Taskforce Report In Light of SV 2010

1. Taskforce Report – In Light of SV 2010 LIS Serving the Student Audience: Homogeneous and Diverse

2. Committee Members Amy Abare Mike Arena Annie Brabazon Steve Burks Michele McCaffrey

3. Coverage Our Audience - Demographic Overview Major Findings and Recommendations - Undergrad, SIS, Special Needs, Off Campus, Graduate Summary / Conclusions

4. Student Demographic Overview

5.  Undergraduate Students Distribution by Major

6. Majors of Undergraduates Over 40% of Saint Michael's undergraduate students major in either Business Administration, Psychology, or Elementary Education

7. Largest Changes in Undergraduate Majors in Past 20 Years

8. Total International Students- Grad and Undergrad

9. Countries of Origin SIS

10. Trends of International Students #’s peaked in 1991 - 207 students, 13% of total grad and undergrad students 2002 - 183 total international students, 6% Historically, International students average 7% of total SMC student population

11. Trends of International Students -Int'l audience fluctuates due to many factors: political and economic influences, St. Michael's own economics -Cultural differences can burden the college.  Some students come expecting the college to provide everything, as that is how it is done in their culture.  SIS students are "non-priority" when choosing courses.  They can only chose after matriculated students have chosen.

12. Recommendations It is generally understood, based on experience, that many int'l students need/prefer more one on one assistance from librarians.  This could apply not only to research assistance, but to library instruction as well.  Training/workshops could be geared toward int'l students? Computer tutorials -Make an effort to publicize to the int'l students what the library offers as far as access and particularly our English/Tesol collection.

13. Recommendation -It is stated in SV2010 that, "St. Michael's will continue it's efforts to bring students from other countries to campus in order to enhance the multicultural experience for all.  Therefore, special programs for int'l students will continue and must be a part of the community's residential life.  These experiences will be enhanced by thoughtful and thorough applications of technology in teaching, learning, and all aspects of life at the college

14. OFF-CAMPUS STUDENTS  Group 1-Traditional age undergraduates living off-campus in vicinity 1999 Fall 12% of 1,871 full-time undergraduate students 2000 Fall 7 and a half % of 1,915 full-time undergraduate students 2001 Fall 13% of 1.911 full-time undergraduate students 2002 Fall 12% of 1,943 full-time undergraduate students

15. CONCERNS:  These students are less likely to come to the library because their life focus is off-campus. Less time spent studying in the library means less interaction with library staff and fewer serendipitous discoveries. Research often limited to the Internet and online catalog-Passwords needed for access to databases. Study habits and library use may differ significantly from residential students.

16. Concerns, con’t Network problems severely frustrate students who are already at a distance from campus. These students do not receive telephone updates about system; do not have access to campus cable channel for information.       Some off-campus students will be less involved socially and so have less invested in other areas of life including academic.

17. RECOMMENDATIONS:  The Library needs more and better promotion of library resources, workshops, and services to these students. The LIS website needs to be even more informative and creative in meeting needs of students who are not resident and who may find needing to ask questions from a distance a barrier. An orientation session for off-campus undergraduates could be required. LIS needs to find ways to lure these students to Library.

18.  Part-time Adult Undergraduate Students –Group 2 During the last three years the figures for part-time undergraduates vary from 70-100 in a given semester.  Since Spring 2000 Adult Undergraduates have been rolled into the Regular Undergraduate Figures. This group includes former Prevel students (the so-called Pipeline·students) as well as other adult undergraduates.

19. CONCERNS:  Time on campus limited Time constraints outside of school Lack of communication from campus dept Network problems affecting access to information – double whammy - need technical and research assistance off campus Rusty research skills Less computer savvy

20. RECOMMENDATIONS:  Establishment of a group mailing list for these students to improve dissemination of information. Improved outreach to these students regarding library services, reference, how to receive technical help and information. Orientation session at beginning of each non-consecutive semester of study which would include basic website awareness, online catalog searching instruction, and electronic databases workshop. Formally surveying this group of students to learn what their needs are and if they are being met by the library. Forming study groups with one or two librarians to meet 3-5 times during the semester. ?       Providing the best possible library website to assist those with little time and perhaps less technological savvy than other undergraduates.

