July 14, 2014 Meeting of User Education Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Members Present: Susan Avery (ex officio), Kirstin Dougan (14), Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (ex officio) – Chair, Cindy Ingold (14), Jameatris Rimkus (15), Elizabeth Sheehan (15), Mara Thacker (14), Sandra Wolf (14)

Members Absent: Melody Allison (14), Merinda Hensley (ex officio), Mark Wardecker (14)

Additional Attendees: Sarah Crissinger (Information Literacy GA)

1. Welcome and Introduction

Lisa welcomed the committee and introduced Sarah Crissinger as the new Information Literacy graduate assistant. Lisa asked if there were any additional items for the agenda. There were no suggestions.

2. Acclamations & Accolades

Mara reported that one class has used the South Asian comic collection within their coursework. Additionally, the class is putting on a Comic-Con that will involve the collection. Kirstin suggested that Mara also reach out to Robert Barrett, an English faculty member who teaches a comics class.

Susan reported that she received the campus faculty retreat grant to create interactive instructional materials for English as a Second Language (ESL) 112 and 115 students. She is using a range of tools, including PowToon, Piktochart, Gliffy, and Thinglink, to create videos, infographics, and flowcharts to address a range of learning styles. Susan explained the process of investing in these products and setting up an account. Lisa suggested that the User Education Committee think about investing in one or two tools for the entire library in order to avoid purchasing the same tool multiple times. Susan explained that using some of the software library-wide might create organization problems because of the inability to make folders and separate projects. Susan will continue to work on this project and will report back to the committee on pros and cons of the tools. She will also show some completed instructional materials to the committee in the fall. This will inform the committee’s decision on investing in these products.

3. 2014- 2015 Workshop Series

Lisa presented an outline of four potential workshops: “International Students and Scholars: The Illinois Profile,” “Developing Instructional Materials for International Learners,” “Libraries and Higher Education in China,” and “Intercultural Communication Strategies.”  Susan suggested that ESL 112 and 115 instructors be included as presenters in some of these workshops, as their perspective on teaching international students is important. A panel of these instructors is a possible option. Mara added that international students should be included as well. She suggested that understanding their perspective will be invaluable to library faculty and staff.

Lisa asked members for feedback about the workshop specifically addressing  Chinese students. Sandy suggested that it shouldn’t be a standalone endeavor, as that would leave us drawing our own conclusions. Jameatris commented that the workshop would really help her understand Chinese students that come into the archives to do research. Susan added that the University is trying to draw in more students from South America, especially Brazil. It was ultimately decided, however, that the majority of international students from the University of Illinois are currently from China, India, or South Korea and that the workshops should focus on these areas.

It was decided that “International Students and Scholars: The Illinois Profile” and “Developing Instructional Materials for International Learners” will begin in the fall and two other workshops will be implemented in the spring, based on feedback and comments from the workshops in the fall. This will help the committee make a more informed decision about what library employee learning needs are.

Potential ideas for other workshops include distinguishing graduate student needs from undergraduate student needs, involving the Mortenson Center, and a presentation from a panel of library faculty and staff who have studied abroad or lived abroad for a long period of time.

Cindy suggested that the Diversity Committee collaborate with User Education for these plans. She serves on that committee and will be in touch with possible opportunities. Lisa will draft descriptions for the Diversity Committee and run them by Cindy soon.

Lisa will also contact Jen-chien Yu to see if any user surveys have asked respondents to identify themselves as international students as it could better inform the workshops. Lisa brought up the International Student & Scholar Survey that was conducted in 2012. While the library was perceived well in comparison with other student service points, it might be helpful to think about how we might improve service for international students to exceed this level of service. Mara will also send Lisa the contact information for the campus group that hosted a workshop on international students last fall.

4. User Stories

Lisa presented the CMS and Web Presence Team’s Charter for the upcoming months. She explained that this team will be updating the library gateway and transitioning the library website to a new content management system. As part of this process, the team is currently generating user stories.

Lisa asked members to generate 4-5 user stories that were instructionally-focused. She gave an example of what a user story is by using this format:

User group/ needs to/ in order to:

An Undergraduate student needs to find e-reserves in order to do their class reading.

This process completes two goals. It allows the team to test if this action can be completed by using the gateway and also informs the team of what the user’s experience is when completing this action. Members will e-mail Sarah any user stories they think of. Jametris volunteered to focus more heavily on archival user stories.

5. Libguides 2.0 Status

Lisa updated the committee on the status of LibGuides 2.0. She explained that many other libraries have stated that they will not be implementing the new system this summer. Lisa wants to make sure that the new system has complete functionality before migrating and committee members concurred that this is a good approach. Lisa will be in touch with SpringShare  to see what additional information may be available about timelines. The Office of Information Literacy is drafting a handout for library faculty and staff on the topic of preparing for the migration. The handout will remind everyone to update broken links and weed unused guides so that the transition will not have to involve extra content.

6. Unretreat Report

The Executive Committee has provided feedback on the report. The committee agreed that they would look at it more closely in the fall.

6. Committee Member Terms

Everyone with a (14) next to their name completes their term of service in August. Lisa expressed appreciation for their service to the User Education Committee. The Executive Committee has not yet made appointments to Library committees for the 2014-2015 year.

Upcoming 2013-2014 Meetings – 10:00-11:00 am

August 11th

Respectfully submitted by Sarah Crissinger