The value of free online learning resources: librarians’ perspectives

Back in May, Taylor & Francis spoke to librarians in order to find out what they think about facilitating access to free learning resources alongside traditional (paid-for) resources within their institutions.

The free and reliable resources out there that immediately spring to one’s mind are repositories (green) and open access journals/books (gold), as well as specialised stuff such as information literacy OERs among other things. However, the sheer quantity (and oftentimes very good quality) of all things free on the Web makes it very difficult to identify and reliably capture the same, namely podcasts, videos, presentations, blog entries and wikis.

The report’s findings show some interesting insights, particularly in the ‘requirements and challenges’ department, when it comes to the handling of, and facilitating access to, open learning resources that librarians find worthwhile exposing to their respective user communities.

But first I’d like to highlight some selected key findings that I feel are worth isolating here (the full report can be found here; see Appendix A for the research methodology).

It’s encouraging to see that a vast majority of surveyed librarians (92%) agree that free online content adds value to the learning and research process. Likewise, people would like to see that more money is put towards efforts in surfacing such content (83%). See the chart below for more librarian opinions on various other statements in relation to free online resources.

Figure 1: T&F survey, p. 9, April 2013

Of interest is also to see what factors influence librarians to consequently exposing free resources to their audiences. Relevance (67%) and reputation (49%) are considered most important. Significant is also the expected permanency of content (dead links in subject portals are a common sight).  Interestingly, student requests are considered least important influencers, whereas faculty requests are given more weight. This strikes me as odd as Web savvy students represent valuable sources to tap into when it comes to pinpointing alternative learning resources.

Figure 2: T&F survey, p. 15, April 2013

The survey’s participants also indicated what challenges exist to increasing awareness and discoverability of free Web resources at their libraries. Unknown permanence (39%) and difficulties in managing the growing volume of free content (36%) are considered to be the most pressing issues here; adequate archiving is also of concern (28%). See the chart below for more areas.

Figure 3: T&F survey, p. 19, April 2013

As mentioned above, the Taylor & Frances white paper points out ten requirements and challenges for librarians to facilitating open access online learning resources:

1. Creation and adoption of metadata standards to signal how ‘open’ content is
2. Improved identification of free articles in hybrid journals
3. Permanence of access and reliable archiving for free content
4. Comprehensive indexing of quality free resources by discovery systems
5. Provision of usage statistics for free online content, consistent across publishers
6. Improved integration of free content with link resolvers
7. Development of a wider range of trusted repositories linking to free content
8. Improved user interfaces for accessing library-surfaced content
9. More training and support in information literacy skills for students and faculty
10. Development of metrics for evaluating impact of content (free and paid-for) on institutional performance

A solid start for dealing with the challenges of facilitating access to free online resources is 1) formulate a free-online resources collection policy (see example) including filtering/decision-making workflows and, 2) recruit the help of readily available audiences (academic staff and students) for the purpose of identifying such resources.

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Curation as learning in information literacy

"Curating the information available within an organization is a growing need, and one that learning and performance professionals need to be able to address. We need to be the people that organizations trust to help replace the endless noise with clarity." Steve Rosenbaum, Curation Nation

Curation is not exactly a new concept for libraries; for centuries we have been selecting, organising and preserving information. However, the ability to curate content effectively is now demanded of virtually everyone in today's information rich environment. Recently I have been thinking more and more about the use of content curation as a teaching and learning activity to help develop information literacy in the academic setting.

In its most fluid form, curation is an extension of a traditional annotated bibliography that potentially combines traditional scholarly resources with newer emerging types of information and data such as multimedia and social media. Whilst on the surface this may seem a simple matter of collecting a few links and references, in reality it involves multiple competencies and higher order skills. It requires a good understanding of how information is organised, where and how to find it, and the nature of different types of information. The curator also needs to have a good knowledge of the specific topical area, as well as the ability to appraise sources effectively in order to sieve through large volumes of information. Content curation not only involves finding relevant and valuable information, but also filtering out unnecessary, inappropriate and inaccurate sources. It combines creativity with analytical skills, can be easily applied in a collaborative context, and also provides an opportunity for peer assessment and feedback as individuals or groups can also rate or evaluate the resources chosen by others. 

