Engaging
Business
Students and Faculty
at NMSU

(or Business LI for a solid ROI)

a presentation by David Irvin, MSIS
[press spacebar]

Navigation



To explore this presentation, use the arrows 
at the bottom-right corner of each page. 

About me

Education: 

  • BBA from Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business. Management, Information Systems. Courses include: International business, macro- and micro-economics, finance, investment finance, financial & managerial accounting, and various information systems courses. 


  • MSIS from the University of North Texas' Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. ALA-accredited library school. Courses: Information access & retrieval, organization of information, government information & access, medical informatics, systems analysis & design, digital imaging, information architecture, indexing, digital libraries.

My  Experience


Business experience: 

  • 2 years at a food company startup – Selling, managing, writing business proposals
  • 4 years as a journalist (3 as a business journalist): topics included: The automotive industry, animal agriculture, economic development, REITs, and various startups.

Academic experience: 

  • 6 years in an academic library (4 in a technical service role, 2 in a electronic resources librarian role).

What we will cover today...




1.    Define the question - 

What makes a business student different? 

What is business as a discipline?

2.    Recommendations/ideas

3.    Questions ???






Questions about today's goals? 




Overheard on campus? 





"Business? What does that mean? Why don't you pick a real major?"


-Anonymous humanities undergrad

What is a business student anyway? 



This may seem like a question with an obvious answer, but:


They are what they study: Business Core, companies, accountancy, etc.

They see the world in terms of: $$$

They speak a different language:





Example Reference exchange


Student:

What's the EBITDA of AAPL for Q4 2013? Can you get that in a 10-Q off the SEC's EDGAR for me?


Business librarian: Of course I can, what do I look like, a non-performing human resource over here?


Student: 

Just make sure my ROI is solid. 

Well, ok, but ...



Learning to speak the language of business students is one of the essential skills of specialized reference in this area. It is also part of engaging with faculty - gaining trust, building meaningful relationships, and creating opportunities for collaboration.


Best Practice: Learn the language. 

But: Know when to refer.


Reference topics



Company research

Industry research

International business

Government sources

Investment finance

Strategic questions

RUSA (Reference and Users Services Association) Guidelines




1.1  Ensure the information services staff has the knowledge and preparation appropriate to meet the routine business information needs of the library’s clientele, and/or is trained in the appropriate referral techniques and made aware of reliable alternative resources for business information questions ...




Business reference and service section, 2013


Profile of a business student


In a review of the work of Anna Vedel, who conducted a meta-analysis on research about undergraduate personality traits, we get some insight into business and economics students. 

Vedel scored various majors on these personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness

Business and economics students tended to be less agreeable than those in other majors. 

Also, less neurotic. 

Khazan, 2016.





What is business? 









everything


"Space Station Flyover of the Mediterranean (2016). Image of the day. NASA. Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/space-station-flyover-of-the-mediterranean

big ideas ...



We live in a time of unprecedented economic change, gains in information technology and the ability to make data-centric decisions. 

Business touches almost every aspect of humanity and the planet.It is involved in how and what we eat, how we see, how we get medical attention, how we communicate.

It is where we encounter our greatest villains, and it also holds the keys to saving our most precious resources. 

Business is an instrument for accomplishing all manner of things, and for some - like Elon Musk - it is a vehicle for bringing electric cars to the masses and (possibly) colonizing Mars.

open minds






We may be able to say some things about business students' personality traits, the language they use, and the way they approach problems, and the help they seek -- but their motivations are all over the board. 


Why Information Literacy Matters to Business Students/Faculty


We all experience information overload/fatigue in our personal lives. Businesses experience it as an inability to discover the information or data to make operational decisions.

    • "... businesses are only able to make effective decisions when they have relevant and accurate information. Information is the fuel for effective decision making." (Booker, Detlor & Serenko, 2012, p. 2503)


Data-driven businesses -- which means all businesses of scale -- want to recruit individuals who are information literate. 


Best Practice: Create spaces/services that business students want



1.    Collaborative spaces

2. Trading desks? 

3. Business database licenses

4.    Others? 


Example: SPSS (statistical analysis) software licensing. When we lost the licensing at McLennan, we lost the patrons.

Business Students' Perception of Library Service & Quality


"... service quality has a direct effect on customer satisfaction which, in turn, influences library customer loyalty" (Hsu, Cummings & Wang, 2014, p. 137). 


