Bsbwor501 Goal 1
Goal 1: Promote library resources and services to wider audience
The Sonoma State University Library has many non-student individuals visiting campus daily who could benefit from the library’s services. For example, a high school is located on the SSU on campus, Oakmont Retirement community members attend free lectures, and neighbors who live nearby visit the campus for its scenery and concerts. Increasing library usage by promoting services to these individuals would have multiple benefits for the SSU library. As more individuals return to the library to use services, more staff are needed to create a stronger, more efficient library team, which also provides jobs for members of the community. Promoting library services to a wider audience …show more content…
will draw more people into the library, which in turn will demonstrate that the library is a good investment.
Strategies. Conduct a survey for existing library patrons to determine which individuals use the library. Once it is understood who currently uses the library, a plan can be determined to attract students or members of the community who are not presently using the library’s services.
● Allocate subject librarians’ hours to work with graduate students and upper class undergraduate students. Sonoma State’s subject librarians currently work with faculty, but would benefit greatly from working closely with their students.
● Plan a regular library tour for any students interested in library services and a specialized tour for students with disabilities.
● Showcase outputs from Makerspaces during information literacy class and K-12 tours.
Assessments. After outreach period, assess the usage of subject librarian services, disabilities services, makerspaces, etc.
Goal 2: Maintain new and up-to-date materials
All members of the library have a better chance of success with obtaining relevant and current information if library materials are properly maintained. The current dean’s desire is to have a university that primarily focuses on students. The library can do this by ensuring texts are recent and shelf space is used by books in circulation to provide the best learning environment.
Strategies. Weed or prune current collections for items that are out of date, have low circulation, or are damaged at the end of each year. Keeping old editions of textbooks and unused materials takes up space that could be used for new materials.
● When funds are available, advocate for additional staffing for archives processing to reduce the volume of unprocessed collections.
● Have the Dean, Director of Technical Services, collection management team, library selectors and faculty actively work together to make selections for the library that will be most beneficial to the collections.
Assessments. Generate and keep track of a report documenting the circulation of printed materials. Weed collections by an agreed-upon date to eliminate old editions of textbooks and texts with no circulation.
● Make less circulated materials accessible through an online database.
● Take weeded books, videos, and magazines and create a sale that benefits the library in sales, and draws foot traffic into the library.
Goal 3: Establish ongoing staff-development and library-wide communications plans that include all library employees, professionals, and paraprofessionals in creating and improving library services
Strategies. In her article on Positive Organizational Behavior (POB), Elizabeth Baker articulates numerous benefits of providing ongoing education and training to library staff at all levels, including: improving staff morale by showing staff that they are important to the library leadership; increasing the understanding of employees who help patrons having difficulties with new technologies; helping the library retain qualified personnel while improving their skills; and helping identify employees with growth potential (and helping them meet that potential) (Baker, 2015). “Through proper training and development, the skills and talent of personnel are strengthened and advanced, and employee morale and organizational commitment are boosted and progressed” (Baker, 2015). Communication between all members of the organization is also important. Working environments are improved when trust and optimism are promoted by forming teams and communication channels that work across departments (Luthan & Yousseff, 2004, cited by Baker, 2015). Jackson and Parry cite Messick in saying that good leaders provide inclusion and belongingness to members of their organization in addition to vision and direction. (Jackson & Parry, 2011).
As faculty librarians implement new initiatives and databases, they can include paraprofessional staff in discussions and implementation plans, so staff are prepared to answer questions, and feel involved and trusted with new information and organizational directions.
Assessment. As they work to learn and share information, employees should feel more trust and empowerment in their jobs, resulting in less resistance to change and new directions. New opportunities for advancement and collaboration may appear, along with more appreciation and collaboration across departments.
Goal 4: Implement the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) New Framework for Information Literacy
Sonoma State librarians currently teach information literacy on an as-needed basis, generally when invited by teaching faculty in the university disciplines to demonstrate specific databases or research skills to specific classes. Instructional librarians would like to create a more formal curriculum around the ACRL board’s new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, which describes six frames that underpin information literacy:
● Authority is constructed and contextual.
● Information creation as a process
● Information has
value
● Research as Inquiry
● Scholarship as conversation
● Searching as strategic exploration
These frames replace and are a big departure from the old Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which has guided the teaching of information literacy in higher education for the last ten years. Strategies. The Framework is a rich document that offers advice on implementation and planning. It recommends librarians read and discuss the entire Framework, creating resource guides and assessment plans in collaboration with other librarians and educators. “ACRL encourages librarians to work with faculty, departmental or college curriculum committees, instructional designers, staff from centers for teaching and learning, and others to design information literacy programs in a holistic way” (ACRL Framework for Informational Literacy for Higher Education). The framework is meant to be implemented and integrated throughout the student’s entire education, involving students in their own educational process from novice to expert. This will require a great deal of discussion and planning, but the frames are meant to invite creativity and collaboration. Assessment. Assessing the new Framework will also require much discussion and sharing. But the ACRL has created a WordPress site, listserv, and twitter feed for librarians to communicate ideas. Megan Oakleaf recommends creating learning outcomes for each concept librarians wish to teach within the Framework. Oakleaf acknowledges that this can be challenging, as the frames are organized around threshold concepts, ideas first described by Meyer and Land as core concepts that are transformative and irreversible, the ideas that make you “think like” someone in a certain profession, such as a librarian (Oakleaf, 2016). Oakleaf asserts that these can be difficult to teach to, and at Sonoma State, librarians may choose to work with faculty from other disciplines, and staff of the Faculty Center, a department that supports faculty teaching and learning across the campus. However, literature on implementation and assessment of the Frames will probably grow at a great rate over the next few years.
