[LIBRARYDIR] Library and Library resource use = increased retention and persistence

[Guidry, Wade]

Thanks, Howard. Nice article, especially ahead of the AiA.

Reminds me of the issue I've thought about in terms of library metrics over the last few years: cost-per-use analyses, or uses-per-user analyses, VS student-outcomes-per-use.

At least for physical and electronic collections, the first two kinds of metrics are fairly easy to come by, using ILS and COUNTER stats.

But measuring student outcomes based on collection use is difficult without tracking and archiving library user behavior over time. Maybe you can determine if overall, changes in usage data totals correlate with overall grade levels or post-matriculation employment success. But that would be a pretty broad measurement.

For physical collection use, it would be possible to turn off anonymization in the ILS, or delay it, so that individual tracking data could be generated and preserved.

Perhaps delaying anonymization by a month, and offloading user tracking data each month, then anonymizing in the ILS. That would make individual tracking possible, and more secure than leaving the data exposed in the ILS indefinitely. But still a hit on patron privacy.

Otherwise, another option might be having sets of "participant" and "control" groups of students "opt in" to being tracked in the ILS, and then putting them in specific user groups to suppress anonymization. (This technique would be possible in Alma.) You could then correlate their outcomes success against recorded use of physical library materials.

For electronic resources, it's even trickier to try to measure student outcomes. Since COUNTER electronic usage data sources only provide anonymized use counts, and never actually contain user identifiable data.

For electronic resources being proxied by EZProxy, it is possible to use EZProxy logs to tie individual users to electronic resource usage data. But it isn't a technique for the faint of heart, or the time-constrained. EZProxy activity logs are in a really raw data format, and require a lot of munging to become useful for analysis. (People occasionally present on this topic at E-Luna and other venues. And I have investigated the techniques in the past, but have not actually used them for production reports. So I don't have a good sense of how useful or practical ezproxy logs can be for longer term tracking.)

And of course, collection-oriented usage data is just one kind of measure. Lots of other library usage data to consider, like reference appointments, information literacy training participation, and so on. And those kinds of things likely impact student outcomes as much or more than collection use.



[Title: Big Bend Community College Logo]

Wade Guidry
Library Consortium Services Manager
Big Bend Community College
wadeg at bigbend.edu<mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu>

509.760.4474
www.bigbend.edu<http://www.bigbend.edu/>

Big Bend Community College * 7662 Chanute Street NE * Moses Lake, WA 98837-3299


WACTCLC Alma Instance: Alma NA02<http://status.exlibrisgroup.com/>
WACTCLC Primo Instance: Primo NA08<http://status.exlibrisgroup.com/>

From: LIBRARYDIR [mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Howard Fuller
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2017 9:45 AM
To: 'librarydir at lists.ctc.edu' <librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] Library and Library resource use = increased retention and persistence

A nice library article in today's EdSurge newsletter that seems to align well with our upcoming AiA event in Dumas Bay.

Colleges are crunching the numbers and finding that students who visit the campus library or use online library resources are more likely to stay in school and eventually graduate. So more colleges are encouraging library use as part of their strategy for student success.  Full Article<https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-11-17-libraries-look-to-big-data-to-measure-their-worth-and-better-help-students?utm_source=EdSurgeLive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11-22-17&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpobU1qRmhNelJsT0RnNCIsInQiOiJyRTd6YkdBUEdiMzlvdkgybVNLUlgxc2lvNTJUNExOU2tDdjdNdHc1Z1FSeEZKNDI4TDB4M1FpdlA5OEplNXFEbVhpM1FmZFh4SHppNEY3eUc0N2drU256YmRMbFZ0bGMzNWVuV3ljXC9xd3dWeFY0VVlEOHc0MWNIWXArYm9HbkoifQ%3D%3D>


Thanks
Howard

Howard Fuller
Library Director
Whatcom Community College
237 West Kellogg Road
Bellingham, WA 98226
360-383-3295  (library 3300, college 3000)
hfuller at whatcom.edu<mailto:hfuller at whatcom.edu>
library.whatcom.edu

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