Jisc case studies wiki Case studies / Transformations Bodleian Libraries University of Oxford
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Transformations Bodleian Libraries University of Oxford

Project Name: Ask ALF

Lead Institution: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

Project Lead: Angela Carritt and Oliver Bridle

Video description: Creating a mobile library induction from problem to solution

 

In this project we aim to tranform library orientation for Oxford undergraduates by developing an online library induction designed primarily for mobile devices to run alongside improved "face to face" inductions and tours. The mobile induction will allow students to access key information for their first term at point of need. The project will bring together Libraries across Oxford in a more joined up approach to induction which will improve our "face to face" inductions as well as allowing us to develop a mobile induction which puts the needs or readers first.

 

Please note that we originally intended to call our online library induction "Ask ALF". However, during the project we changed this to "Library Assistant for Oxford Freshers".

 

Background

 

Aims and objectives

The aim of this project was to transform library orientation for undergraduate students by developing an online library induction designed primarily for mobile devices which would run alongside improved face to face library inductions and tours.

 

Our key objectives were:

  • To create an online induction covering all of the libraries relevant to Oxford undergraduates irrespective of organisational structures within the University
  • To create an induction which is available to all undergraduates at point of need and which can be referred to frequently. 
  • To focus on key information that Oxford undergraduates need in their first term including guidance on:
    • Which libraries to use, where to find them and opening hours
    • Understanding reading lists and finding items
    • Common services and facilities shared across libraries
  • To transform “face to face” library inductions and tours by adopting a “joined up” approach across Oxford Libraries and by freeing up time to concentrate on high value subject specific information and the unique features of each library.

 

Please note that we originally intended to call our online library induction "Ask ALF". However, during the project we changed this to "Library Assistant for Oxford Freshers" (referred to as "Library Assistant" throughout this case study).

 

Context

Students at Oxford University are served by a large number of diverse libraries including College and Departmental Libraries and the 30 Libraries which make up the Bodleian Libraries. Through these libraries undergraduates have access to world class collections and services to support their learning. However, whilst the scope and diversity of library provision in Oxford is one of the University’s strengths, it is frequently confusing for undergraduates transitioning from relatively small school libraries.

 

Oxford currently supports new students by running face to face library inductions including tours and short talks during Freshers’ week. Each library runs a separate induction, with undergraduates typically attending 2-4 sessions depending on their subject area.

 

Working to improve induction in Oxford is tricky because of the diversity of the libraries involved, ranging from relatively small libraries to large research and copyright deposit libraries such as the Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Science Library. This is exacerbated by the fact that the libraries do not all fall under the same management structure, each College Library for example being independently managed by its College governing body.

 

The business case

 

The following business cases were identified:

 

Oxford Libraries need to improve undergraduate induction to ensure that students are able to complete demanding reading assignments from the first week of their course. To do this successfully, freshers need to get to grips with the Library resources available to them quickly and easily. Student focus groups have shown that face to face inductions are successful in introducing the libraries' physical spaces, library staff and basic search tools but that they are inadequate as the sole means of orientation. In particular:

  • Students experience information overload during Freshers’ week. This makes it difficult for them to retain detailed information about library services and facilities
  • The timing of induction is problematic with inductions typically taking place too early when students do not have sufficient context to understand how the information they are receiving relates to their course or too late, after they have already submitted their first paper
  • Attending multiple library inductions is time consuming and information is duplicated
  • Supporting information is difficult to find because it is scattered across different library web sites
  • Some students miss induction due to timetabling conflicts

 

In addition, Oxford Libraries recognize that there is an increasing demand for services to be delivered to students at the point of need and in particular for services and material to be available from mobile devices such as Smartphones and Tablets. This is supported by figures from the Office of National Statistics' which show that in the UK over 80% of 16-24 year olds (the target group for Oxford Library inductions) use mobile phones to access the internet (1)

 

Oxford Librarians are also concerned that their is significant duplication of effort across the Libraries. By working more closely together and by using an online induction to cover common services and facilities, Librarians can use the face to face time we have with students to focus on high value subject specific information and the unique aspects of our libraries.

