Community Connections: Advancing LIS

Education and Practice Through Partnership

Joan C. Durrance Margaret Mann Professor of Information

School of InformationUniversity of Michigan

ALISE 2005

Pasteur’s Quadrant Research

Theory Only

Theory +Practice Pasteur’s Quadrant

Practice Only

Edison

Recent Collaborative Funded Research Projects

Approaches for Understanding Community Information Use (Information Behavior in Everyday Contexts-IBEC). Co-PI Karen Fisher, University of Washington. I School. $249,996. 2002-05.

  How Libraries and Librarians Help: Context-Centered

Methods for Evaluating Outcomes. $317,800. Co-PI Karen Pettigrew.2000-03.

  Community Support Systems: Information Systems that use

and replenish social capital. Co-PI Paul Resnick. $198,000. 1999-01

Help-Seeking in an Electronic World: Focus on Community

Networks. $189,000. (Co-PI Karen Pettigrew, Post-Doc) 1999-01.

IMLS-Funded IBEC Research on Human Information Behavior--Current UW-UM

Venue for Collaboration

http://www.ischool.washington.edu/ibec/

Keys to Collaboration in Durrance-Pettigrew Research Studies

Key characteristics: Partner agency seen as a best practice site Key informants & research issues are identified with

the informed assistance of the collaborator The relationship is mutually beneficial

Key issues: Building Trust (essential to research) Developing mutual respect Understanding Reactivity—(our presence as

researchers in the community may have an effect). Recognizing Reciprocity—(we have a responsibility to

give something back)

Selected Partners in RecentCommunity-Focused Research

HartfordInfo-Hartford Public Library (IBEC-IMLS) NCHealthInfo-University of North Carolina Health Sciences

Library (IBEC-IMLS) King County United Way-Citizen need survey (IBEC-IMLS)

CIAO-(Teen After School Program) Flint Public Library (Kellogg and How Libraries & Librarians Help-IMLS)

Wired for Youth-Austin Public Library (How Libraries & Librarians Help)

Community Information Program-Peninsula Library System (How Libraries & Librarians Help)

New American’s Program-Queens Public Library (How Libraries & Librarians Help)

CascadeLink-Multnomah County Public Library (Helpseeking) Three Rivers Free-Net-Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

(Helpseeking) NorthStarNet North Suburban Library System (Helpseeking)

Community Information Program (CIP) Peninsula Library System. San Mateo, CA

30 year old I & R is sponsored by the library system & housed with county social service agencies.

Clientele: San Mateo area social service agencies and non-profit organizations. Not the general public.

Nature of our collaboration Worked with CIP remotely to build trust and understand

service Conducted a site visit with a team from UM Conducted focus groups with with CIP staff, library

administrators, and—most of all—agency staff who worked with CIP

Analyzed the data Prepared Report for the library Used study (with others) to develop Outcome Toolkit Wrote articles and included case study in our new book

(2005)

CIP Outcomes Identified by Our Study

Outcomes Toolkit 2.0 Now on IBEC Site

Course-Based Community Connections

SI 623: Outcome-based Evaluation. Fall 03. Student teams worked w partner orgs to conduct outcome studies

Ex. A study of the outcomes of a literacy program housed in a public library. Partner: Washtenaw Literacy (WL)

Nature of partnership: WL provided students access to tutors, learners, and

confidential records. A team to two students-- Maria Serapiglia & Sarah

Wooden--worked Sept-Dec 2003 to identify outcomes beyond those mandated by the funder—reading skill gains

Washtenaw Literacy gave permission for Maria and Sarah to publish the study.

Ch 9 in Durrance & Fisher. How Libraries and Librarians Help: A Guide to Identifying User-Centered Outcomes. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2005.

Ripples of Impact: Washtenaw Literacy Outcomes

Director’s email to Maria S:

“I just wanted to let you know how much your project helped us.  We use the diagram you developed in many ways--in our newsletter, our PowerPoint presentation, with grant apps and reports.  In addition we developed a new reporting form that we sent out to all tutor/learner pairs this Spring as the program year is ending for us.  We are getting a great response and are gathering much more information then we were previously receiving. This was a product of your recommendation to build in a defined data collection process.  I thought you might be interested in knowing this.”

Fall 2004-SI 501 Use of Information Class 21 Partner Organizations Worked with 120 SI Students

Ann Arbor District Library Assn of Women in

Computing Henry Ford Museum-Benson

Ford Research Greenhills School Genealogical Society Inter-Cooperative Council Library for Blind Physically

Disabled UM Map Library Michigan Center for

Biological Information Medstat

Menlo Innovations ProQuest UM Public Health Library Veterans’ Walk for Health

Study Senegalese Association

of Michigan Soar Technologies Scholarly Publishing

Office (UM Library) Salem S. Lyon PL UM-Text Creation Project Washtenaw Literacy Washtenaw County IT

Services(Orgs in blue built on relationships built previously by SI faculty or students)

SI 501Fall 04. Washtenaw Literacy Team w Partner

Contact Information

Joan C. Durrance <durrance@umich.edu>Margaret Mann Collegiate Professor of Information University of Michigan School of Information 3084 West Hall Connector550 E. UniversityAnn Arbor, Mi. 48109-1092Phone (734)  763-1569. Fax: 734-764-2475