"If campus libraries can allocate their limited resources to be more relevant to the current student population, specifically in the areas of staff professionalism, customer service, modern equipment and facilities while strategically expanding their on-campus and online holdings, then service quality for students will improve in the end and student users are more likely to utilize the library's offerings." (my emphasis)(p. 143)




Best practice: Build a great feedback system



"To address the increasing pressure to meet library patrons' needs in the academic library, librarians should adopt a consistent system that can reflect a quick, accurate view of library services." (Hsu, Cummings & Wang, 2014, p. 138)


Not only with Return on Investment be greater when the student receives excellent instruction, reference help, and other kinds of library services, that student will also Return to the Library.



Ideas for a feedback system


as a way to engage faculty ...

  • Implement a survey applet on the IL classroom computers. 
  • Implement a survey applet in online courses.
  • Collaborate with faculty to discover ways to encourage feedback participation.
  • Follow up with an email to faculty members, pointing out where the LI was critiqued, and ways we intend to improve in that area. 
  • Others?





Additional research





Include business-specific questions on a general library survey instrument. 


Conduct focus groups with business students to learn about perceptions of service quality and IL instruction. 

Best practice: Collaborate with Faculty to Create Information Literacy opportunities



"Effective library instruction is not done in isolation. Collaborating with faculty on assignments and learning objectives can lead to successful library instruction sessions." (Strittmatter, 2011, p. 96)



Best practice: Engage business faculty meaningfully and often. 



Engaging faculty



In their office
In their faculty meetings
On the phone
By email

Through reference service
Through collection development
Through collaborative research project development



Co-develop research projects and keep up throughout the semester


Collaboration on creating research projects leads to greater engagement, better LI, and more meaningful relationships with business faculty.

"McLinnis Bowers et al. (2009) collaborated with professors to redesign research assignments in an introductory business course. Students completed a research workbook that served as preparatory work for their final research paper. The librarian and business faculty met throughout the semester to ensure that the students had the information needed to conduct a well-planned and well-executed research project" (Strittmatter, 2012, p. 96). 


Strittmatter's three-step Business LI plan



Session 1: Discussion of ethics and academic integrity, including reviews about plagiarism.

Session 2. Evaluation of information resources. - Students worked in groups to evaluate business resources online and in print. 

Session 3: Introduction to APA format (or whatever the professor wants) and instruction in the style. 


Strittmatter, p. 98-9

Best practice: Get LI early in the curriculum


Booker, Detlor & Serenko studied how information literacy instruction influences the adoption of online library resources by business students.

 

"… findings suggest that the ILI received by business students is only beneficial in reducing OLR anxiety and increasing OLR self-efficacy in the initial or early stages of OLR use. Results indicate that business students quickly reach a saturation point where more ILI contributes little, if anything, to reducing OLR anxiety or increasing OLR self-efficacy. After this saturation point, it is the independent, continuous use of OLR that creates a continued reduction in OLR anxiety and a continued increase in OLR self-efficacy." (p. 2516)

Why so early?


Outreach and IL is more effective when it is early in the process. In order to make the biggest impact in terms of driving students to the library resources and helping them succeed, we need to establish great relationships with the professors who instruct in the early business core, particularly those courses that have semester-ending or regular research projects. 

In those IL courses we should let the students know that we will be there throughout their career for advice and research help, and give them materials that are easily understood and easily retained so as to drive student adoption of online library resources. 

The 1, 2, 3 of Faculty Collaboration & Engagement


1. Identify key courses and faculty: Attend business faculty meetings to discover changes in curriculum or approach.

Personally visit key business faculty.           

2. Engage faculty with specific research collaborations - (Implement a similarly structured three session IL course into the basic business courses, by contacting the faculty, working collaboratively with them to define the outcomes and come up with assignments where possible) - per  Strittmatter. 

3. Execute on the plan



Best Practice: Discover what they (business faculty) want:





Research into the information seeking behavior of Texas A&M business faculty provides some data into the question. The survey, which is described in Hoppenfeld & Smith (2014), could be replicated at NMSU.

Discover what they want, and work within budget constraints to get those resources. 

Searching behaviors of TAMU business faculty:


Data intensive projects:

Wharton Data Research Services (47%), Library databases (28%), Company source (25%), Survey (25%)

Methods:

Scholarly literature (52%), Statistical modeling (50%), Survey (36%), Field work (21%)

Web sites:

Google Scholar (67%), Library databases (31%), Social Science Research Network (17%), Library Web site (17%) . 


