Goal 2: Information Services

In 2005 the library assisted users to discover resources and develop the skills for independent and lifelong learning through mediated, timely and flexible information services.

Providing coordinated services under the ‘one library’ banner while still meeting individual and faculty needs

Improving the quality of reference services offered at branch libraries

To improve the collation, reliability and appropriateness of the reference statistics a revised methodology has been drafted and will be implemented in 2006. This includes refining definitions to enable reference staff in all branch libraries to record queries in a standardised manner with a view to understanding our patterns of use and monitoring and identifying service trends. Statistics will be benchmarked against other universities using similar methodology.  Further information will be obtained by several statistical snapshots throughout the year.  During the snapshots library staff will record additional levels of detail including the numbers of general inquiries logged at all service points.

Developing roaming help

A project team formed to make recommendations on roaming help services began developing training information, identifying peak times and levels of skill required to extend in-library inquiry services beyond the desk environment.  A number of people were trained in roaming help including library staff and ITS (Information Technology Services) students. The project will initially be used to inform service development in the Berwick Library and Learning Commons and Pharmacy Library.
 

Providing advice about and assistance with using services and collections

Demonstrating the depth of the collections through exhibitions

The exhibition space in the Sir Louis Matheson library supported three major new exhibitions in 2005:

Communism, curated by the Rare Books Librarian Richard Overell, displayed more than 150 items from the collection on all aspects of communism in the USSR, Britain, USA, Indonesia, China and Australia. 

In June the library displayed all Sun Books published between 1965 and 1982.  Sun Publishing was founded by Brian Stonier and the late Geoffrey Dutton and has an illustrious history of original Australian publishing. The exhibition was opened by Mr Stonier who has made significant donations to Monash from his private collection.

In November Aline Scott-Maxwell, Asian Studies Research Librarian, curated a major exhibition Asia, east and south-east, a selection of more than 120 items exemplifying the depth and diversity of the Asian language collections of Monash University Library. The exhibition showcased materials in three broad theme areas: political events and movements, popular and traditional culture, and women, and included materials in a range of formats.

Connections of Sun Books at the opening of the Sun Books Exhibition

From left : Rie Weeraratne and Kumi Suzuki, Asian Studies Research Collection; Bick-Har Yeung, East Asian Studies Librarian at University of Melbourne

Liaising with faculty members about services and collections

An increased number of invitations to librarians to participate in faculty workshops, planning programs, departmental and school meetings demonstrate improved liaison between librarians and faculty members. Library faculty team meetings were held across all campuses and in 2005 several local academic staff attended.

Some initiatives include:

• The Manager of the Law Library attended the faculty’s Research Summit, and provided advice to the faculty regarding the university’s Research Quality Framework (RQF) exercise. A law librarian was assigned to each of the Faculty of Law’s Research Clusters.
• Four librarians attended the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Quality, Learning and Teaching Retreat. They contributed to workshop discussions and greatly increased their understanding of the faculty and its support requirements.
• Librarians from the Business Economics Faculty Team, as members of a faculty group, worked with Language and Learning to develop the Success at Monash new student induction programme introduced in 2005.
• Faculty of Education subject librarians participated in faculty meetings, committees and planning days during the year at Peninsula and Clayton campuses.
• Librarians, in consultation with the School of Music, reorganised the collection’s Mozart material to greatly improve access to individual works. This initiative supported the increased demand resulting from 2005 being the 250^th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.

Evaluating research collection adequacy

A Research Collection Adequacy Working Group was established to create a working methodology for the library to evaluate its research collections. Two initial subject areas, Early Learning and Terrorism, were identified. Both of these are inter-disciplinary research areas with corresponding collections across branch libraries and campuses.

Discussions with faculty academics were an important part of understanding academic research activity and collection strengths and weaknesses.  Insights gained from individual researchers were found to be invaluable in understanding their needs from the collections.  The working group also concluded that such discussions would assist the library in its development of further areas of research support for the university.

Developing academic staff and student information literacy skills

Participating in orientation and information literacy activities

Librarians at all branches continued their involvement with face to face information literacy education sessions in 2005. There were 181 orientation, 349 basic instruction, 677 advanced, and 16 promotional sessions which attracted 21,709 participants. Developments included:

• Participation in online teaching increased.
• Library content, particularly information literacy quizzes and links to the library’s guides and online tutorials, was added to several more general curriculum Monash University Studies Online (MUSO) courses.
• A quiz about plagiarism was added to the revised Citing and Referencing tutorial.
• The EndNote web page was totally revised and updated to assist EndNote users to find current information and files more easily.

In the Library’s second audit of library-produced information activities the reported number of information literacy programs, ranging from single events to multi-sessions programs that were fully integrated into course curricula, increased from 68 in 2003 to 77 in 2005. In 2005 29 programs were associated with some form of assessment, compared with 22 in 2003.

Evaluating an information literacy program

In 2005 the Library undertook an evaluation study aimed at ensuring that information literacy programs are effective and responsive to students’ needs.  A questionnaire was distributed to all students in the new Diploma of Health Sciences course at Peninsula to investigate their levels of information literacy at enrolment and again at the end of the first semester. The initial findings of this project contributed to the development of a short information literacy program within one of the course units. The local data on incoming undergraduate students’ information literacy has also been valuable in the review and development of curricula in other courses.

A common feedback form was designed with the assistance of Centre for Learning and Teaching Support staff to enable systematic collection of information from students which will provide further insight into their attitudes to various aspects of our programs.

Integrating information literacy in the curriculum

Another notable achievement for the year involved liaison with teaching and clinical staff from Nutrition and Dietetics to map the development of information literacy throughout the undergraduate course. The findings of the Peninsula evaluation project were used as a benchmark for incoming students, desirable information literacy levels for graduates were identified, and course assessment tasks were examined for related information literacy needs. Assessment tasks were mapped to the six Australian information literacy standards and reviewed to ensure that the course provides students with a comprehensive and fully embedded information literacy program.

Showcasing teaching excellence

The Vice-Chancellor's Showcase of Teaching Excellence at Monash University included a joint library and faculty presentation on the Skills Ethics and Research unit of the undergraduate Law course. The legal research component was presented by Kay Tucker, a Law Subject Librarian who is involved with the development and delivery of this component.

Developing student centred teaching skills

During the year CeLTS and MUSO supported staff facilitated customised workshops to assist librarians in developing student-centred teaching skills, and in designing quizzes and other learning materials for online teaching. Several Monash University Library librarians also attended the annual CAVAL Information Literacy Seminar, Lifting the lid: Information literacy and academics - challenging the assumptions of librarians.

The Learning over lunch colloquium, a Library and CeLTS initiative to encourage university-wide discussions about learning and teaching, began with a lively session on ‘Teaching the net generation’.

Investigating strategies at Information Literacy Planning Day

The 2005 Information Literacy Planning Day was primarily designed to develop the action plan associated with the Information Literacy Framework. It provided an opportunity to investigate strategies and plan actions at various levels to develop effective information literacy programs across the university. The three areas addressed on the day were:

• Clients: gaining a better understanding of our clients’ learning preferences.
• Evaluation: knowing whether our programs are effective.
• Communication: informing our clients by reaching them with appropriate messages about information literacy.

The day, attended by 57 library staff ended with a research student panel of five students reflecting on information literacy and discussion between the panel and Planning Day participants. 

From left : Kay Tucker, Information Services Librarian at the Law Library; Andrew Crockett, Senior Lecturer in the Law Faculty