SAGE undergrad scholarship: enriching longitudinal research in the information-seeking behaviours and skills development of undergraduate students - Wallnutt
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The SAGE Undergrad Scholarship provides a three-year, £3,000 bursary to three social science students at the University of Sussex. Through blogging, surveys, and focus groups, the scholars provide insight into students' information needs and skills development. Their feedback has highlighted preferences for print textbooks and challenges with eBooks, the importance of digital resources like YouTube, and needs around referencing support and accessing core readings. In response, the library has enhanced its information literacy teaching, digital skills programming, and online resources. Plans include further student shadowing and focus groups to continue improving services.
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SAGE undergrad scholarship: enriching longitudinal research in the information-seeking behaviours and skills development of undergraduate students - Wallnutt
- 1. SAGE Undergrad Scholarship: Enriching longitudinal research in the information-seeking behaviours and skills development of undergraduate students. Claire Wallnutt Academic Services Supervisor @ University of Sussex Library
- 2. What is the SAGE scholarship? ❏ Three-year scholarship programme ❏ 3 social science undergraduate students recruited ❏ £3,000 bursary spread over three years, funded by SAGE Publications.
- 4. Background Context “This initiative will be invaluable in helping us better understand the development of student research skills, changing student behaviour, and understand ways in which we can better support librarian and student needs.” - Clive Parry, Vice President, Global Marketing, SAGE
- 5. Background Context ❏ Scholarship established in 2013 ❏ Partnership between SAGE Publications and The Library at UoS ❏ Now on its second “generation” of scholars
- 7. Alex (Aly) Davie ❏ 2nd year student, studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management.
- 8. Andre Clacken-Lewin ❏ 2nd year student, studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography.
- 9. Oliver (Ollie) Pearson ❏ 2nd year student, studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.
- 10. Scholars’ Roles
- 11. Blogging
- 12. Vlogging Image credit: University of Sussex Library
- 14. Surveys
- 16. Presenting Image credit: University of Sussex Library
- 17. Presenting Image credit: http://go.talis.com/talis-insight-europe-2017-sage-student-scholars
- 19. Library Events
- 20. My Role
- 21. My role ❏ Manage the day-to-day running of the scholarship ❏ Liaise with SAGE’s Marketing Manager throughout the academic year, providing updates and coordinating content.
- 22. My role ❏ First point of contact for the scholars ❏ Facilitate bi-monthly meetings with scholars ❏ Support scholars in their activities
- 23. Challenges
- 24. Challenges: ❏ Small cohort - not always representative ❏ Competing for scholars’ time and attention ❏ Balancing content that is beneficial to SAGE and the Library, while of interest to the students
- 25. Rewards
- 26. Rewards: ❏ Building relationships with our students ❏ Publicity for the library among current UoS students and industry peers ❏ Access to student networks for surveys, focus groups, etc.
- 27. Rewards: ❏ Unprecedented insight into undergraduate students’ information seeking behaviours...
- 28. Key Observations
- 30. “I usually prefer to use traditional textbooks. I often feel lost scrolling through an eBook, whereas I feel at home flicking through a real book. I dislike looking at screens for hours at a time.” - Ollie Pearson, SAGE Student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2018/02/14/study-resources-digital-vs-traditional/
- 32. “The majority of my eBooks are a nightmare to read due to the website not seeming to “fit” on my laptop screen no matter how much I zoom out.” - Aly Davie, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/05/12/talis-conference-talk-a-reflection/
- 33. “The format in which eBooks are presented needs to be altered. It is not pleasant for any student to spend hours working out how to use the book and getting a headache just from looking at the screen.” - Aly Davie, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/05/12/talis-conference-talk-a-reflection/
- 34. “They all thought it was hard to highlight sections of the books, and that information went in better when using a physical copy. The eBooks also gave students headaches and hurt their eyes after long periods of time.” - Student Focus Group Observations http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/06/26/focus-group-learning-resources/
- 36. “Often for students in their final two years, their attitudes tend to change slightly as the benefits of eBooks slowly outweigh the costs. This is often due to how normalized staring at a screen of words has become.” - Aly Davie, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/05/12/talis-conference-talk-a-reflection/
- 37. “I am now understanding the hype around e-books as it seems with each year of university the books get more expensive and bigger too.” - Aly Davie, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/10/20/uni-starting-second-year/
- 39. “My entire study life relies on the internet and using digital devices… I study in environments not surrounded by books - books are disappearing from my studies altogether.” - Eva Britten Snell, 1st generation SAGE student http://go.talis.com/talis-insight-europe-2017-sage-student-scholars
