What they don't know can help you

Creating information sessions based on a pre-assessment of students' library knowledge

Katherine Hanz, McGill University, Montreal, Canadakatherine.hanz@mcgill.ca

Jessica Lange, McGill University, Montreal, Canadajessica.lange@mcgill.ca

Do you assess your students prior to library workshops?

What do students want to know?

Background on McGill

Background on Libraries & IL @ McGill

Our Pre-Assessment Activity

Activity Challenges

So what?

Sample Population

• 13 sections from 5 classes in the Faculty of Education and Continuing Education

• 12 undergraduate and 1 graduate class• Over 200 questions collected

Methodology• Questions collected and entered into Excel• Each question assigned a number• Questions randomly sorted• Questions coded according to classification

scheme• Questions analyzed by semester and month

Classification Schemes

Type Code Definition

Unknown ? Unclear, unable to understand (e.g. question unintelligible)

Directional D1 McGill as a whole (e.g. Where is the gym?)

D2 Library related (e.g. Where are the printers?)

D3 Website (e.g. Where do I click for journals?)

Policy P1 Library policy (e.g. How many books can I take out?)

P2 Availability of resources (e.g. What kind of business resources do you have?)

P3 Technical (e.g. How do I access databases off-campus?)

P4 McGill policy (e.g. How do I get my transcripts?)

Reference R Research instruction (e.g. How I find articles on educational policies in Quebec?)

Classification Scheme

Results

Overall question breakdown

? D1 D2 D3 P1 P2 P3 P4 R0

10

20

30

40

50

60

# of questions

September vs. October

? D1 D2 D3 P1 P2 P3 P4 R0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

September October

%

Fall vs. Winter

? D1 D2 D3 P1 P2 P3 P4 R0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

FallWinter

%

Observations

Discussion

Questions?

Katherine HanzLiaison Librarian, Education Library & Curriculum Resources Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Canada katherine.hanz@mcgill.ca

Jessica LangeLiaison Librarian, Howard Ross Library of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada jessica.lange@mcgill.ca

Contact

Slide 1 &3: Questions Proposal by Eleaf, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eleaf/2536358399/)

Slide 5: A Lovely Field at McGill University by RecoilRick (http://www.flickr.com/photos/magneticmediafed/3756094077/)

Slide 7-9: UF Chalkboard Green Chemistry Laboratory by cdsessums(http://www.flickr.com/photos/csessums/4423278525/)

Slide 13: Score! by bigbirdz (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigbirdz/4352536575/)

Slide 17: observation desk by lvvaldzenl (http://www.flickr.com/photos/46157135@N06/5482578577/sizes/m/in/photostream/)

Phot

o Cr

edits

Slide 6, 19, 20: by Klaus Fiedler, McGill University

Slide 12 : Book crease by liza31337 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizadaly/2511734190/)