Impact of libraries' teaching

The impact project was started in 2011 and concluded in 2015. Its aim was to investigate the impact of the libraries’ teaching on students’ ability to search for and manage information and to critically review sources.

Methods

During the initial phase (2011) focus group interviews were held with students, lecturers and librarians at three faculties at Lund University, with the aim of gathering experiences and views on the libraries’ teaching. This resulted in a description of the current situation. Together with some statistical documentation, the results from the focus group interviews were analysed in relation to an impact model developed by Sharon Markless and David Streatfield and presented in their book Evaluating the impact of your library from 2006.

The results from the analysis of the focus group interviews in 2011 formed the basis of the libraries’ work to improve their teaching and resulted in a number of goals for each library, and various activities to achieve these goals.

Results

From the focus group interviews conducted in 2014, the project has analysed the outcomes of the changes/activities within the libraries’ teaching. These reveal among other things that the students interviewed feel significantly more secure in their information searching, and are more aware of the learning outcomes connected to information management skills. However the same problems in sifting through information persist, as also confirmed by the lecturers interviewed. On the basis of the latest information gathered, new and persistent problem areas have been identified, which can in turn constitute a starting point for new goals and activities to achieve them.

The project has been presented at both national and international conferences.