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Discovery layers and the distance student

Rosie Croft, University Librarian Jessica Mussell, Instruction & Public Services Librarian Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Memphis, TN, April 2012. Discovery layers and the distance student. Online search habits of students. Learning outcomes.

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Discovery layers and the distance student

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  1. Rosie Croft, University Librarian Jessica Mussell, Instruction & Public Services Librarian Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Memphis, TN, April 2012 Discovery layers and the distance student Online search habits of students

  2. Learning outcomes • To provide a greater understanding of: • How the implementation of discovery layers has affected students use of research tools • What this means for a Library’s return on investment • How this informs electronic pathways to information and impacts information literacy instruction

  3. Royal Roads University Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Small, primarily graduate-level university 2,000 FTE

  4. Why discovery layers? • Fiscal responsibility • Service to our user community

  5. Our research Methods Results

  6. RRU Library website

  7. RRU Library mobile site

  8. Methods • Mixed-method approach: • Combination of electronic survey and empirical data • Data collected from: • All students registered in for-credit courses invited to participate in the survey (Survey Monkey) • Summon usage statistics • Serials Solutions 360 link statistics • individual database usage statistics • Library website • LibGuides usage statistics

  9. Results • 1038 survey responses • 822 of those students let us know which library resources they had used in the past • 66% had used Summon • 67% reported using proxied Google Scholar • 75% had used what we defined as “publisher research databases” • 51% had used Refworks • Less than 50% response rate on resources like the catalogue, subject guides, Infoquest tutorial

  10. “What online research resource did you *start* with? • 42% said Google/Google Scholar • 26% said Library databases • 22% said Summon • 3% said Library catalogue • 1.9% said the subject guides • 1.7% said Wikipedia • 1.1% said contacted a librarian • 0.6% said Infoquest

  11. “Why there?” • Google – ease of use, broad overview two most highly cited reasons • Summon – ease of use, good overview, credible resources • Library databases – academic quality of results, focused results set, recommended, and habit • Ease of use mentioned but was one of the least noted reasons 81% of students said that they used other online research resources as well as their first choice

  12. How helpful were the results?

  13. Did Summon improve your ability to research effectively? • 61.4% said yes • 10.2% said no • 28.4% said they hadn’t used Summon

  14. How important are the following features in any online research resource?

  15. Where did you start vs has Summon helped?

  16. Non-survey data • Pulled stats from Summon admin, key databases, website stats • Overall database use remained consistent • Big increase in Serials Solutions “click through” stats, likely indicating that students are increasingly avoiding the native interfaces • Libguide use is about 11% or less of the visits to the library website • Where do we go from here?

  17. Impact on information literacy instruction

  18. Changes to instruction • “[a]ccessibility is likely (rightly or wrongly) to be favoured over quality as a determinant of choice by the student users….” Brophy, J., & Bawden, D. (2005). Is Google enough? Comparison of an Internet search engine with academic library resources.Aslib Proceedings, 57(6), 498. doi:10.1108/00012530510634235

  19. Changes to instruction • Less focus on using the library catalogue and specialized databases (at least initially) • More focus on using Summon and Google Scholar via RRU, with strategies to narrow searches

  20. Changes to instruction Broad, interdisciplinary search engines Google Google Scholar Summon Specialized databases More focused, subject-specific search engines

  21. Changes to instruction • Database ‘hackfest’ • Sample research question • Talk about strengths & weaknesses of search tools • Search features for narrowing results • Search features for broadening results • Barriers encountered

  22. Online instruction materials • 7% of students reported using LibGuides • 4% of students reported using the Infoquest Tutorial

  23. Conclusion Return on investment 81% of students search more than one resource when researching Importance of regular feedback

  24. Thank-you! Questions? Comments? Rosie Croft rosie.croft@royalroads.ca Jessica Mussell jessica.mussell@royalroads.ca

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