- 40. “As much as I love a physical book, a very busy schedule means having online access to your readings, feels like a blessing. Because when you finally get a free moment, you have everything you need.” - Andre Clacken-Lewin, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/10/31/second-year-shock/
- 41. Digital resources role in supporting learning
- 42. “...all participants use videos to aid their studies, which all found on YouTube. Students also said a series of short videos would be easier for revision and referring back to when looking for a specific topic.” - Student Focus Group Observations http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/06/26/focus-group-learning-resources/
- 43. “I find YouTube videos are an engaging way of understanding both overviews of topics and specific details. For example, Andy Field’s channel.” - Ollie Pearson, SAGE studenthttp://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/11/24/5-great-resources-for-psychology-assessments/
- 44. “There has been an increase in the amount of videos we have been watching as part of the readings for the week… it is a breath of fresh air to be using resources other than book.” - Aly Davie, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/10/20/uni-starting-second-year/
- 46. “You expect to find yourself looking towards the second term with a new found confidence: you’ve been taught the resilience needed to scroll through an unimaginable number of pages from a Google Scholar search.” - Jade Fitzgerald, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/02/07/a-learning-process/
- 47. “My essay quest always begins with what I would say are two of the most useful resources available, Google Scholar and Library Search. Google scholar offers you the most relevant books, journals and scholarly articles in relation to your search, perfect for referencing.” - Andre Clacken-Lewin, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/02/07/998/
- 48. “It (information) is reliable if their tutor has recommended it, if it says that it has been peer reviewed and just from knowing the website it is from e.g. Google Scholar.” - student focus group observations http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2014/04/02/student-forum/
- 50. “Users of textbooks complained that there’s always a shortage of textbooks around exam time.” - Student Focus Group Observationshttp://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2014/04/02/student-forum/
- 51. “One book in particular was a real pain to get a hold of… on a course with 65 students, we had 7 books available. Finding this book was like finding a rare Pokémon.” - Andre Clacken-Lewin, SAGE studenthttp://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/11/16/the-assessment-approach/
- 52. “Students find... the shorter opening times at the weekends annoying and the shortage of computers at busy times of the day difficult. To improve the library, students suggested having an area where hot drinks can be consumed.” - Student Focus Group Observationshttp://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2014/04/02/student-forum/
- 53. Referencing
- 54. “I am not the best at referencing. Until now I have never had to reference my work, or if I did, I didn’t. So going into an essay and not having much guidance was a very big challenge for me.” - Aly Davie, SAGE student http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/02/09/how-to-using-resources/
- 55. “It does sometimes feel like referencing is impossible to get your head around, and I’m facing it more and more as the year goes on.” - Jade Fitzgerald, SAGE studenthttp://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/04/26/personalised-learning/
- 56. “Many felt they needed advice on… using specific referencing styles to their faculty.” - Student survey results 2017 http://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/sagestudents/2017/03/03/survey-results-no-pre-arrival-reading-received/
- 59. ❏ IL Teaching programme redeveloped in September 2017, having consulted ACRL’s Framework, Sussex’s ADQE guidance, and OFQUAL descriptors. ❏ IL workshops tailored to specific student cohorts e.g. undergraduate 1st years
- 61. 3 times as many IL workshops run in the 17/18 academic year, than the previous year.
- 63. Every Tuesday 12-12.45pm The Library Open Learning Space
- 65. “It's nice that you are organising such things :)” - Fake News “Great session - really informative and interesting” - Blogging “I will use these straight away” - Digital Productivity “Keep up the good work, thank you!” - Digital Productivity 2 “really useful” - Referencing Tools Feedback from “Digital Tuesdays” attendees
- 66. DIGITAL DISCOVERY WEEK ❏ one week in Autumn term ❏ open to both students and staff ❏ mix of events and workshops, including: photoshop, podcasting, data mining, etc
- 74. 10 additional hours of 1- 2-1 reading list training for academics and tutors delivered in 17/18, compared to 16/17.
- 77. Library Services
- 82. Plans for this year ❏ Student shadowing days ❏ Student focus group ❏ Expand our reference management workshops for students, and online support in this area
- 83. Plans for the future ❏ increase the number of online reading lists available to students ❏ Make core textbooks simultaneously available to as many students as possible ❏ 3rd generation of scholars...
