Librarian Futures Part II: Author and Researcher Commentary

By Matthew Weldon (EdTech Success Consultant, Technology from Sage)<matthew.weldon@talis.com> and Samantha Sharman (Student Researcher at University of Lincoln)

Introduction

We’re thrilled to have published our latest Librarian Futures Part II report, investigating the knowledge gap between staff and students. We first flagged this knowledge gap in our 2021 report, Librarian Futures Part I, and observed that the knowledge gap is reciprocated both ways: we found that students are unaware of the full amount of support available to them through the library, while librarians are broadly unaware of the emerging needs of students.

In our latest report, we examine this knowledge gap more closely, highlighting areas where students are in the greatest need of additional support and offering solutions. We are able to do this thanks to the generous participation of almost 600 students from institutions across the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Canada.

As we consider the future of the library, we must involve students at every level. In 2022, Technology from Sage were fortunate to work with Samantha Sharman, a student from the University of Lincoln, who carried out research into student attitudes to reading lists which has helped inform our recent report. We are grateful to include Samantha’s commentary here, to give a student perspective on the challenges raised by Librarian Futures Part II.

Findings and Reflections

We asked students to respond to questions across four broad themes: discovery, literacy, scaffolding, and engagement

Discovery

Google is the most popular starting point for students searching for resources, and the majority of students will use Google at some stage during their search. This is likely not a surprise for librarians, although the following may be: most students will not use either the library website or building at any stage of their search for resources.

Librarians looking to drive student usage of library resources might take one of two approaches. The first is to fundamentally change the behaviour of students, moving them away from Google as a discovery tool and embedding the library website and collection in their workflow. Early intervention, as students form academic habits upon arriving at university, might go some way towards achieving this.

However, student behaviour is difficult to change. The second approach, therefore, is to meet students where they already are by placing the library within the pre-existing student workflow. Our data suggests that students would be open to this approach. In our present research, very few students reported feeling as though the library has no role in supporting their studies. In Part I of our Librarian Futures series, we found that 89% of students were positive about the idea of embedding the library discovery process in their workflows.

Student Commentary

One thing I have learnt at university is how absurdly stubborn some students can be, and so the battle to adapt student behaviour resonates with me a lot. There is a sense of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” amongst many students — unless they fail an assessment, they don’t see an immediate reason to develop their skills or approach. Ergo, the only time some students use the library is when Google does not present relevant materials — and thus, in this regard the library is a ‘last resort’ in the eyes of these students.

There is still great value in early intervention of student behaviours. The main reason I myself have been able to confidently engage with resources from the library is because of an incredibly useful talk from our Subject Librarian at the University of Lincoln (Dr. Hope Williard) in my first week of university. This talk primed us on how to use the search tools on the library website, the value of these resources, and other databases our university has access to. It was an invaluable session and helped me and many peers successfully adjust and adapt to learning at university.

Literacy

We found that there were significant intergroup differences in confidence with academic reading, digital skills, and courserelated work. Younger and middle-year students tended to identify as “very confident” fewer times than older and final years students did across categories.

There were also significant differences between firstgeneration students and students who were not first-generation. Non-first generation (non-FG) students identified as “very confident” in academic reading, digital skills, and doing courserelated work significantly more than first-generation students did.

Much of this might not be a surprise – after all, is it not quite natural that younger students would be less confident than older ones, given that older students have had the time needed to develop skills and confidence? However, this data might be informative for librarians considering at whom they should aim their outreach. Understanding who needs the most support, and who stands to gain the most from librarian efforts, will allow for more tailored and effective interventions.

However, we also found that very few students identified librarians as people they would approach for help with academic reading. Furthermore, students placed librarians in the minority when asked to identify who had helped them to grow in the following areas;

• Identifying a good research question or assignment topic

• Preparing an effective search for relevant resources

• Working in a digital environment

• Finding good information

• Getting access to resources

• Reading academic literature

• Understanding data charts and tables

• Referencing and citing academic works

• Thinking critically about the subject

• Writing at a university level.

Librarians could, and perhaps should, put their efforts into outreach – but, if students don’t see librarians as having much to offer in this regard, uptake is likely to be limited. To aid librarian outreach to as many students as possible, we further asked students to report what “extracurricular” training they have undertaken and how they discovered it.

Student Commentary

Learning through trial and error is a key part of university, as students are constantly reminded that we need to be “independent learners” in our studies. This may also explain why students in later years of study are more confident — they’ve had more opportunities to develop their approach.

It’s important to consider that students who have had a positive experience of library outreach may speak to their peers about their encounter and encourage greater interaction that way. Perhaps refining or promoting existing outreach efforts further, as opposed to simply creating several new outreach opportunities, may improve student experiences and encourage this word-of-mouth advocacy of librarian support.

