Marketing BI in Physics Libraries. How to get the classes you've always wanted and your users need. Michael Fosmire

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Joshua Miller
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1 Marketing BI in Physics Libraries Or How to get the classes you've always wanted and your users need. Michael Fosmire "The Physics Department has never had a BI Session." "Physicists have always been hard sells for BI." "My students are smart; they can figure it out." "They can just as you for help if they need it. Isn't that what you are there for?" "I need all my class time for covering the material." The above statements are ones I'm sure you've all heard. Your library colleagues don't think you can get BI done in the physics department, and your faculty don't think it's important. But, the same people that tell me they don't need BI, are the same ones that still enter one-word searches and then sift through 10,000 hits in the catalog, search engine, etc., and STILL THINK THEY ARE DOING A GOOD JOB. I feel that we need to help students to understand what the potential of information gathering and organizing is. If they are going to be lifelong learners and scientists doing original research, they need to be able to find their own information. Science is only getting more competitive, and users' ability to build on others' work instead of re-inventing apparatus, theories, results, etc., can be the crucial difference between being a prominent, well-funded, researcher, and one scrabbling to get a permanent full-time job. With this conviction I have been trying to shoehorn my way into the classrooms of my physics faculty, and I want to share some of the experiences I have had, and insights from other PAM members through the survey I put out on PAMNet a few months ago. As I was developing this concept, I ran across an article in College and Research Libraries (Leckie and Fullerton, 1999, 60, p. 9-30) that surveyed science departments' faculty to see what their expectations of student abilities in handling information was. % of Faculty Indicating BI Necessary In Year: Department Nursing Chemical Engineering Earth Science 80 67

" "I need all my class time for covering the material." The above statements are ones I'm sure you've all heard.

2 Computer Science Math Physics/Astronomy Statistics Even though all the PAMs ranked right at the bottom of the charts (out of 16 departments) during years 1 and 2 of the undergraduate career, and didn't move up much in years 3 and 4, the percentage for physics in that second division is encouragingly high. I should note that the survey was of two Canadian Universities, so the results are not necessarily universal. So, some of the purpose behind my survey is to see a) if 2/3 of students actually get BI, and b) if our (librarians) perceptions of student needs are the same as the faculty. My Survey Results 40 were returned, with a 40% return rate on mailed surveys. 80% of respondents were PhD granting universities. What BI do we do? 1/3 of Undergraduates have a university wide required BI program, and 13% more have physics specific instruction. 1/2 of graduate degree offering respondents said they offered BI. Almost all are as part of new student orientation. But, only 1/4 of actual graduate students receive instruction, and 10% of undergrads are exposed to physics specific instruction. How do we do it? 80% of classes involve tours. 100% involve demonstrations of or lectures about specific resources. 100% have handouts 20% involve a conceptual class (e.g., information literacy) 20% involve automated tutorials

I should note that the survey was of two Canadian Universities, so the results are not necessarily universal.

3 What do they need? % respondents perceive students use: Type of Resource Undergraduate Graduate C+RL Result Journal Book Review Article Indexes Handbooks Encyclopedias Popular Literature Preprints (incl. eprints) N/A Web Searching N/A OPAC Searching N/A So, it looks like our perceptions of needs are similar to faculty in this coarse comparison. (Although it is interesting to note that librarians feel students make more use of reference materials, while faculty think they use more of the material in the stacks.) However, the actual number of classes taught is much different between the two. People use the resources, but only 50% of undergraduates get "general" training, and 10% of undergraduates, 25% of graduates get training on physics resources. One Approach to Getting Classes is Marketing This isn't crass, Madison avenue, glitz and mirrors marketing, but logical, thoughtful appraisal of what potential markets exist for doing instruction, and how to take advantage of those opportunities to get the sessions. The hardest class to get is the first one. There may be lots of failures before you get a class. What are the steps in the process: Identify the Market: Who are your potential users? Can you segment your market into types of users--target special needs Are their points of needs

44 52 25 Popular Literature 16 16 19 Preprints (incl.