Hoppenfeld & Smith (2014)




Collection development 

as outreach



Providing the research tools that business faculty need will create synergies: 

  • More face time/phone time
  • More trust
  • More collaboration
  • More meaningful relationships
  • More LI 
  • More library use
  • More student success

Best Practice: Make sure the technology works


Asynchronous online courses pose challenges for librarians, professors, and students. Work with business faculty to make sure distance education students can access online resources early in the course. 

"Simplify the process of connecting remotely to library resources when it's technically possible. Improve instruction and personal assistance when t is not." (Markgraf & Erffmeyer, 2002, p. 112)

"Access to reference service will be improved when it is readily available during times that DE students tend to need it, such as evening and weekend hours. (Markgraf & Erffmeyer, 2002, p. 112)

Best Practice: Tune and retune online offerings


1.  When you fill out your business database offerings each year, take a look at the products that have good online tutorials and link them back in the LibGuides.

2. Dispose of the old, useless, or untimely tutorials.

3.  Develop new tutorials for those resources that do not have useful tutorials already.

4. Each semester, review that the LibGuides are appropriate, up to date, that they address the courses that are being offered that semester.

5. Make sure that links to outside sources are live, not broken.

6. Edit these at the template level as possible, to improve the ability to quickly develop new, accurate, and working LibGuides. 

Best Practice: Create JIT LibGuides







Business acronym decoder: Just-in-time






Templates, Templates, Templates




1. It may be possible to structure the Business LibGuides to match the structure of the core business curriculum


2. Develop detailed, interchangeable, on-time deliverable LibGuides templates for specific course offerings


3. Set benchmarks to achive greater granularity each semester/year revision

NMSU Business School Programs


  • PGA Golf Management
  • Marketing
  • Management
  • International Business
  • Insurance Studies
  • Information Systems
  • General Business
  • Finance
  • Economics
  • Accountancy


Retrieved from: http://business.nmsu.edu/academics/



References

  • Booker, L. D., Detlor, B., & Serenko, A. (2012). Factors affecting the adoption of online library resources by business students. Journal Of The American Society For Information Science & Technology, 63(12), 2503-2520 18p. doi:10.1002/asi.22723 
  • Guidelines for business information response. (2013). Reference and User Services Association. The American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/business
  • Hoppenfeld, J., & Smith, M. M. (2014). Information-seeking behaviors of business faculty. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 19(1), 1-14. doi:10.1080/08963568.2014.852906
  • Hsu, Maxwell K.; Cummings, Richard G.; Wang, Stephen W. (2014). Business students' perception of university library service quality and satisfaction. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, v7 n2 p137-144 2014
  • Khazan, O. "My Major, Myself." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 25 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
  • Markgraf, J. S., & Erffmeyer, R. C. (2002). Providing library service to off-campus business students: Access, resources and instruction. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 7(2/3), 99. 
  • Strittmatter, C. (2012). Developing and assessing a library instruction module for a core business class. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 17(1), 95-105. doi:10.1080/08963568.2012.630645

Further reading

  • Arguello, N. (2013). Secondary marketing research certificate: Library collaboration with the college of business and marketing faculty. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 18(4), 309-329. doi:10.1080/08963568.2013.825559 
  • Bowers, C. M., Chew, B., Bowers, M. R., Ford, C. E., Smith, C., & Herrington, C. (2009). Interdisciplinary synergy: A partnership between business and library faculty and its effects on students' information literacy. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 14(2), 110-127. doi:10.1080/08963560802362179 
  • Campbell, D. K., & Cook, R. G. (2010). An experiential market research analysis: A partnership between teaching and library faculty. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 15(3/4), 171-178. doi:10.1080/08963568.2010.487433 
  • Culley, J. D., Healy, D. F., & Cudd, K. G. (1977). Business students and the university library: An overlooked element in the business curriculum. Journal Of Academic Librarianship, 2(6), 293-296.
  • Senior, H., Wu, K., Martin, D. M., & Mellinger, M. (2009). Three times a study: Business students and the library. Journal Of Business & Finance Librarianship, 14(3), 202-229. doi:10.1080/08963560802370867 

 


 

Thank you!





you can reach me at dirvin79@gmail.com




Information Literacy defined
"Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning" (Introduction to Information Literacy, n.d.).


