Abstract
Hege Library at Guilford College has been engaged in a set of planning activities funded by an LSTA grant from the State Library of North Carolina. Through these planning activities, the library hired a consultant to administer a learning behaviors survey to help align library services with the College’s upcoming Strategic Long Range Plan for 2011-2015.
This presentation will discuss how the library administered a “Learning Behaviors Survey” for Guilford College with the goal of better understanding the existing learning geography of its campus and the place of the library in that geography. The Learning Behaviors Survey looked at 12 learning behaviors taken from the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) and studied the cross-section of the types of learning behaviors that Guilford College students value and asked the question of where on campus are these learning behaviors taking place. By taking this approach, the library was able to take an initial planning process that was geared towards planning for space allocation and expand its scope to look at what types of learning environments users value most highly and if the library is providing that type of environment.
I will discuss how the survey was administered, the results, and how data on user behavior can influence a variety of planning activities including space planning, information literacy, non-traditional library services such as ePortfolio support, library discovery tools, and strategic long-range planning.
The objective of this session will be to generate discussion on what types of user data are being collected by libraries, how it is being used to affect short- and long-term planning for libraries, and what this means for both assessment and determining the value of library services. Audience participants will be asked to share their experiences in collecting user data and how it is currently being applied to short and long-term planning processes in their libraries.
Attendees will benefit by discussing the changing nature of statistics and data on users and user behavior and its applicability in the current assessment and planning environment for libraries.
Moving Toward the User-Centered Library: Learning Behaviors and Their Impact on Library Planning
Hege Library at Guilford College has been engaged in a set of planning activities funded by an LSTA grant from the State Library of North Carolina. Through these planning activities, the library hired a consultant to administer a learning behaviors survey to help align library services with the College’s upcoming Strategic Long Range Plan for 2011-2015.
This presentation will discuss how the library administered a “Learning Behaviors Survey” for Guilford College with the goal of better understanding the existing learning geography of its campus and the place of the library in that geography. The Learning Behaviors Survey looked at 12 learning behaviors taken from the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) and studied the cross-section of the types of learning behaviors that Guilford College students value and asked the question of where on campus are these learning behaviors taking place. By taking this approach, the library was able to take an initial planning process that was geared towards planning for space allocation and expand its scope to look at what types of learning environments users value most highly and if the library is providing that type of environment.
I will discuss how the survey was administered, the results, and how data on user behavior can influence a variety of planning activities including space planning, information literacy, non-traditional library services such as ePortfolio support, library discovery tools, and strategic long-range planning.
The objective of this session will be to generate discussion on what types of user data are being collected by libraries, how it is being used to affect short- and long-term planning for libraries, and what this means for both assessment and determining the value of library services. Audience participants will be asked to share their experiences in collecting user data and how it is currently being applied to short and long-term planning processes in their libraries.
Attendees will benefit by discussing the changing nature of statistics and data on users and user behavior and its applicability in the current assessment and planning environment for libraries.