December 17, 2012 Meeting of User Education Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Members Present: Susan Avery (ex officio), Merinda Hensley (ex officio), Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (ex officio) – Chair, Carissa Phillips (13), Mara Thacker (14), Sandra Wolf (14), Mark Wardecker (14)

Members Absent: Melody Allison (13), Ryan Ross (14), Elizabeth Sheehan (13)

Additional Attendees: Emma Clausen (Information Literacy GA)

 

1. FYI – Upcoming 2012-2013 Meetings – 10:00-11:00 am

2. Welcome and Agenda Review

Lisa welcomed committee members. Lisa reviewed the agenda and asked committee members if there were any additional items to add. No additions were made.

3. Acclamations and Accolades

Paula Kaufman agreed to fund Kelly McCusker for the Teacher Track Immersion program, pending acceptance of her application.

Sandy noted that the spring entrance of a LEEP cohort brings the opportunity for LIS Library instruction.

Mara shared that a LibGuide she created for a course with 80 students had over 1000 views. She also noted an increase in follow-up questions via email. The committee discussed how LibGuides can complement in-person instruction.

4. Primo Update

• Response from Web-Scale Discovery Implementation Team

The committee submitted feedback to the implementation team from the exploration and discussion session during the last meeting. The committee is waiting to receive a response.

• “Therapy Session”

Committee members were not able to attend the “therapy session” hosted by Jenny Emanuel. If another opportunity is available in the future, committee members hope to attend and share viewpoints about Primo’s impact on instruction and information literacy.

• New Team Member – Susan Avery

Susan joined the implementation team. The committee discussed the importance of adding another public services representative to the team. Susan will bring a perspective from the Undergraduate Library and Primo’s impact on the instruction program.

• Primo Discussion

The committee discussed the implementation team’s January target date to release Primo publicly. Jenny Emanuel is conducting usability testing but the results are not yet available. The committee also noted that Primo is currently set up as a target for EasySearch and that librarians and graduate assistants at public service points need training to effectively support patrons.

Some of the feedback for the team is sent directly to team member’s emails and is not sent through the feedback web form. The committee discussed that the whole team may not review some of the reported issues and the importance of making these issues available in the dataset. To increase testing and reporting of potential end user issues, the committee discussed the importance of communicating this need Library-wide. Kirstin Dougan and Jenny Johnson are encountering issues with media formats and results in Primo; the implementation team is aware of these issues. The committee discussed Primo’s ability to handle diacritics and that language searching has been tested. Issues with log in, full text retrieval, and shibboleth integration were also discussed.

Susan and a GA previously conducted test searches using student topics and compared results in Primo to those from Academic Search Premier. Susan noted that the volume of results from Primo would make the concept of relevancy in results lists challenging for students to understand and that demonstrating that a manageable set of results exists during instruction sessions may not be possible with Primo.

5. Blackboard Collaborate Update

• Unexpected Issues with Logins – General Rooms vs. Other Options

The committee discussed the infrastructure necessary to manage the Library’s access to Blackboard Collaborate. The committee discussed the two login modes – student and instructor – and the requirements for each mode.  Student mode is URL-based; participants access the classroom via a link and enter their name. Instructors must log in with a password to use all instructor privileges. Blackboard Collaborate is not integrated with active directory authentication, which presents issues for instructor login. The committee discussed potential issues of having shared passwords for virtual classroom spaces and the level that would be most suitable for managing passwords, whether at the division or unit level or another option.

The committee discussed options with the number of available classrooms and the overhead involved in setting up classroom space and its effect on password and access management. The committee discussed the difference between Blackboard Learn and Blackboard Collaborate and the integration with Banner and roster-able classes.

Lisa will bring additional information to the committee for discussion after further investigating the options.

• Scheduling/Calendaring

The committee discussed the scheduling and calendaring options and if it is preferable to have access to Outlook calendars to schedule classrooms. The committee also discussed allowing units to decide how to manage scheduling and access to classroom space.

The committee discussed some scheduling challenges with virtual classrooms, including booking time before and after a session to avoid interrupting a session or recording.

Lisa noted that she will work with the Office of Continuing Education (OCE) to set up additional rooms. Communication will be sent out to the Library after winter break.

6. LibGuides Update

Lisa noted that responsibility for training, assistance, and system management of LibGuides will move from RRSS to the Office of Information Literacy. A message detailing this transition will be sent out on LIBNEWS.

7. Information Literacy Graduate Assistant Request for 2013-2014

Lisa noted that the call for Graduate Assistant requests has been made within the Library for the next academic year 2013-2014. The committee discussed the role that a graduate assistant fulfills in the Office of Information Literacy and within the Office of User Services. Public service hours at a desk and other tasks that could be part of the GA position and the possibility of a shared or combined GA position were also discussed. With the transition of LibGuides administration to the Office of Information Literacy and the implementation of Blackboard Collaborate, it would be challenging not to have GA position and maintain the level of support library units need for these tools to be effective.

8. Announcements/Open Discussion

The call for proposals for the Illinois Information Literacy Summit 2013 has been made. Dr. Nick Burbules will give the keynote address on the role of technology and ubiquitous learning. Lisa noted that the Library will provide travel support to those who propose to present and are accepted.

Submitted by Emma Clausen