4 --syllabi of courses --research courses --required courses (so you can reach everyone) Once you find Markets, you can target them specifically and put more effort into 1 or 2 courses, rather than spreading yourself thin, sending out blanket s/flyers to everyone or try to reach everyone individually. Also, try to be creative in finding instructional opportunities. Fill seminar space. Everyone has trouble filling up every week for their seminars. Let them know you are available to pinch-hit (given sufficient notice), or fill a space on their calendar. Volunteer for SPS meetings. Students are in a bigger bind for finding speakers. They don't even have a budget to get off-campus people to show up. And this group is usually very motivated/research oriented. Create your own seminar in an off-week. If a seminar is only scheduled once every two weeks, jump in and schedule your own for the off week. The faculty are used to traveling the trails to the seminar room at that time anyway. How do you Convince People to Let you Teach Their Students? Rogers (Communication of Innovation, NY: The Free Press, 1971, p. 233) identifies five stages in an individual's process of accepting an innovative idea. Awareness: Make the concept known. Interest: Show successes, promise good outcomes. Evaluation: The individual weighs the value of the service being provided. Trial: Starts a pilot project to see how it goes. Adoption: Full scale acceptance of the idea. Awareness: This is the stage where you let people know a service is available. This can be done through: mass s, signs in libraries, stories in newsletters, presentations at department meetings. It is the preliminary work, so when you broach the topic they will have heard of it before. This seldom ends up getting people to respond, however, (just like junk mail has a low response rate). Interest: This is where you personally target likely candidates with focused descriptions of what you can offer, and what it will mean to them and their students. Possible ways to pique interest: Find out what they assign/do and show them a new resource

Everyone has trouble filling up every week for their seminars. Let them know you are available to pinch-hit (given sufficient notice), or fill a space on their calendar. Volunteer for SPS meetings.

5 Build on the sucesses of yourself and others. Shamelessly trade on other people's accomplishments. Give the candidate references to other satisfied faculty, either in your department or in others. Bring in guest speakers Show them on-line course syllabi from other people's web sites. Work with your institutional user-instruction librarian (if you have one) They can offer advice for ideas, and how to inject interactivity and dynamism to your classes. Remember not to overextend yourself. If you promise too much and can't deliver, it will ultimately be worse than if you were starting from scratch. Evaluation: The faculty member gauges what the cost/benefit is. Let them know they can expect: More coherent, diverse papers Lifelong learning skills for students Bring out your institution's Information Literacy Goals, if they are clearly articulated and concise, and show the target what you can do for them and their students. Trial: This is your big chance. The faculty member decides to give it a try, maybe for one section of their classes. Remember not to overextend. Don't commit to too many sessions, and allow for enough prep time to make a good talk. Follow up on the talk: Show an interest in how you did Did the professor notice a difference in the final product? If you had problems, let the professor know, and let them know your ideas for making it better next time. Adoption: "Let's do this every year." Those magic words. But, no resting on your laurels. Keep developing the classes you have so they stay indispensable to your students and faculty. Tackle another market segment. Consolidate your gains, and expand to the next area. Conclusions: Yes, physicists are a hard sell, very hard. But the need is still there to create effective information gatherers and organizers. There are not enough classes being taught to fill those needs. It takes a lot of effort to launch a BI initiative. Perhaps the marketing model will help to break down the process of implementing a BI program into manageable steps. You can see the progress you are making, even if you haven't gotten an actual class to teach yet.

Work with your institutional user-instruction librarian (if you have one) They can offer advice for ideas, and how to inject interactivity and dynamism to your classes.

6 Michael Fosmire Physics and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Librarian 1530 Physics Building Purdue University West Lafayette, IN (765)

Information literacy in mathematics undergraduate education: Where does it stand today? Appendix A--The Survey Instrument

Information literacy in mathematics undergraduate education: Where does it stand today? Appendix A--The Survey Instrument Mathematics Information Literacy Survey Q1 Implied Consent to Participate in Research