Pam here, I was excited for this session as it was presented by a graduate from the University of Sheffield's distance learning programme: Library and Information Services Management, Federica Signoriello from the European University Institute, Italy. Sheila and I both taught Federica, and it's lovely to see her in person rather than on a screen! Federica spoke about statistics collected from 10 years of information literacy teaching at the European University Institute, which only has doctoral students. They have a calendar of information literacy teaching and also offer individual support sessions. They use the SCONUL annual statistic return format so they can benchmark against other institutions. They collect quantitative data on the amount of training offered, staff hours used for this purpose and the number of learners taking part. They also gather qualitative feedback through user surveys and informal feedback.
For a small institution, small changes in provision can make a big impact, for example, in years where they take part in academic writing month, they have more sessions. Having a person dedicated to do outreach work to advertise IL sessions increased engagement. The online offer developed over COVID was very popular. The data reveals that communication is key, and that social media is an important platform for marketing their information literacy sessions, as there are restrictions on emailing large number of students.
They get good attendance from students who are remote to the university for online sessions, and sometimes they offer the same session both online and in-person. They have always paired taught sessions with individual consultations, the so-called "boutique approach". They have also invested in informal events such as tours and cafes, a Christmas event, etc, which help create good relationships with learners. Individual support sessions often focus on very niche requests, which then prompt the team to develop new LibGuide support.
The qualitative feedback reveals that learners are generally happy with the support offered, and users had several suggestions for sessions they would like e.g. AI tools for research and productivity. Some suggestions mean that staff have to develop competencies in new tools, e.g, GIS, so they often reach out to others in the institution to help develop teaching. They also exchange sessions with other universities in the city.
Some reflections at the end: data collection is laborious, but it helps to have one person dedicated to this task. It's helpful to analyse long-term trends, as this supports the allocation of resources. They intend to collect statistics related to the production of asynchronous materials and answering emails.
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