Question: What is basic literacy?



Operate your "self"


Information Literacy is about empowerment - as a  college student and in your everyday life.

If you want to successfully operate your life, you need to know where you lack knowledge and how to get that knowledge.  
  • Becoming information literate allows you to become "self-reliant, self-directed, autonomous learners throughout"  your life (Wolfe, 2015). 


Operate your society


Society is changing at such a pace that it is impossible to know everything about any given field -- this is true in academics, business, politics, and culture. 

So it is critically important to learn the skills of continual learning, or you will have trouble keeping up with changes occurring in society and your chosen academic field. 

Overcome information overload


We are constantly bombarded by information, leading to "information overload." It is a disempowered state in which we all live to some degree. It results from too much information, from questionable sources, for unknown purposes:

  • Marketing
  • Newsfeeds 
  • Search Engines

Question 1: Where else does information come from? 

Question 2:How do you know what to believe and what to discard? 

What's wrong with having more information? 


While the goals of the companies that deliver you information every day seem admirable, it is also true that they are in the business of information exchange. 
  • Usually that means - Your personal information for free online services. 
  • But it also means - Money (from advertisers) in exchange for information promotion.
  • Question : How do you tell the difference? 

A Path to Information Success



Know

Access

Evaluate

Use

Ethical/Legal

Source:  http://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/infolit/standards/steps

Knowing







Question: Do you know what you are looking for?



Knowing (cont.)


Here are the three key questions to answer:



  1. What do you want to know? ___________________________________
  2. What kind of information? _____________________________________
  3. How much information? _______________________________________





Adapted from: "The Standards: Step-by-Step."

Knowing (cont.)


Example 1:  "I want to write a paper about David Bowie." 

Bowie was ...

A performance artist
A social advocate
A cancer victim
A musician
A producer
A Brit

A better topic statement would look like this:
"What innovations did David Bowie bring to 1970s Rock Music?"

Knowing (cont.)


Example 2:"I want to write a paper about poultry farming."

Poultry farming includes topics related to:

Meat safety
Animal welfare
Antibiotics
Production standards
Business aspects
Best practices

Let's come up with a better topic statement. 

Access




 


Question: Do you know where to look? 

Access (cont.)


Here are the important questions to answer about access: 



    1. How can I get this information? _________________________
    2. Choose your search terms: _____ & _____ & _____ & ______
    3. Choose the resources: ____________ & __________ & ________



Adapted from: "The Standards: Step-by-Step." 

Access (cont.)


Time to think about search keywords:

Example 1: David Bowie, the musician
Topic Statement: "What innovations did David Bowie bring to 1970s Rock Music?"
________,________,_________&_________

Example 2: Poultry farming, meat safety
Topic Statement: "What federal regulations ensure meat safety in the Poultry industry?"
________,________,_________&_________

(For more, look at the ACC Library's tutorial about finding the best keywords): 

Access (cont.)


Choosing the resources to search

Example 1: David Bowie, the musician
(biographical resources, newspapers, music databases)

________,_________&_________


Example 2: Poultry farming, business aspects
(business resources, agriculture databases, newspapers)

________,_________&_________


Other Sample Research Topics

________________

1.  James Webb telescope.
2. Gun Violence in America.
3. The Syrian Civil War.
4. Infrastructure spending in Texas.
5. Water quality and fracking.







IL Course Citations


  • "Introduction to Information Literacy." Association of College & Research Libraries,       n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2016. Retrieved from  http://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/infolit/intro
  • "The Standards: Step-by-Step." Association of College & Research Libraries, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2016. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/infolit/standards/steps
  • Wolfe, K. S. (2015). Emerging Information Literacy and Research- Method Competencies in Urban Community College Psychology Students. Community College Enterprise, 21(2), 93-99.



Lesson Review and Discussion



  • Importance of Information Literacy
  • Know your need
  • Get access



You can reach me at 
dirvin79 (at) gmail.com



Engaging NMSU Business Students and Faculty (or Business LI for a solid ROI)

By dirvin79

Made with Slides.com

Engaging NMSU Business Students and Faculty (or Business LI for a solid ROI)

Strategies for student and faculty engagement, presented April 8, 2016, at NMSU, by David Irvin

  • 21

More from dirvin79