![Picture](/uploads/8/5/2/1/8521842/3747526_orig.jpg)
- My placement began the following Monday; I was given a tour of the library and then I was introduced to the Collection Provision department which was my main base department for my time at La Trobe.
- Collection Development
- Collection Delivery and Facilities
- Quality and Planning
- Digital Infrastructure
- Learning and Research Services
Everyone made me feel very welcome and they were extremely generous with their time, sharing lots of information about the library and their work.
- Integrated scholarly collections
- Proactive information services
- Managed learning spaces
- During my three weeks in the library I had lots of new experiences and learnt many interesting things about La Trobe University Library and University libraries in general; too many to mention them all here, so I'm going to pick out a small sample:
The Learning Journey
The library has a 'Learning and Teaching Partnership Framework' which supports the University's Strategic Plan to "place scholarly learning at the heart of the educational mission, supporting innovative practice and creating students who are work ready and world ready" (La Trobe University Library, 2014b). The Framework is based on the 'Learning Journey' whereby every student's existing information literacy (IL) knowledge is built upon both through skills development in embedded faculty curricula and also at point of need. This embedding of information literacy in the curriculum is essential to achieve success (Shumaker, 2012).
Inquiry/Research Toolkit
I was very interested to hear about the library's Inquiry/Research Toolkit which includes two elements:- Inquiry/Research Quiz (IRQ) - to make students aware of the IL skills they need
- LibSkills - to help students build on their knowledge and further develop their IL skills.
IRQ is a multiple-choice online quiz that “alerts students to their existing skills and gives feedback, preparing them for more discipline-specific tasks that are embedded in the first year curriculum in each faculty by academic staff” (Hulett, Corbin, Karasmanis, Salisbury, & Peseta, 2013). A student answers a quiz question which prompts a response from an animated avatar-like character and links to the appropriate LibSkills modules to learn more. Data has been collected on the usage of the Toolkit showing that the completion rate is higher in subjects where IRQ/LibSkills is compulsory, compared to subjects where it is voluntary (Hulett et al., 2013). This highlights the importance of strong faculty support. The intended student learning outcomes are defined within the IL Framework and success is assessed in a variety of ways including embedded curricula assessment, questionnaires and surveys (La Trobe University Library, 2014b).
Patron Driven Acquisitions
The library has a policy to buy electronic resources if they are available, in order to support the provision of "timely desktop, home and cross campus access to scholarly materials" (La Trobe University Library, 2010). More than 470,000 e-books are available to library members, with 677,691 e-book downloads in 2013 (La Trobe University Library 2013a). Some of the e-book collection is provided on a Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) basis; links are provided to thousands of e-books and the library will buy any that are used. This means that a much larger collection can be offered and increases the chance that the e-books purchased are relevant to users' needs. The library has recently expanded PDA to include streaming videos. A study of PDA video streaming at the library found that a video purchased through PDA costs just $4.90 per use, compared with $17.70 for a DVD and $99 for an outright online purchase, clearly illustrating the financial benefits of PDA (Cleary & Bates, 2014).
Evaluation of library services
Another area that I found particularly interesting was the work of the Quality and Planning Manager, who is responsible for evaluating services and assessing user needs. Feedback is gathered in a variety of ways including a Client Satisfaction Survey that is carried out every other year. An external company, Insync, manages the administration of the survey with the following aims:- · Identify and manage key issues
- · Enable the library’s performance to be measured
- · Give users the opportunity to honestly communicate with library management
- · Compare results with other libraries (Insync Surveys, 2012).
- Inquiry/Research Quiz (IRQ) - to make students aware of the IL skills they need
![Picture](/uploads/8/5/2/1/8521842/9480750_orig.jpg)
- The Quality and Planning Manager then analyses the results and is able to identify improvements that can be acted upon immediately or put forward for consideration. Actions that are taken as a result of the survey are reported back to the community through the library’s website (La Trobe University Library, 2013b) .
- REFERENCES
Cleary, C., & Bates, A. (2014). Online video acquisition and ROI: An analysis of streaming video acquisition, use and ROI in libraries. Queensland University of Technology and La Trobe University. Retrieved from http://ala14.ala.org/files/ala14/Poster%20Presentation%20Handout.pdf
Hulett, H., Corbin, J., Karasmanis, S., Salisbury, F., & Peseta, T. (2013). Information literacy in University: A toolkit for readiness and measuring impact. Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 44(3), 151–162. doi:10.1080/00048623.2013.813372
Insync Surveys. (2012). La Trobe University Library client survey: May 2012. Insync Surveys. Retrieved from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/209412/librarysurveyfullreport2012.pdf
La Trobe University Library. (2010). Collection development framework. La Trobe University Library. Retrieved from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/209390/Collection-Development-Framework.pdf
La Trobe University Library. (2013a). La Trobe University Library: Year in review 2013. La Trobe University Library. Retrieved from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/582118/Library_Review_2013_FINAL.pdf
La Trobe University Library. (2013b). Library improvements since the library client survey 2012. La Trobe University Library. Retrieved from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/252205/Library-Improvements-since-Client-Survey-2012.pdf
La Trobe University Library. (2014a). About us, Library, La Trobe University. La Trobe University. Retrieved July 8, 2014, from http://www.latrobe.edu.au/library/about-us
La Trobe University Library. (2014b). Library learning and teaching partnership framework: Draft 2. La Trobe University Library.
Shumaker, D. (2012). The embedded librarian: Innovative strategies for taking knowledge where it’s needed. Medford, NJ: Information Today.