[LIBRARYDIR] Articles on library value

[Samantha Hines]

There's a definite value judgment present in Zoe's blog post about using analytics that's been well-discussed in critical librarianship. I just read yesterday Karen Nicholson's keynote from the Canadian Libraries Assessment Workshop that was referenced by Zoe (https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fimspres/49/) that outlined a lot of the concerns in a really readable way. Much of it has to do with student privacy (as I think was clear in the pieces Zoe referenced) and also how an overemphasis on data can lead to focusing on the wrong things in academia, i.e., an overreliance on doing that which can be easily measured and treating education like a business rather than a learning endeavor, which was more Karen's focus in her keynote.

I (and probably all of you), as a library director at a community college, can't reject metrics, but I can be cautious and deliberate about what data we collect, why and how we collect it, and what we do with it. Aryana, your statement about viewing it as a teaching effort is in my opinion the best way to consider it.

My thoughts,
Sam
---
Samantha Schmehl Hines
Associate Dean for Instructional Resources and Library Director
Peninsula College
1502 E Lauridsen Blvd
Port Angeles, WA 98362
(360) 417-6275 | shines at pencol.edu



From: LIBRARYDIR [mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Bates, Aryana
Sent: Tuesday, January 2, 2018 9:19 PM
To: WACTC Library Directors <librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: Re: [LIBRARYDIR] Articles on library value


Interesting.  Thanks for sharing, Erica.  The timeline is certainly useful.  I wonder, from the tone of the blog post, whether there's a value judgment being made about libraries' "complicity" in using analytics that it is important to pay attention to. I guess I'd be interested to hear what others think about the ways in which using analytics is problematic.  I think we can't avoid using data and that there is value in evidence...and I think it is important to be savvy and cautious about expecting data to tell the whole story...as with any teaching effort.

Aryana



Aryana Bates, MLS, PhD

Dean of the Library, eLearning, TLC

North Seattle College


aryana.bates at seattlecolleges.edu<mailto:aryana.bates at seattlecolleges.edu>

206.934.3612



________________________________
From: LIBRARYDIR <librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> on behalf of Coe, Erica <ecoe at olympic.edu<mailto:ecoe at olympic.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, January 2, 2018 2:56:45 PM
To: WACTC Library Directors
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] Articles on library value


Hello all,



The CLAMS newsletter led me to a blog for Zoe Fisher.   Zoe was a librarian at Pierce, and recently returned there as an Instructional Designer.  In her recent post, Libraries & learning analytics: A brief history<https://quickaskzoe.com/2017/11/10/libraries-learning-analytics-a-brief-history/>, she provides a timeline with links for readings that may be of interest as you consider using and sharing library data to demonstrate value to the college.   I shared this with my librarians also.



Wishing you all a fantastic 2018!



Thanks,

Erica






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/librarydir_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20180103/ebf4fb8c/attachment-0002.html>