Research question: (How) do the library’s special collections specifically support and promote teaching, learning, and research?
Project Teams
- Pilot Project: UC Irvine
- Pilot Project: University of Pittsburgh
- Practice Brief: Johns Hopkins University
- Pilot Project: Western University
Project Descriptions
Pilot Project: UC Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI) research report describes their use of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section/Society of American Archives Guidelines and Association of College and Research Libraries Framework to create a Logic Model framework to identify three types of outcomes: initial (attainment of new skills and knowledge), intermediate (behavioral change), and long term (change in status). The logic model was applied to the Humanities Core program, a year-long undergraduate freshman course that gives students an introduction to the development of scholarly research through the use of primary and secondary source resources, to determine if UCI Special Collections primary source workshops are effective in allowing students to achieve the outcomes specified in the initial stage. UCI used entrance and exit surveys as assessment tools. Survey results show that the learning outcomes achieved during the community-centered archives workshop exceeded those achieved during the traditional primary literacy workshop. These findings suggest incorporating more inclusive histories into workshops and discussing the importance of representation in archives improves the student learning outcomes. When students “see themselves” represented in archives, they experience an affective response that impacts how and what they learn through primary source literacy workshops.
Pilot Project: University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh Library System addressed how special collections support teaching, learning, and research. This project developed a toolkit that allows measurement of impact of engagement with primary sources. The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) initially worked with University of California, Irvine (UCI) to develop student learning outcomes based on the ACRL/RBMS–SAA Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy and used a logic model framework to identify three types of outcomes: initial (attainment of new skills and knowledge), intermediate (behavioral change), and long-term (change in status). Pitt studied two successive cohorts of their Archival Scholars Research Awards (ASRA), a semester-long undergraduate scholarship program that matches each student with a University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) librarian/archivist and a Pitt faculty mentor to engage in an in-depth research project. Next, Pitt refined, expanded, and tested the toolkit for use in class visits to assess student learning and archivist/librarian performance in supporting instructor learning goals. The mapping and assessment toolkit Pitt developed may be applied to teaching with primary sources across different disciplines and institutional settings.
Presentation:
Practice Brief: Johns Hopkins University
This practice brief describes the assessment project undertaken by the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University to see how the Freshman Fellows experience impacted the fellows’ studies and co-curricular activities at the university. Freshmen Fellows, established in 2016, is a signature opportunity to expose students to primary-source collections early in their college career by pairing four fellows with four curators on individual research projects. The program graduated its first cohort of fellows in spring 2020. The brief includes a semi-structured interview guide, program guidelines, and a primary research rubric.
Presentation:
Pilot Project: Western University
Western Archives and Special Collections, Western Libraries, examined the use of archival special collections by Western University’s History Department at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as by faculty and post-doctoral researchers. The team’s objectives were to understand the impact of archival holdings and services on Western University’s History Department, understand why they serve certain members of the History Department and not others, and identify opportunities to serve non-users of the archives.
Presentation:
Slides
