Dave Pattern (@daveyp) and Bryony Ramsden (@libraryknitgirl) talking about the JISC funded Library Impact data project.
Wanted to look at how usage and non-usage of library resources affects degree outcome. Initially looked at University of Huddersfield data only. Examined visits to the library, and found it pretty equal no matter what the outcome (in terms of degree classification). However, when looking at book borrowing and e-resource usage, saw higher levels of use linked to higher level of achievement. Note, clear that there is correlation, but just looking at these stats doesn’t say anything about causation.
JISC funding gave opportunity to expand study across 7 more universities, and to look at the Huddersfield data in more depth.
When doing the study, had to make sure data protection issues were considered, and made sure data was anonymised. Much of the data released online at http://tinyurl.com/lidp-opendata – encourage others to play with it.
Analysis of data showed that there is a relationship between use of library resources and academic achievement. To back up the statistics, did more qualitative investigation via focus groups. Found discipline differences – e.g. Arts students tend to do a lot of ‘in library’ use, and also do a lot of web browsing for images etc, but not logging into ‘library resources’.
What next? Want to:
- do more analysis of relationship at course level
- how to target staff resources more effectively
- impact of reading lists and recommendations
- look feasibility of a national level service which you could load data to and get analysis back
Would expect find similar findings across other Universities – and independent research in New Zealand (and elsewhere?) back up the findings.
Q & A
Q: Did you look at drop out from University in light of library use?
A: No, but could do that in the data
Q: Have you considered other causation possibility
A: Yes – did explore some aspects on this in focus groups. Clearly overall outcome is affected by many things, so library usage can only ever be one part of it