what net generation students really want from the library
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One of the presentations shared during the 2010 ALA Annual meeting. The program hosted by LLAMA - MAES was called " Myth Busting: Using Data to Challenge Assumptions". Speaker: Lizah Ismail, Marywood University, Scranton, PA, Assistant Professor/Coordinator of Public Services Presentation: What Net Generation Students Really Want From The Library, Determining Help-Seeking Preferences of Undergraduates Program abstract: What services are actually valued by your users? Which online resources are good investments? Is texting the best way to reach your young adults? Libraries often hold false assumptions or beliefs which have not been challenged with actual data. Find out how different libraries have used data to challenge their assumptions and long-held beliefs.TRANSCRIPT
What Net Generation Students Really Want From The Library
Determining Help-Seeking Preferences of Undergraduates
Why is this topic relevant?
Decline in traditional in-house reference statistics
Characteristics of today’s undergraduates – the Net Generation
Web 2.0 culture
Myths CIBER (University College
of London) 2008 Study:
“all young people are interested in social networking”
“young people are more competent with computers”
“It is important to be where users are, in a social networking environment”
Kn
ow
wh
o y
ou
r Net G
en
s
are
Univ
of R
och
este
r pro
ject
Info
rmin
g In
novatio
n
Foster & Gibbons (2007):
“user studies…are a necessary component of any student-centered academic library”
Booth (2009):
“critical that … libraries understand student use… and/or familiarity with …various technologies before judging their potential scalability as library services”
Marywood’s Survey of Undergraduates
Methodology
Survey Monkeyi. Easy/Online
convenienceii. Free/Basic (limits)iii. Institutional/Annual
Pro (pluses)iv. Analysisv. Downloadable
formats
Need for Collaboration
Contacted Marywood’s MIS (Management Information Systems) Dept
Created a listserv of current undergraduates
Survey was sent to listserv via email
Survey Instrument
Demographic Information
i. Full-time/Part-Time?
ii. Incoming, Returning, Transfer?
iii. Age Group : 18-22, 23-29, 30-39, 40 & over
iv. Had attended a library instruction session or not
Survey Instrument
Help-Seeking Behavior and Preferences
i. Library/Library Website visits
ii. Asking Librarians for research help
iii. Location preference for research help
iv. Research Help preference
v. Confident without librarian help
Survey Results
Limitations
Overall Low Response
Rate (245 or 10% of
students -- 88% or 216 of which were 18-22 year olds)
Not Generalizable
Survey Results
Positive Outcomes
Possible Trend
Basis for further studies
Table 1: Library Use, Help-Seeking Habits and Library Instruction(averages on a scale of 1-5 where 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly
agree)
18-22 Age Group
Overall Had Library No Library Instruction
Instruction (n=216) (n=115) (n=101)
Library Visits 3.07 3.05 3.08(at least once/wk) Library Website Visits 2.99 3.03 2.95(at least once/wk) Asked for Librarian Help 3.13 3.13 3.13 Confident without Help 3.44 3.59 3.27
Table 2: Library Use, Help-Seeking Habits and Student Status(averages on a scale of 1-5 where 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly
agree)
18-22 Age Group
New Returning Transfer (n=53) (n=145) (n=18)
Library Visits 2.34 3.29 3.44(at least once/wk)
Library Website Visits 2.58 3.19 2.61 (at least once/wk)
Asked for Librarian Help 2.77 3.29 2.89
Confident without Help 3.19 3.57 3.11
Table 3: Location preference for research assistance and Student Status
(averages on a scale of 1-5 where 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree)
18-22 Age Group
Overall New Returning Transfer (n=216) (n=53) (n=145) (n=18)
Student Center 3.48 3.56 3.43 3.72 Residence Halls 3.10 3.36 3.01 3.06 Other Campus Buildings 3.27 3.42 3.19 3.39
More convenient location 3.27 3.75 3.16 2.72
instead of library
Table 4: Research assistance preference and Student Status(averages on a scale of 1-5 where 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly
agree)
18-22 Age Group
Overall New Returning Transfer (n=216) (n=53) (n=145) (n=18)
Email 3.24 3.15 3.30 3.06 Chat/IM/Texting 2.78 2.71 2.85 2.44 Moodle Course Page 2.77 2.77 2.78 2.59
Facebook/MySpace 2.37 2.30 2.43 2.12
What do Marywood’s Net Gen Students Really Want?
Unexpected
Social Tools not preferred
Confident without
help
Expected
Convenient location preferred
Confident without
help
Future Directions
Build upon our existing “Ask Here Roadshow”
More skeptical of social media
Further studies with a larger sample
Focus Groups
Another survey (additional demographic
information)
Collaborations with Student Activities/IT
CO
NTA
CT
INFO
Lizah Ismail
Assistant Professor andCoordinator of Public Services
Marywood UniversityLibrary,Scranton, PA.
Tel: 570-348-6264