Curation Flavours
Rohit Bargava discusses 5 Models of Content Curation which show how the basic concept of curation can be tweaked to focus on particular aspects or goals: 

Aggregation - compiling the most relevant information about a particular topic into a single location (this is the type of curation most people think of)
Distillation - simplifying information down to the key or essential ideas
Elevation - identifying a larger trend or 'the bigger picture' from individual posts, articles or details
Mash ups - merging and remixing existing content to create new ideas or perspectives
Chronology - organising information in a timeline to show the evolution of a subject, topic or idea

These different flavours of curation may also help students gain a deeper understanding of the importance of context in sourcing information, for example, the difference between extracting the key idea in a subject compared to tracking the historical context of an event.

The richness and range of information sources today creates both a challenge and an opportunity for the curator, and there are many existing tools and applications available freely on the web which provide intuitive platforms for content curation.

For further reading, try David Kelly's excellent post that collects some of the resources shared on curation at #ASTD2013- Curation: Beyond the Buzzword

Image copyright Welenia, 2011, http://seventhirtyjourney.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/content-curation/content-curation_models/

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Using Google Sites as a subject and resources web portal

I use Google Sites quite a bit – as a Wiki platform for documenting processes and the mapping of workflows etc. It’s straight forward to use, quickly deployed and flexible with the ability to add on some bells and whistles if required. However, using ‘free’, cloud-based services means taking a risk when the same are discontinued (see iGoogle for example which will be offline from November of this year). Likewise, when a bunch of people add, modify and delete content from a shared Wiki, things can go wrong. A workaround for both scenarios here is to simply play it safe and back up your page in regular intervals storing it offline with full integrity maintained. httrack serves me very well for this purpose.

Through my colleague (thanks David!) I came across the idea of using Google Sites as an outlet for designing and publishing subject research and resource guides. When looking at Seth Allen’s reusable template, I immediately thought “nice one”. The selling point here is that it not only offers flexibility (you can embed services from other sources, such as Feds2JS, Zoho Creater or libraryH3lp etc.), but also allows libraries with budget strains and limited tech skill to get a fairly sophisticated web portal up and running rather quickly.

Check out Seth’s presentation below for more details.


Check out Sites Help if you're new to Google Sites.

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Are our students "academically adrift", and what does this mean for academic libraries?

CC Image: Matt Coughlin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18123948@N00/3009788248/

Last week began with the news that Irish Universities could lose up to €50m of funding if they fail to meet key performance objectives relating to student retention, research and matching graduates to the needs of industry. Fortunately, good news came in the form of the 2013 Shanghai Academic Rankings, which placed 3 Irish universities in the top 3% globally: TCD, UCD and UCC (See Brian Lucey's Actually Irish Universities are Outstanding for more discussion). Notwithstanding this, the suggestion that the higher education system may be failing to equip graduates for the 21st century workplace has pervaded discussion at a global level, not just within Ireland, for some time now.

Arum and Roksa's Academically Adrift is just one of many publications that tries to make sense of this challenge. It raises some of the big questions in higher education in the US, which can't be ignored further afield either: What do students learn - if anything - during their time at university? Does the college system reduce or increase inequality?  In short, does the current system actually produce graduates who meet the needs of today's economy? One of the flagship findings of the study is that 45% of students demonstrated no statistically significant improvement in critical thinking, reasoning or writing after completing their first two years at college - the time period when most learning typically takes place. Moreover the gap that exists between low and high performing students on entering college is an enduring one, with the former not benefitting from any 'catching-up' effect. Could the shift towards online education be widening this gap even further? These findings have clear implications for university management, administration and faculty. However, what do they mean for academic libraries?

The root of the problem is arguably outside our control to a certain extent. Many students are arriving at our university gates without adequate preparation for third level education; clearly this needs to be addressed at primary and second levels. As Arum & Roksa note, this problem has been exacerbated by the current culture of "university for all" - even those who may not be particularly suited to, interested in, or committed to, the academic environment. Innovative initiatives like NUIM Library's outreach programme for local secondary students could make a real difference in this area, but rolling out this model more extensively would be too much for current third level library staffing levels to bear.

This trend also reaffirms the view that helping our students to develop information and digital literacies is a key challenge for today's academic librarian. The intuitive nature of modern discovery services can help greatly in how we teach IL. Instead of having to focus on explaining complex database-specific rules and regulations, it frees up valuable time for teaching our undergraduates skills like comparing and contrasting different kinds of information sources, and synthesising evidence to construct and support their own academic voice. However, I do believe that information literacy is something far broader than just the handful of competencies related to critical thinking and reasoning, and we must not lose sight of this or allow it to be diluted.