- 84. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Slide 1: Title Slide Hello and welcome - my name is Claire Wallnutt, I’m an academic services supervisor at the University of Sussex, in East Sussex. I’m going to talk to you today about the SAGE undergraduate scholarship Programme at the University, and how it has and is enriching our understanding of students’ information seeking behaviour.
- Slide 2: What is the SAGE scholarship? It’s a bursary programme, allowing the longitudinal study of three social science students over the course of their undergraduate degrees. The students are paid a total of 3,000 pounds for their participation in the programme, which is funded by SAGE publications. The objective is to enrich both SAGE and the library’s research of undergraduates’ information-seeking behaviours and academic skill set, and crucially – how they develop over three years.
- Applicants asked for: A blog-style post reflecting on your academic induction to Sussex (max 500 words). –Tell us why you think you would make a good SAGE Undergraduate Scholar (max 300 words) –A copy of their CV
- Slide 4: Background Context The undergraduate scholarship programme was borne out of an existing partnership between SAGE publications and the University of Sussex Library. In 2013 the Library and SAGE partnered to build a research space for PGR students at the university, which linked to a one year scholarship with PGRs. The programme was so successful, it was expanded to undergraduates. The first generation of SAGE students began in 2013, and we are now in our second generation.
- Applicants asked for: A blog-style post reflecting on your academic induction to Sussex (max 500 words). –Tell us why you think you would make a good SAGE Undergraduate Scholar (max 300 words) –A copy of their CV Slide 6: Meet the SAGE scholars title slide We are now in our second generation of the scholarship. So meet the current SAGE students
- Slide 10: Scholars’ Role But what do the scholars actually do?
- Slide 11: Blogging Each week, scholars write individual reflective blog posts documenting their opinions and personal experiences on a range of topic areas, including literature searching, preparatory reading, digital skills, and resources for study, for example.
- Slide 12: Vlogging The students have very recently starting vlogging, as this is a medium students are gravitating toward more than before - more on that later...
- Slide 13: Gathering Peer Feedback Scholars play an important role in the organisation and oversight of a range of library events, including student focus groups and surveys. The promotion by and involvement of the scholars affords the library outreach to an established student network of classmates and peer groups. Direct scholar participation has positively affected the numbers of students engaging with such events, affording the library a greater representative number of student perspectives and feedback, and a greater insight into undergraduates" academic skill-sets.
- Slide 14: Surveys To date, the scholars have run 5 surveys, one for each academic year, surveying students’ pre-arrival reading preparation. This is a screenshot of one of last year’s survey results.
- Slide 15: Student Focus Groups They have also run a number of student focus groups, in order to gain insight into the information resources students are using, and their information seeking behaviours. Screenshot from last year’s undergraduate student focus group, which was conducted by the SAGE students
- Slide 16: Presenting The students feed back to SAGE’s marketing and editorial team. The scholars present at SAGE’s office annually, on what they have been writing and working on for that year, feedbacking back on focus group results, thoughts, etc. It’s an opportunity for SAGE to meet with the students in-person, and pick their brains so to speak.
- Slide 17: Presenting The students are also afforded opportunities to present at industry conferences and events. Most recently, Aly and Eva SAGE students presented a keynote at the Talis Insight conference, entitled: “Digital through students’ eyes”, where they spoke about their opinions on the shift toward the digitisation of education.
- Slide 18: Social Media The students have affiliated social media accounts for the programme as a means of keeping communication open between them and their peers, promoting new blog posts, events and surveys. You’ll find them @sagestudents on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
- Slide 19: Library events Shut up and write event coming up in May, which the students will be facilitating.
- So as you can see, we keep the students fairly busy, and there is quite a lot to oversee and manage. That’s where my role comes in. I manage the day-to-day running of the scholarship, liaising with SAGE’s marketing manager and ensuring the programme is running as effectively as it should for both the library and SAGE. We meet at the start of each academic year to plan a schedule for that year - what blog topics we would like covered, what research we would like to cover, what worked well last year, etc.
- Slide 22: My Role I’m also the first point of contact for the students. We have a facebook messenger group which we use as our main point of contact - students are not great at checking and responding to emails! I meet with the students a couple of times a month, as a check-in to ensure they are supported and guided, and are keeping up with the responsibilities of the bursary. As you can guess this brings with it a certain number of challenges…
- Slide 24: Challenges title Small cohort - not always representative of all undergraduate students Constantly competing for scholars’ time and attention. They’re not the best time-keepers, and often hard to get a hold of Balancing content that is beneficial to SAGE and the Library, while of interest to the students.