 

Key drivers

 

A number of external drivers for change were important in motivating this project. In particular, the rapid increase in the use of mobile devices to access the internet is driving the Libraries' efforts to develop services for delivery to mobile. In addition, sharp increases in student fees are driving improvements to student services, particularly around orientation.

 

JISC resources/technology used

 

JISC Resource

How we used it

JISC Mobile Learning Infokit
The Mobile Learning Infokit was useful throughout our project. It was particularly important in our decision to develop "Library Assistant" as a responsive web site rather than as an app. In addition, we used the “10 steps to Mobile Adoption” to frame and guide our project development. Stages in the project Ganntt chart were developed to match with this 10 step plan. 
Erewhon (Mobile Oxford) 
The JISC Erewhon project developed the “Mobile Oxford” portal for Oxford University. We intended to build on the original Erewhon project by developing “Library Assistant for Freshers” as part of Mobile Oxford. This turned out to be problematic for technical reasons and so ultimately "Library Assistant" was created using the Bodleian Libraries' Content Management System (CMS). However, we did work with the Mobile Oxford team in the early part of the project, which ensured a commitment from them to carry prominent links to “Library Assistant” and allowed us to share the team’s experience of designing for mobile delivery. 
Change Management InfoKit 

In this project, we brought together staff from a wide range of libraries many of which have individual cultures and approach induction differently. The Change Management InfoKit has been useful in helping us to identify the different cultures in operation and in understanding how to work with these.

 

In particular it was important to get staff on board using “negotiating” and “educative” strategies which enabled the staff involved in induction to participate in planning “Library Assistant” and in thinking about changes to face to face induction.

 

In addition, in effecting change it was important to identify and focus on points of similarity across the Libraries. These emerged during staff focus groups and included core beliefs that:

  • Improving students' early experiences of Oxford Libraries and enabling them to make the best use of our libraries is our primary goal
  • Face to face induction is important and should continue alongside “Library Assistant”
  • The most important aspect of face to face induction is making the libraries less intimidating to new students and ensuring that they know who to ask for help
  • Students experience information overload during Freshers week and librarians should seek to minimise this by working together.

 

Identifying these common beliefs was useful in creating an environment in which staff were open to change.

Sustainability Toolkit 

The JISC Sustainability Toolkit was useful in helping us to overcome resistance to change. In particular, we used the three stage approach to “unfreezing resistance to innovation” by:

  • “Providing evidence that the status quo is not OK” – we were able to do this by presenting evidence of the shortcomings of existing induction arrangements identified in student focus groups, as well as demonstrating the demand for mobile library services.
  • “Connection with things they [staff] care about” – From the staff focus groups it was clear that staff care that new students should find the libraries as easy to use and friendly as possible. In particular, staff want to reduce student anxiety about using the libraries and ensure that students know who to ask for help; they want to help students get to grips with complex library systems and services and they want to reduce information overload. Having identified these priorities we were able to connect these with “Library Assistant”, in particular demonstrating how “Library Assistant” can help students become familiar with systems and services at point of need and reduce information overload. It was acknowledged that face to face induction is particularly effective in reducing student anxiety by introducing the Libraries’ physical spaces and library staff and that by using “Library Assistant” to cover common services and facilities we can focus more on these aspects during face to face induction.
  • “Provide a sense of psychological safety” – throughout the project we were careful to emphasize that “Library Assistant” would not replace face to face induction.