The truth is, I believe in many instances we are already doing excellent work in this area: supporting college-wide orientation programmes; targeting first years and other at-risk groups; providing subject or faculty liaison services that offer a visible and approachable contact point for students. Maybe we need to be more vocal in articulating the explicit contribution we can and do make in this area? We need to make sure we can also provide evidence of the positive impact of our IL interventions to support our case. However, the more embedded our instruction becomes, the greater the difficulty in extracting and isolating the library's influence from other confounding variables. It is not an easy task, but at the very least it is a conversation we need to start having.

Publish or Perish has become a mantra in higher education in recent times, but what about Teach or Trail? Certainly, scholarly communications and measuring the value of research is an important and evolving area. However the terrain of teaching has also been changing, with new technologies and theories emerging. How are we measuring, assessing and improving our instruction? Perhaps it is time to open up this debate, and look at how we can help support more effective student learning.

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Why Slideshare is my second CPD tool

When it comes to online CPD, I have found that my own learning style is a lot more comfortable with flexible, informal and social learning than more structured programmes like elearning courses. At this stage I have probably signed up for 6 or 7 different MOOCs (some of which I am sure are excellent) but have never managed to get past the second week in any of them. This is not because I'm not interested in learning or I don't care about developing my skills, but rather I just find the format too restrictive; work and other things often get in the way, and once I fall behind it is all too easy to give up.

However, there are other more flexible tools out there that I find incredibly valuable for learning and CPD. Twitter is the obvious one, but Slideshare would definitely be my number 2. Firstly, it is a great source of inspiration for helping you create your own presentations for teaching or conferences. There are some exceptional examples on Slideshare that really show you how good Powerpoint can be when used correctly (here I will reference the many Prezi V Powerpoint debates I have had with librarians in the past :)).

However, it can even be a good idea to create a slidedeck on a topic that you are researching or upskilling in to cement and consolidate your own learning. I have found that putting together information in this format forces you to reflect on the key aspects in a much more active way than just passively consuming information from articles and other media. Also, by sharing it online you can help others too.

The archive of presentations on Slideshare is so extensive now that it includes a wealth of topics as well as many of the major LIS conferences. It makes a great source to dip in an out of for 'just in time' learning when you need a quick overview on a topic that you may not be very familiar with. The variety and richness in users' presentation styles also helps, and it can be interesting to compare and contrast two or more presentations on essentially the same topic.

Whilst tools like Slideshare are obviously no substitute for attending conferences in person, there are a couple of advantages. Firstly, you can just focus on the specific talks you are most interested in rather than the whole programme. This can be particularly useful for interdisciplinary conferences where some presentations may be less relevant. Secondly, a basic Slideshare account (which lets you do most things) is free, I have not yet upgraded to the Pro version in spite of being a regular user, so would be interested to hear from anyone who has, and if they think it is worth the investment.

Social media, so what? Using Social Media for Information Discovery from Michelle Dalton

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If you think social media is free, you're doing it wrong

Why are you using social media in your library? Well, it's free so what is there to lose? The answer is quite a lot actually. Because using social media effectively is a time sponge, and that well-worn equation time = money has never been truer.

Firstly, social media typically needs some form of valuable content, whether it's a well-researched blog post or an attention-grabbing tweet. In short, content costs. Relevant, engaging and valuable content costs even more. You also need to think about how you brand your social media communications; this doesn't mean you need a shiny new logo, but it does mean devoting some time and attention to the consistency of your content, tone and the look and feel across different platforms.

Answering queries at an always-on pace, replying to every comment and RT with a customised and considered response, and taking the time to seek out, follow and understand your users online may be a full-time job in itself if you are working for a large or busy organisation.This is before you take into consideration the time it takes collecting and interpreting your analytics. Add to this the difficulties (read near-impossibility) of quantifying the benefit or impact, if any, of using social media, and the clock starts ticking louder still. How do you justify time that some may see as fruitlessly surfing the internet?

Further still, the more successful you are at using social media, the greater the level of engagement with your users, and ultimately the more time consuming it becomes. So why do we do it? Because information behaviour is changing, and as the balance of power shifts from search to social, failing to establish ourselves in this space could be dangerous. Given this challenge, I think it is better to try and 'do one thing well', rather than ending up with a half-hearted presence across multiple platforms if you don't have the time to devote to a more extensive strategy. There is nothing worse than an unloved Facebook page or a tumbleweed Twitter account. If this is your only option, it may be better to steer clear of social media altogether, or better still focus on the single tool that you think can deliver most in terms of relationship-building, interaction and engagement given your goals. You may need to go back to basics and even ask yourself why you are using social media in the first place. But remember, if you think social media is free, you're not doing it right.

CC Image: Mark Smiciklas

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