- Slide 25: Rewards title slide But the rewards far outweigh the challenges. The programme helps us to…
- Slide 26: Rewards Building relationships with our students Publicity for the library among current UoS students and industry peers, through channels like these today. Access to student networks for surveys, focus groups, etc.
- Slide 27: Rewards But ultimately the greatest reward is the unprecedented insight into undergraduate students’ information seeking behaviours… speaking of which… there have been a number of key observations this programme has afforded us. The first, is the age old argument of digital versus print… in particular ebooks and print books.
- Slide 29: Textbooks: Digital versus Print title slide The first, is the age old argument of digital versus print… in particular ebooks and print books.
- This quote is taken from a recent post (Dec 2017) about study resources digital versus traditional, in which Ollie remarks “I usually prefer to use traditional textbooks. I often feel lost scrolling through an eBook, whereas I feel at home flicking through a real book. I dislike looking at screens for hours at a time.” The preference for print over digital in undergraduates often comes back to their readability on screen. This is something we have seen our other SAGE scholars touch on, and not is unique to just Ollie.
- Slide 31: Twitter quote from student at Talis talk This quote is taken from the Twitter feed during the SAGE students’ keynote presentation at the Talis Insight Conference last year, during which our SAGE student Aly, noted:
- Slide 32: Quote from Aly on eBooks readability “The majority of my eBooks are a nightmare to read due to the website not seeming to “fit” on my laptop screen no matter how much I zoom out.” She also spoke about the common issue with eBook functionality...
- Slide 33: Quote from Aly on eBooks functionality “The format in which eBooks are presented needs to be altered. It is not pleasant for any student to spend hours working out how to use the book and getting a headache just from looking at the screen.”
- Slide 34: Quote from student focus group last April As I mentioned, this is not the unique opinions of our SAGE students. This quote is taken from a blog post on a student focus group: “They all thought it was hard to highlight sections of the books, and that information went in better when using a physical copy. The eBooks also gave students headaches and hurt their eyes after long periods of time.”
- Slide 35: Twitter quote from Talis conference attendee “It keeps coming back to usability.” This is another quote is taken from the Twitter feed during the SAGE students’ keynote presentation at the Talis Insight Conference last year. It keeps coming back to usability. Interestingly, undergraduates attitudes toward ebooks change as they progress through their degree. Something that was noted in the students’ Talis keynote.
- Slide 36: Quote from Talis Insight Keynote “Often for students in their final two years, their attitudes tend to change slightly as the benefits of eBooks slowly outweigh the costs. This is often due to how normalized staring at a screen of words has become.” This is another quote from a recent blog post written by Aly, who in first year it is safe to say detested eBooks.
- Slide 37: Quote from Aly on shifting preferences “I am now understanding the hype around e-books as it seems with each year of university the books get more expensive and bigger too.”
- Slide 38: Quote Twitter at Talis Insight Conference Again, we are learning that this is a similar experience for other students. This is a quote from a student posted in response to Aly and Eva’s Keynote at Talis Insight. This is a recurring topic in many of the scholars’ posts, as the following quotes taken from 2nd year posts demonstrate:
- Slide 39: Quote from Eva on books disappearing “My entire study life relies on the internet and using digital devices… I study in environments not surrounded by books - books are disappearing from my studies altogether.”
- Slide 40: Quote from Andre “As much as I love a physical book, a very busy schedule means having online access to your readings, feels like a blessing. Because when you finally get a free moment, you have everything you need.”
- Slide 42: Technology’s role in supporting learning title So while undergraduate students may not like reading on screen, it doesn’t stop them turning to digital technology for learning support. I mentioned earlier that our students have started vlogging. This came from the knowledge that students are turning to online video content to support their studies…
- Slide 43: Quote from student focus group analysis “...all participants use videos to aid their studies, which all found on YouTube. Students also said a series of short videos would be easier for revision and referring back to when looking for a specific topic.”
- Slide 44: Quote from Ollie’s post in Dec 2017 “I find YouTube videos are an engaging way of understanding both overviews of topics and specific details. For example, Andy Field’s channel.” It’s not just the students using videos to support their learning. Lecturers are embedding video content into their curriculum too.
- Slide 45: Quote from Aly on her coursework this year “There has been an increase in the amount of videos we have been watching as part of the readings for the week… it is a breath of fresh air to be using resources other than book.”
- Slide 47: Information-seeking behaviours title But what about searching for traditional academic information resources? Unsurprisingly, Google Scholar still reigns supreme among our undergraduates.