Scaffolding

Most students are aware that there are opportunities for “extracurricular” training available to them, though relatively few actually take advantage of this. A quarter of the students we surveyed did not engage with any additional training, and full-time students reported not participating in any such training significantly more than part-time students did.

This does not seem to be a problem in terms of students not realising “extracurricular” training is available. Most students were aware that additional opportunities for learning exist. Almost half of students discovered this training via email, and recommendations from students and staff were also particularly important for making students aware. Librarians looking to reach students may find this especially useful for driving uptake.

It is useful to understand further the areas where students identified particular difficulties. “Managing time” and “keeping focused on task” were areas of difficulty identified by our research. Additionally, whilst a majority of students reported that “finding relevant resources” is easy, the majority was very slim — meaning just under half of students were either neutral on the issue or reported it was difficult. Notably, across categories, students who identified as disabled reported significantly higher levels of difficulty. Measures taken by librarians to reach students must acknowledge this to help ensure equity of outcome.

Student Commentary

Difficulties with “managing time” and “keeping focused on task” were common sentiments expressed by students in the research when they were asked to elaborate on their approach to digital resources and reading lists. Time and time again, students expressed that they were often “overwhelmed” with the tasks at hand and were often distracted because they didn’t find the material to be engaging.

It is valuable to consider that perhaps, due to already feeling overwhelmed with their workloads, students aren’t engaging with additional training as they feel they simply do not have the time to do so. The issues students are facing all feed into one another, meaning factors beyond the direct sphere of influence for librarians (such as student workload) need to be considered if improving student engagement with the library and its resources is the ultimate goal.

Engagement

Our data shows that most students are relatively engaged with their studies — with generally high confidence when doing course-related work, and generally high levels of student satisfaction. When we asked students to place themselves on a spectrum between “procrastinator” and “planner,” or “distracted” and “focused,” we saw more variance. Efforts to address these are likely to boost engagement and improve satisfaction further.

We asked students “for a typical assignment, how long will you continue searching for a relevant resource until you move on to something else?” The responses were approximately evenly split between “less than 15 minutes,” “15-30 minutes,” and “3060 minutes.” Though librarians may seem the natural group to approach for help with searching for resources, as summarised above, very few students do. Librarians ought to take steps to understand why students fail to identify them as helpers in this regard before taking action to address this.

Crucially, our research found that students who do not identify as disabled use the library significantly more than students who do identify as disabled. Likewise, students who do not identify as disabled also see the library as a place to collaborate significantly more than students who identify as disabled. Again, as mentioned above, to ensure that all students have an equitable experience with the academic library, librarians must work to understand why this is the case and make adjustments to their approach accordingly.

Student Commentary

As mentioned above, during the research it became evident that students struggle significantly with balancing their workload and finding time for all their commitments. Specifically, many expressed an awareness that their personal approach to reading means they spend a disproportionate amount of time on reading certain resources. In addition to understanding why students don’t see them as helpers, librarians need to consider the holistic factors that could be impacting student perceptions and engagement with the library.

Additional Considerations

Our research highlights additional points of interest that do not appear above. We found that a very small fraction of students we surveyed had taken part in training on information literacy. Since this data was collected, there has been an explosion in the field of generative artificial intelligence, with the emergence of tools like ChatGPT. Is it now more important than ever to reach students with training in information literacy? And where might librarians fit in to this?

Mentioned briefly above, our findings also reflected consistent significant differences between first-generation and non-first-generation students across categories. We think these results will be informative for librarians in deciding where to focus their support, as they seem to suggest that students from different backgrounds are having fundamentally different university experiences.

Student Commentary

ChatGPT is currently a huge topic of conversation at university. It’s seen as an easy way to research and write assessments, and many students seem willing to take the risk and use it for official assignments. Exploring how librarians fit into this world of artificial intelligence, and how they can promote good academic practice is a valuable topic to explore in future research.

As a first-generation student myself, I feel like there’s been many barriers I’ve had to overcome when adapting to university. I would love to see more support from librarians for students from widening participation backgrounds, as it would help to improve the university experience of so many students.

The Future

This series of reports is called Librarian Futures. Though our most recent report, as well as its predecessor, highlights significant challenges facing libraries and librarians alike, we are optimistic about the future. Librarians are knowledgeable, resilient, and adaptable. By presenting our findings through these reports, we aim to equip librarians with as much insight and understanding as possible. At Technology from Sage, a vendor of digital services for libraries, the academic library is our North Star. We will continue to work with librarians to understand their needs, and the needs of their patrons, so that together we can meet that future head on.