  

5. Have any of you attended workshops offered by the library?   How did you find out about them? What would you like to see be taught in workshops?  Would you prefer in-person workshops/instruction or online tutorials?

• Found out about workshops via Email, posters on the wall within the library, screens in Dyson and other buildings.
• SUGGESTIONS for Workshop Topics:
  • software: Latex or other programming languages (made suggestion to student to look into Lynda.com)
    
  • how to do archival research
  • how to write a scientific paper... especially useful for thesis writers, international or English as a second language speakers.
    
• SUGGESTIONS for Timing of Workshops
  • evenings or time after 4:30pm  (current schedules often conflict with athletic training)
• SUGGESTIONS for distribution (online vs in-person)
  
  • mabye record workshops... that would be helpful, but not a substitute for human interaction.
  • Make available online via You Tube or BB
  • Question posed about the idea of a collective development of tutorials with other Ivy league institutions?  Students responded yes, as long as the topics are relevant.