The Sonoma State University Library has many non-student individuals visiting campus daily who could benefit from the library’s services. For example, a high school is located on the SSU on campus, Oakmont Retirement community members attend free lectures, and neighbors who live nearby visit the campus for its scenery and concerts. Increasing library usage by promoting services to these individuals would have multiple benefits for the SSU library. As more individuals return to the library to use services, more staff are needed to create a stronger, more efficient library team, which also provides jobs for members of the community. Promoting library services to a wider audience …show more content…
will draw more people into the library, which in turn will demonstrate that the library is a good investment.
Strategies. Conduct a survey for existing library patrons to determine which individuals use the library. Once it is understood who currently uses the library, a plan can be determined to attract students or members of the community who are not presently using the library’s services.
● Allocate subject librarians’ hours to work with graduate students and upper class undergraduate students. Sonoma State’s subject librarians currently work with faculty, but would benefit greatly from working closely with their students.
● Plan a regular library tour for any students interested in library services and a specialized tour for students with disabilities.
● Showcase outputs from Makerspaces during information literacy class and K-12 tours.
Assessments. After outreach period, assess the usage of subject librarian services, disabilities services, makerspaces, etc.
Goal 2: Maintain new and up-to-date materials
All members of the library have a better chance of success with obtaining relevant and current information if library materials are properly maintained. The current dean’s desire is to have a university that primarily focuses on students. The library can do this by ensuring texts are recent and shelf space is used by books in circulation to provide the best learning environment.
Strategies. Weed or prune current collections for items that are out of date, have low circulation, or are damaged at the end of each year. Keeping old editions of textbooks and unused materials takes up space that could be used for new materials.
● When funds are available, advocate for additional staffing for archives processing to reduce the volume of unprocessed collections.
● Have the Dean, Director of Technical Services, collection management team, library selectors and faculty actively work together to make selections for the library that will be most beneficial to the collections.
Assessments. Generate and keep track of a report documenting the circulation of printed materials. Weed collections by an agreed-upon date to eliminate old editions of textbooks and texts with no circulation.
● Make less circulated materials accessible through an online database.
● Take weeded books, videos, and magazines and create a sale that benefits the library in sales, and draws foot traffic into the library.
Goal 3: Establish ongoing staff-development and library-wide communications plans that include all library employees, professionals, and paraprofessionals in creating and improving library services
Strategies. In her article on Positive Organizational Behavior (POB), Elizabeth Baker articulates numerous benefits of providing ongoing education and training to library staff at all levels, including: improving staff morale by showing staff that they are important to the library leadership; increasing the understanding of employees who help patrons having difficulties with new technologies; helping the library retain qualified personnel while improving their skills; and helping identify employees with growth potential (and helping them meet that potential) (Baker, 2015). “Through proper training and development, the skills and talent of personnel are strengthened and advanced, and employee morale and organizational commitment are boosted and progressed” (Baker, 2015). Communication between all members of the organization is also important. Working environments are improved when trust and optimism are promoted by forming teams and communication channels that work across departments (Luthan & Yousseff, 2004, cited by Baker, 2015). Jackson and Parry cite Messick in saying that good leaders provide inclusion and belongingness to members of their organization in addition to vision and direction. (Jackson & Parry, 2011).
As faculty librarians implement new initiatives and databases, they can include paraprofessional staff in discussions and implementation plans, so staff are prepared to answer questions, and feel involved and trusted with new information and organizational directions.
Assessment. As they work to learn and share information, employees should feel more trust and empowerment in their jobs, resulting in less resistance to change and new directions. New opportunities for advancement and collaboration may appear, along with more appreciation and collaboration across departments.
Goal 4: Implement the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) New Framework for Information Literacy
Sonoma State librarians currently teach information literacy on an as-needed basis, generally when invited by teaching faculty in the university disciplines to demonstrate specific databases or research skills to specific classes. Instructional librarians would like to create a more formal curriculum around the ACRL board’s new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, which describes six frames that underpin information literacy:
● Authority is constructed and contextual.
● Information creation as a process
● Information has
value
● Research as Inquiry
● Scholarship as conversation
● Searching as strategic exploration
These frames replace and are a big departure from the old Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which has guided the teaching of information literacy in higher education for the last ten years. Strategies. The Framework is a rich document that offers advice on implementation and planning. It recommends librarians read and discuss the entire Framework, creating resource guides and assessment plans in collaboration with other librarians and educators. “ACRL encourages librarians to work with faculty, departmental or college curriculum committees, instructional designers, staff from centers for teaching and learning, and others to design information literacy programs in a holistic way” (ACRL Framework for Informational Literacy for Higher Education). The framework is meant to be implemented and integrated throughout the student’s entire education, involving students in their own educational process from novice to expert. This will require a great deal of discussion and planning, but the frames are meant to invite creativity and collaboration. Assessment. Assessing the new Framework will also require much discussion and sharing. But the ACRL has created a WordPress site, listserv, and twitter feed for librarians to communicate ideas. Megan Oakleaf recommends creating learning outcomes for each concept librarians wish to teach within the Framework. Oakleaf acknowledges that this can be challenging, as the frames are organized around threshold concepts, ideas first described by Meyer and Land as core concepts that are transformative and irreversible, the ideas that make you “think like” someone in a certain profession, such as a librarian (Oakleaf, 2016). Oakleaf asserts that these can be difficult to teach to, and at Sonoma State, librarians may choose to work with faculty from other disciplines, and staff of the Faculty Center, a department that supports faculty teaching and learning across the campus. However, literature on implementation and assessment of the Frames will probably grow at a great rate over the next few years.