21. Study Abroad – Group 3 In 2000 26% of the graduating class has studied abroad In 2001 27% of the graduating class had studied abroad In 2002 28% of the graduating class has studied abroad

22. “Students who are paraplegic, quadriplegic, blind, or deaf,as well as students with learning disabilities find a caring environment at St. Michael’s. There is a genuine spirit of persistence to assist students in their resolution of personal, physical and educational problems.” (Year 2000 Self-Study)

23. SMC Students Challenged with Physical and Learning Conditions

24. Quiet areas lacking noise and other distractionsAssistance available outside of the classroomOne on one assistance Referrals from ld co-ordinator and facultyVariety of resources in various formats reflecting learning stylesStaff knowledgeable about LD characteristics and needsStaff willing to accommodate needs of learning disabledStaff with patience, perseverance and desire to assist Assistance from staff with hands-on practice

25. Needs of Physically Disabled

26. *Over the past few years there has been a “large increase in the number of students coming to Saint Michaels’ with greater need for financial aid and support.” (Vision 2010)*About 40% of the undergraduate students hold work study jobs.

27. Students Working On/Off Campus

28. Needs of Students With Jobs Staff and services ready and able to accommodate schedules of working students Staff able to make appointments for individual assistance and instruction outside of class Interlibrary Loan Services Staff working beyond 9 to 5 to accommodate student schedules Full text databases providing “free” access to resources Free Interlibrary Loan services Librarians able to teach during class sessions as other times students may not be available

29. Transfer Students

30. Needs of Transfer Students Orientation to LIS services, access and staff Services and staff readily available and visible

31. Honors Students

32. Needs of Students in Honor Classes Staff available for consultations with upper level research projects Staff promoting instruction to faculty and students Interlibrary Loan Services Subject/discipline based databases Access to other area or special libraries including admission and reciprocal borrowing privileges  

33. Students by Racial / Ethnic Status

34. Needs of Minority and Under-Represented Students “The majority of the ALANA students I recruit have access to computer labs at home, so they don‘t see the necessity of purchasing their own ([Computers] can be very expensive, and their capabilities depreciate fast!). So, to them a competitive and accessible computer lab is going to be their main priority.” (Victor Enchandy) Staff willing to connect with students on a personal basis to forge positive relationships Staff aware of diverse student constituencies and willing to accommodate needs Staff dedicated to SMC mission and desire to retain all students enrolled

35. Major Findings of Undergrad use of Libraries and Internet College students are confident in their abilities to locate information for their study assignments - either search engines or course specific sites Only 4% think quality is not good enough, 66% think they are capable of determining what information to accept from the web. Students value accuracy and most think the Web falls short in this regard Most students want remote access to the Web – 1st choice from home

36. Major finding con’t Students prefer face to face contact for help with assignments, though 70% said they would use online help if available. Since access is most often in the dorms, users ask friends or classmates for help=61% of the time, professors 36%, 21% ask librarians The mean satisfaction score is (of a scale 1-10) is 7.8 for all three categories. 7 in 10 students use the college web site for at least some assignments and 1 in 5 uses it for most assignments ,” the most frequently used information resources on library Web sites were “Fulltext/Electronic journals” (67%) followed by the “Library catalog” (57%), “Databases” (51%), and “Indexes to journal articles” (51%).

37. Recommendations Focus on Circulation and Reference Services for one on one help Promote critical thinking

38. Enrollment of Grad Students

40. Recommendations –grad program Outreach to grad programs:Students and professors (particularly adjunct) Review syllabi for distance and off-campus courses

41. Sources

42. Major Conclusions Students see the “library as place” Need better tools of assessment to know our SMC audience Need input from Students (committees, surveys, focus groups) Develop computer tutorials for self-paced learning