- Slide 48: Quote from Jade on searching - Google Scholar “You expect to find yourself looking towards the second term with a new found confidence: you’ve been taught the resilience needed to scroll through an unimaginable number of pages from a Google Scholar search.” This quote taken from a post written in our student’s first year would suggest that students are not refining searches or filtering their results appropriately.
- Slide 49: Quote from Andre - Google Scholar It would appear that scrolling through an “unimaginable number of results” doesn’t deter our students in 2nd year, as this quote demonstrates: “My essay quest always begins with what I would say are two of the most useful resources available, Google Scholar and Library Search. Google scholar offers you the most relevant books, journals and scholarly articles in relation to your search, perfect for referencing.”
- Slide 50: Student focus group a couple of years ago From focus group observations, it appears that Google Scholar is thought of as a trustworthy source of high quality information… “It (information) is reliable if their tutor has recommended it, if it says that it has been peer reviewed and just from knowing the website it is from e.g. Google Scholar.”
- Slide 51: Library Services: Student Feedback title One of the reasons students may gravitate to online resources is the struggle with accessing physical print resources...
- Slide 52: Quote from student focus group observations 2015 This quote is from a student focus group observations blog post in 2014: “Users of textbooks complained that there’s always a shortage of textbooks around exam time.”
- Slide 53: Quote from Andre This was echoed again as recently as 2017: “One book in particular was a real pain to get a hold of… on a course with 65 students, we had 7 books available. Finding this book was like finding a rare Pokémon.”
- Slide 54: Quote from student focus group observations 1st gen scholars But when the lucky few did get their hands on textbooks, our library service was falling short, as this feedback from student focus group in 2014 highlights. “Students find... the shorter opening times at the weekends annoying and the shortage of computers at busy times of the day difficult. To improve the library, students suggested having an area where drink hot drinks can be consumed.”
- Slide 55: Referencing title slide And when they’ve managed to borrow relevant textbooks, navigated Google Scholar, found a place in the library to write their essay they still have a final hurdle to overcome… referencing.
- Slide 56: Quote from Aly on referencing “I am not the best at referencing. Until now I have never had to reference my work, or if I did, I didn’t. So going into an essay and not having much guidance was a very big challenge for me.”
- Slide 57: Quote from Jade on referencing “It does sometimes feel like referencing is impossible to get your head around, and I’m facing it more and more as the year goes on.”
- Slide 58: student survey observation 2017 “Many felt they needed advice on… using specific referencing styles to their faculty.”
- Slide 59: What have we done with this knowledge? Title slide So it’s clear to see there are many areas that we can - and I’m happy to say we have improved and expand our support for our students. Over the last number of years we have implemented a number of key actions. Tailored IL pedagogy to specific cohort student groups Expanded the number of IL skills sessions on offer to students, both in number and content. Run specific "digital skills" workshops for students, in collaboration with our TEL colleagues Reading lists - increase in lists Library services improvements for user experience
- tailor the IL support and services it currently offers to the wider student population. Examples of this include the library"s Learning and Teaching Support team reshaping its practice of IL teaching, tailoring IL pedagogy to specific cohort student groups e.g. undergraduate first years
- Slide 61: teaching sessions stat The qualitative insights gleaned from the 1st and 2nd generation SAGE scholars demonstrates that students’ use of information resources and their overall information seeking behaviour develops with each academic year. Undergraduates are more likely to use Library Search and Google Scholar in addition to core textbooks for assignments in first year, and not advance to using subject specific databases until second or even third year. In the last year, the library’s Learning and Teaching Support team have reshaped its practice of IL teaching, based on the ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for higher education, to reflect the students’ natural skills progression. IL workshops are now tailored to specific student cohorts e.g. undergraduate first years, rather than previous format of workshops trying to be “all things to all people”.
- Slide 62: Increase in IL workshops title slide It’s clear that students need direction and support in developing their academic searching skills, and understanding the resources the library offers.
- Slide 63: stats To provide more opportunities for this, the learning and teaching support team increased the number of literature searching workshops available to students throughout the academic year. In 2017/2018 to date we have run 20 workshops, addressing a range of information literacy skills. That’s an increase on the 6 sessions we ran last year. 3 times as many information literacy workshops than 2016/2017.
- Slide 64: Digital Skills Programmes title slide It’s clear from our student blog posts that there is a definite shift toward the digitisation of education, and it’s important that we provide relevant digital literacy programmes to support our students’ development of digital skills. In tandem with the technology enhanced learning and careers and employability colleagues, the library runs a digital skills programme for students.