 

Outcomes

 

Achievements

 

One of the most important achievements of this project was bringing together librarians from across Oxford. In the past each library has developed its own induction and libraries have often been unaware of the coverage of each others' sessions, leading to some topics being omitted whilst other were duplicated. During this project librarians have come together to focus on the needs of students and to think about how we can improve induction across Oxford. As a result, we have not only gained a much better understanding of library induction but also a consensus that we should work together rather than in silos. It is hoped that this joined up approach can be extended to other areas of Library activity. One member of college library staff said:

 

"Key to mobile induction is a focus on the outcome. What do we want our library uses to be able to do, how do we want them to use our libraries, how can we help them access the wide range of resources that are available to them in Oxford. How wide can we cast the net so that as many students as possible use the libraries that are available to them. Even the simple asking of the question has meant that librarians across a range of libraries have had to think and collaborate and work together towards a common purpose. That's a great start and model for other projects. Involve, consult, communicate and collaborate and look at Oxford as a whole"

 

Pairing down the vast amount of information about Oxford Libraries to the essential information required by undergraduates in their first term was another major achievement. This was accomplished by running student and staff focus groups and card sorting exercises. The student focus groups were particularly important in establishing the key information needs of new students and main areas of difficulty. Staff focus groups took these results and used card sorting exercises to sort topics into meaningful headings and structures, which were then tested with students during usability testing on paper prototypes. (See appendices for further details of how the card sorting exercise informed the final structure of Library Assistant).

 

Securing time for this project was another major achievement, particularly as the Bodleian Libraries web team which took on the technical work, was heavily committed to a web redevelopment project running at the same time as this project. We are particularly grateful to the the Bodleian Libraries web team for accommodating this project alongside their other commitments.

Benefits

 

The key benefits of this project have been:

 

  1. Undergraduate students now have access to an online induction that they can use at point of need and to which they can refer frequently. This benefit will only be fully realized with our next major intake of students in October 2013. However, students participating in usability testing, were very positive about the online induction and were confident that it would be beneficial for new studentsOne student said "I would appreciate having this, which I could have on my phone and bring around with me when ever it actually comes to trying to look for a library or when I'm trying to figure out how to get access to the system or trying to find out who to ask"
  2. Student focus groups which have taken place as part of this project have given us a better understanding of the needs of new students and the particular challenges that they face. This information has been shared across Oxford Libraries, allowing us not only to develop an effective online induction and improvements to our face to face inductions, but also to foster a greater awareness of the needs of new students among staff and service providers.
  3. During the project, staff from across Oxford Libraries have come together to discuss induction. We now have a better understanding of what is being covered in our face to face inductions and a commitment to working more closely together. In particular, there is a greater understanding of the core topics covered not only in the mobile induction but also in the Bodleian Libraries face to face inductions. This will ensure a better experience for undergraduates with less duplication of content.
  4. The project has been beneficial in allowing us to develop our expertise in designing responsive web sites for mobile devices. In particular we have gained experience of writing concise content and developing phone sized graphics and drop down menus.
  5. As part of the project we have improved the “Libraries Database” which delivers information about the location, opening hours, contacts, admissions and subject coverage for over 100 libraries. In particular, this has improved location information and maps on the Bodleian Libraries institutional web sites as well as on Library Assistant.
  6. The project has been beneficial in giving us more experience of marketing services to undergraduates and in particular the benefits of using professional graphic designers to develop publicity and promotional materials.

 

Drawbacks

 

Our original intention was to build "Library Assistant" as a component of an existing mobile portal for Oxford University, “Mobile Oxford”. This was desirable because we wanted to minimize the number of entry points for Oxford students and because it would have enabled us to collaborate with Mobile Oxford on advertising. However, it was important for Librarians to be able to write and update content easily via our Libraries' CMS in order to ensure long term sustainability. We had hoped that we would be able to export content to Mobile Oxford using an API in our CMS. However, this turned out to be problematic because important formatting information was lost. We have therefore developed a separate mobile web site using the Libraries’ CMS. Whilst this has been beneficial in terms of sustainability and developing the Libraries’ experience of designing for mobile, it is a drawback in terms of the proliferation of mobile web sites within the University.

 

Another drawback is that the induction only serves undergraduates and there are already demands for similar inductions for postgraduates and visitors. We foresaw this from the start of the project and considered developing the induction for "all readers". However, a key objective of the induction was to focus on essential information needed by undergraduates during their first term at Oxford. Building an online induction for all readers would have resulted in a much more complex and information heavy web site which would have been difficult for undergraduates to navigate and would have presented them with irrelevant information. The project team is confident that the decision to limit "Library Assistant" to undergraduates only was correct. However, we do now need to consider how to cater for other groups in the future.

