serving the diy patron: library instruction at the point of need

May 16, 2013

Serving the DIY Patron: Library Instruction at the Point of NeedMeredith Farkas, Portland State University

What is DIY?

Self-sufficiency

Personalization/customization

Frugality/rejection of consumerism

Developing skills for creation, reconnection with hands-on activities

A rejection of the mediated/expert model

Doing things outside of traditional hierarchies/boundaries

Satisfaction from building things yourself

http://www.flickr.com/photos/g7ahn/8369950576/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seven_resist/5428142486/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pzed/4279771767/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/99851205/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/8670412388/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asieo/3109001969/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spcummings/2087666493/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifted/8555568803/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/juggernautco/6084899576/

The DIY generation Respect for locally-made, hand-made

Desire for more control, personalization (hacker ethos)

Grassroots politics, leaderless movements (Occupy, Wikileaks)

Growth in communities for the “expert amateur” to make things

Why be DIY? (Kuznetsov & Paulos, “Rise of the Expert Amateur: DIY Projects, Communities, and Cultures.” NordiCHI, 2010)

“Express myself/be creative” (97%)

“Learn new skills” (91%)

“Solve problems/challenge myself” (88%)

Do people like this seek out help from experts?

Help-seeking in libraries: a history Then

Closed stacks

Mediated searching

Information scarcity

Now

Open stacks

Search tools designed for the end-user

Self-checkout, patron-driven acquisitions, unmediated ILL, etc.

At the same time...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/intersectionconsulting/7537238368/

Plus, most millennials think they’re research...

Information = AbundantTime = Scarce

Attention = scarce____________________Do the traditional models still work when information isn’t scarce?

What has this meant for reference?

Reference usage has declined

“According to Association of Research Library (ARL) statistics, the number of reference transactions taking place in ARL libraries has declined by more than half since 1995. Control that statistic for enrollment and the decline is greater: in 1995, ARL libraries provided an average of 10.1 reference transactions per student FTE; in 2009 the number was 3.6, a decline of over 60%.”

Anderson, Rick. (2011). “The Crisis in Research Librarianship” Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37(4).

Reference transactions in U.S. academic libraries Source: NCES

Reference transactions in public libraries Source: NCES

Reference transactions in CA public libraries Source: NCES

Why would they ask us?

College students overwhelmingly (83%) begin their information searches using search engines, though at lower rates than in 2005 (92%). As in

2005, no student surveyed started on the library Web site. College students feel that search engines trump libraries for speed, convenience, reliability and ease of use. Libraries trump search engines for trustworthiness and accuracy. Substantially more students in 2010 (43%) indicated that information from library sources is more trustworthy than from search engines (31% in 2005).

Source: OCLC Perceptions of Libraries 2010 study

And yet

Source: OCLC Perceptions of Libraries 2010 study

The DIY patron

Wants to figure it out themselves

Is accustomed to using Google and other web services

Is accustomed to using quick help sites like WikiAnswers, Yahoo! Answers, etc.

Wants things to be intuitive

Looks for pointers about how things work

Other reasons they might not ask for help Library anxiety

Low academic self-efficacy - asking for help means admitting they lack ability.

Gender - girls “lose their voice” during adolescence

Lack of understanding of the role of the librarian (marketing problem?)

“We desperately need to invest serious thought and effort into ways that we will not only provide access to information, but also maintain the connections between the wired user and the information expert to demonstrate that the added value that we provide users in this information-saturated environment is far greater than the mere convenience of ‘getting it all online.’”

Brette Barclay Barron, “Distant and Distributed Learners Are Two Sides of the Same Coin,” Computers in Libraries 22 (Jan. 2002):

24–28.

