Poster Board Number: 14
Title: Library Education Programs: Restructuring to Reach More Students, One Library's Perspective
Objective: Education programs are a very important part of a library’s overall services, but what is the most effective structure for these programs? This poster will discuss one library’s transition to offering more classes that are shorter length on topics geared toward the novice and will evaluate the impact this transition has had on the library’s education program overall.
Methods: The educational offerings of medical libraries across the country were investigated through their websites to garner insight into the length, frequency, and topics of classes to inform the beginning phase of the restructuring. After this phase, librarian knowledge of their own user groups was drawn upon to determine class topics, and attendance data were used to help establish the popularity of each class and inform the program director how often each class should be offered. Additionally, using patron requests and attendance data, class topics were evaluated for value. This resulted in a shift from both novice- and advanced-level classes being offered to almost exclusively novice level. The measures used to evaluate the impact of these changes may include attendance data, student demand for future classes, and librarian interviews for their perspective.
Results: During the first year of classes that occurred after the changes were made, the library was able to offer 63% more classes than the prior year and had an increase of 75% in class attendance. In-demand classes, as determined by class attendance and wait list length, had increased offerings, and almost all advanced level classes were eliminated. The content covered in each class was reviewed and changes made so that content could be taught in the shortened amount of time. Finally, additional classes were added to the curriculum. The new classes were added to the curriculum based on librarian knowledge of the educational needs of their patron groups.
Conclusions: Overall, the changes made to the library’s education program have provided increased educational opportunities for library patrons. By adjusting the length of time of each class offered, the library has been given greater flexibility in the number and types of classes offered.
Author: Victoria H. Goode, Clinical Informationist, Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