 

Similarly the induction does not include detailed information for specific courses, other than the "Which libraries should I use?" look up tool which enables students to identify the main libraries covering their subject. In some ways it would have been beneficial to include more detailed subject information, for example on specialist e-resources but again this would have made the induction more information heavy and complex to navigate. Instead we decided to focus on common services and facilities in "Library Assistant" and by doing so, to free up time in the face to face induction for subject specific input. 

 

A minor drawback was that we were unable to implement a Library open/closed facility in "Library Assistant". This would have allowed students to see at a glance which libraries were currently open or closed based on date and time. Unfortunately, this proved impossible due a lack of standardisation in opening and closing arrangements across the libraries, which made it difficult to fit them into a simple matrix. This is something we will return to in the future.

 

Key lessons

 

During this project we have devoted considerable time to engaging and communicating with students and staff across the University. Working closely with students has ensured that "Library Assistant" focuses on their needs. Meanwhile engaging with staff has paid dividends in creating a commitment to change across the Libraries. Having JISC funding for this project has also allowed us to buy in time from graphic designers in order to run a professional marketing campaign to engage students. The key lessons from this project are:

 

  1. Talking to students is important in order to get a good understanding of their needs
  2. Its important to engage and communicate with staff and to give them ownership of the project in order to bring about change
  3. Having a proper marketing budget is essential in designing publicity materials which will engage students
  4. Flexibility is important particularly when meeting technical challenges

 

If we were starting this project again, it would be beneficial to identify the most appropriate technical teams early on. Our focus on working with Mobile Oxford early on in the project wasted valuable time. In addition, we had not anticipated the need to involve the Bodleian Libraries’ web team who were already heavily committed to another project. This could have been a serious threat to the project, but was averted by the flexibility of the Bodleian Libraries web team in accommodating our needs.

 

Looking ahead

 

Looking ahead it will be important to maintain the sustainability of "Library Assistant". In particular we will need to ensure that the content of "Library Assistant" is reviewed annually and that we run a marketing campaign each year to ensure that new students and library staff are aware of it. These tasks have been allocated to the User Education Coordinator and the Induction Working Party which consists of library representatives from across Oxford.

 

In the run up to the new 2013 academic year, it will be important to ensure that Librarians' earlier commitments to work together to create better face to face inductions are carried forward into the sessions that we run in October.  We are facilitating this with workshops in August and September at which we will showcase the final version of "Library Assistant" and bring Librarians together to finalise our induction plans.

 

There is already substantial demand for mobile inductions for other library users such as postgraduates and visitors. In developing inductions for these groups, we will be able to re-use much of the content that we have developed for "Library Assistant" and the expertise that we have gained in the project. However, the Induction Working Party will need to think carefully about how inductions for these groups can be sustainably created and to provide appropriate guidelines.

 

We hope to share what we have learnt during this project and in particular the experience we have gained in meeting the needs of new students, designing for mobile devices and marketing services to students. Although we have already been active in sharing our experience with colleagues in Oxford, we hope to share our experiences with the academic community more widely in 2014.

 

Appendices

 

Mobile Library Assistant for Oxford Freshers - http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/assistant

Ask ALF project blog

Library Assistant - Creating a mobile library induction from problem to solution (video in swf format)

Comparing menu arrangements in Staff Focus Groups - Results of the card sorting exercise

Final structure of Library Assistant

 

References

1. Office of National Statistics 2013, Internet Access - Households and Individuals 2012 part 2. (Office of National Statistics)

 

Acknowledgements

 

Ask ALF project team including:

Angela Carritt

Oliver Bridle
Alison Prince

Tessa Shaw

Kerry Webb

Sonya Adams

Craig Finlay

Louise Clarke

Bodleian Libraries Web team including:

Alison Prince

Dan Q