Abstract
In 2010, librarians at IWU's The Ames Library embarked on a multi‐year collection review process. This is an evaluation and prioritization project for assessing and building our collection as a whole. Our purpose is to not only evaluate what we have now, but also identify what resources, in which formats, best support student learning. The centerpiece of the review is one‐on‐one interviews conducted by librarians with each full‐time faculty member in their liaison subject areas/departments. We asked faculty to reflect on how our collections (in all formats, including electronic) meet their pedagogical needs and support student research, as a way of helping us improve our decision‐making about our collections and anticipate future needs. This presentation will focus on what questions we asked our faculty, what we learned from the interviews, and how these data inform a number of collection-related initiatives (including a long‐overdue weeding project, an assessment of our materials fund allocation practices, and revision of our collection development policy), as well as our information literacy program. The audience will be asked for their observations about the questions asked of faculty and suggestions for additional ways that these data can be used.
Getting to the Heart of the Matter: What Faculty Tell Us about How Our Collections Support Student Learning
In 2010, librarians at IWU's The Ames Library embarked on a multi‐year collection review process. This is an evaluation and prioritization project for assessing and building our collection as a whole. Our purpose is to not only evaluate what we have now, but also identify what resources, in which formats, best support student learning. The centerpiece of the review is one‐on‐one interviews conducted by librarians with each full‐time faculty member in their liaison subject areas/departments. We asked faculty to reflect on how our collections (in all formats, including electronic) meet their pedagogical needs and support student research, as a way of helping us improve our decision‐making about our collections and anticipate future needs. This presentation will focus on what questions we asked our faculty, what we learned from the interviews, and how these data inform a number of collection-related initiatives (including a long‐overdue weeding project, an assessment of our materials fund allocation practices, and revision of our collection development policy), as well as our information literacy program. The audience will be asked for their observations about the questions asked of faculty and suggestions for additional ways that these data can be used.