- Slide 65: Digital Tuesdays Poster This is an example of some of the workshops we ran this term, some of which were directly influenced by the qualitative data we have gathered, particularly referencing and time management.
- “Students read a lot of news articles online on newspaper websites or the BBC, important articles are often circulated on social media sites such as facebook.”
- The programme was such a success that we are now running a new programme after Easter, focusing on Reference Management Software, Presenting, and Digital Wellbeing.
- Slide 68: Digital Discovery Week Ran for one week in Autumn term, and arranged between the library and our colleagues in Technology Enhanced Learning. The sessions were open to both students and staff, and included a mix of events and workshops, including: photoshop, podcasting, data mining, etc
- Slide 69: Online Skills Support title It was clear from the students’ posts that referencing is a skill that they are struggling to grasp.
- In February 2017 the referencing web pages on Skills Hub were updated, in line with the Cite Them Right 10th edition. Referencing web content updated Existing referencing styles expanded in content and guidance 3 additional referencing styles added
- In February 2017 the referencing web pages on Skills Hub were updated, in line with the Cite Them Right 10th edition. Referencing web content updated Existing referencing styles expanded in content and guidance 3 additional referencing styles added
- Slide 72: Skills Hub screenshot of searching To better support students’ literature searching skills we also updated and restructured our searching support web pages. Overhaul of web pages - layout, content, etc Existing information expanded in content, and new sections added, including video content to take students through step-by-step guides of searching library search.
- 350% increase in visits to the Skills Hub site
- Slides 74: Reading Lists & Resources title Each year the students conduct a pre-arrival reading survey, to gather data on whether students have received an online reading list, they’re book buying behaviours, etc. We’re aiming to improve the student experience by increasing the number of online reading lists at Sussex, - something identified by the pre-arrival surveys as being invaluable to students. This will improve access to the variety of teaching resources required.
- Slides 75: online reading lists stats These statistics represent the increased number of online reading lists from 2016/17 to 2017/18. 18% increase in psychology, 22% in geography, and 57% in business and management.
- Slides 76: 1-2-1 training support for staff in reading lists Our aim is to promote good practice in the weekly structure of lists and the prioritisation of resources, so that students are not overwhelmed by long bibliographies which don’t signpost levels of importance or specific topics; and they don’t have to blindly “pick out the most important readings to conquer”. (Second Year Shock: OCTOBER 31, 2017 / ANDRE CLACKEN-LEWIN
- Slide 77: modules with eTextbooks stat We appreciate that most students do not want to buy books that are on their reading lists - as identified in the pre-arrival reading surveys, they are seen as ‘too expensive’. We aim to provide students with ETextbooks if they’re on a module of more than 200 students, and the tutor has identified an essential textbook to use. These provide easy, personalised access to the essential text, without having to carry it on and off campus.
- Slide 78: number of students with eTextbook access stat In 2016/2017 it was 1,000, and in 2017/2018 it is 7,500.
- Slide 82: Core Collection tweet Over the last few years, the use of Core books within the Library has increased but actual borrowing of these books has decreased. There has also been a reduction in the number of books added to the Core collection overall, due to the increased availability of ebooks.For these reasons, and after extensive consultation with academics and students, we have decided to make the Core collection a 'Reference only' collection.
- Slide 80: 24 hour opening tweet You may remember that one of the comments mentioned in a student focus group was the negative impact of reduced weekend opening hours, in comparison to weekday opening. This is something that has come up again and again with students, and after successfully trialling 24/7 opening hours during assessment periods, the Library took the decision in September 2017 to extend opening hours to 24/7 throughout the duration of term time.
- Slide 81: Hot drinks tweet Another bug-bare with students was the restrictions on drinks in the library. In December 2017 the library introduced a soft launch of allowing students hot drinks in the library. Again another issue which came up in both focus groups with students through the scholarship, and in other library surveys. Hot drinks are now allowed in reuseable cups with a screw top lid.
- Slide 83: Plans for the Future title So that is what we have done, but what we still have lots planned for the future…
- Slide 84: Plans for the Future Student shadowing days - the marketing manager is hoping to shadow our SAGE student Ollie for a day, attend his lectures and seminars, and gather insight to student’s academic life. We have another student focus group planned for next month Expand our reference management workshops for students, and online support in this area - as I mentioned this will be part of the next “digital Tuesdays programme”
- Slide 85: plans for the future Continue to increase the number of online reading lists available to students Continue to make core textbooks simultaneously available to as many students as possible And recruit a 3rd generation of scholars come 2019...