The answer then for reference instruction

Disintermediate whenever possible

Develop instructional content that mimics answer services on the web like Yahoo! Answers (small, specific bits of content)

Make that content available and easily findable at their points of need 24/7

For academic/K12 librarians: Embed instructional content into the fabric of classes

Online learning objects

Learning objects

Learning objects

INSTRUCTIONINSTRUCTION REFERENCEREFERENCE

Learning objects

Learning objects

INSTRUCTIONINSTRUCTION REFERENCEREFERENCE

INSTRUCTIONINSTRUCTION REFERENCEREFERENCE

LEARNING OBJECTS TO SUPPORT A

COURSE

LEARNING OBJECTS TO SUPPORT A

COURSE

LEARNING OBJECTS FOR

POINT OF NEED INSTRUCTION

LEARNING OBJECTS FOR

POINT OF NEED INSTRUCTION

These are two different things

Do students come looking for this?

Or this?

So what about these?

Great when assigned

Useless when not part of a class

Focused on specific needs

Discovering needs

Reference transactions

Web statistics

Usability testing

Ethnographic research

Reference transactions

Collect questions asked at the desk

Reference stats

Virtual reference transcripts

Don’t collect? Talk to colleagues who frequently work the reference desk

Or sample!

Web analytics

What pages do they visit the most?

What databases do they visit the most?

Where do patrons get frustrated and leave?

Where do they spend a lot of time that doesn’t make sense?

Time on site

Bounce rate

Usability testing

Giving patrons tasks and watch them use your website to complete them

Watch students do authentic research

Always surprising

Ethnographic research

Observing students using the library

Focus groups and individual interviews

Photo diary studies

Research journals

Research narratives

Models that support DIY patrons

Library DIY @ Portland State

Reference librarian in a box Small pieces of instructional content

Based on questions we get at the reference desk

Each one answers just one question

If in-depth help needed, link out

Information architecture gets students to just the info they’re looking for

Next steps

Finish content development

User testing over the summer

Placement and marketing to make it visible at students’ points of need

On the library website

In the library

On campus

Making content findable at points of need

And how findable is this?

Links to tutorials

Under research resources/start your research

Under help/research help

Under Services

Under Library Services --> Instruction

Within LibGuides

Unfindable from some library websites

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yogendra174/5980718184

Get in their flow

Where might patrons look for/need help on your library website?

Ask a Librarian page

Any help type of pages

Research guides

Databases page (and inside databases)

Catalog

Webpages for specific services (ILL, gov docs, etc.)

“The library needs to be in the user environment and not expect the user to find their way to the library environment”-Lorcan Dempsey http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/000688.html

Go where your users are

in the Learning Management System (LMS)

on an Intranet

in any local social networks or relevant community websites

on Facebook

on mobile devices

in computer labs (on the desktop)

Digital research help in the physical world

Link patrons to library instructional content where they need it In the library

In the stacks, places people get lost

By collections patrons have trouble using

Machines patrons have issues with

Other places people have information needs

Buses, business support organizations, daycare centers, community centers, high schools, academic department offices, residence halls, computer labs, etc.

QR Codes

Short for Quick Response

Originally developed for inventory control

Need a QR code reader to read

Scan a QR code to access info or take action

Hicks, A., & Sinkinson, C. (2011). Situated Questions and Answers. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 51(1), 60–69. Placed posters with QR codes in the library in places where

patrons encountered difficulties

For the journals area: Poster says “How do I...

find older issues of the journal?

find the call number for the journal I need?

find a scanner?

find a copy machine?

get more help?

QR Codes are a stopgap

Near Field Communications

A way for devices to receive information at close range

RFID is an example

User no longer has to take the initiative to scan

In the meantime

Use QR codes with shortened URLs (bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyURL, etc.)

Another way to reach DIY students

Embed information literacy instruction seamlessly into the DNA of classes

Create learning objects, activities, and self-paced tutorials that faculty can easily integrate into their courses

Embed library instruction meaningfully into classes (beyond the one-shot)

Requires a tremendous amount of relationship-building with faculty + time

Questions? Comments?

Find me at

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress

mgfarkas (at) gmail.com

twitter: librarianmer

facebook: meredithfarkas

Slides and links at

meredithfarkas.wetpaint.com