Eating the

Elephant

Linda Jones

University of Portsmouth

First identify your elephant

Target the problem

Access

Referencing

Identify stakeholders & recruit teamReferencing @Portsmouth (R@P)(University-wide initiative)

Academic Skills Unit

Department of Curriculum & Quality Enhancement

Dissertation Supervisors

Faculty Librarians

Floor manager

Library Web Developer

Body in the Library (BiL)(Departmental pilot)

Academic Course Leader

Faculty Librarian

Library Assistant (NVQ candidate)

Department of Curriculum & Quality Enhancement Web Developer

Analyse the problems: Referencing

Look for a solution: Referencing= R@P

Analyse the problems: Access

Look for a solution: Access=BiL

Start smallThe benefits of a soft launch

R@P was piloted as a in-house Access database of queries and answers.

R@P started with the basics, i.e. how to reference a book, an article, and a website using the most widely adopted system. It

grew as it attracted queries.

BiL was aimed specifically at one study skills unit with little or no publicity.

Think big

R@P has grown to cover both OSCOLA and Vancouver and is still expanding to cover new resources.

It is now being linked to by numerous other institutions including our partner colleges, franchised courses and other universities.

Think big

BiL is being adopted within the piloting department for campus based students.

We are tailoring further editions for Digital Forensics and Forensic Accounting.

Utilise existing assets

R@P was initially based on an existing printed guide.

BiL linked to many of our printed guides.

Utilise existing assetsBy kind permission R@P links to both the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations, Cardiff Citing the Law and Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities.BiL also links to some of our own information literacy “nuggets” such as The Information Literacy Landscape and Captivate demos.

Utilise existing assetsThe original idea for a virtual BiL came from an actual Fresher’s Fair event.

Our Web Developer came up with the idea for R@P’s selection tool whilst shopping on eBay.

Spend time on the designThe majority of BiL is generic guidance but actual resources and links to personal help are designed to be easily changeable.

Spend time on the designThe selection tool in R@P means that it can cope with an expanding range of resources and formats with no extra work.

Spend time on the designIn R@P each style utilises the same style sheet adapted to the specific system

The design makes it easy to emphasise common general principles.

Collect feedback and utilise it

With R@P we initially collected comments from staff and students:-

“It is the best thing about the University.”(Politics student)

“…has made my responses more efficient. I can in some cases simply point the enquirer to it, rather than using my response to

model references.” (Academic Skills Unit lecturer)

“It has really helped me understand what I am supposed to be doing.”

(Criminology student)

“The definitive guidance.” (Lecturer)

Collect feedback and utilise it

Now with R@P we use:-

New queries via the Contact us link to generate

additional guidance pages.

Logs of failed searches to identify useful examples

or items which need better indexing.

Collect feedback and utilise itWith the pilot of BiL we monitored use with

Google analytics:-

Launch of ICJS Course Induction

Centre

Study School

Linda promotes resource finding on discussion boards

Collect feedback and utilise itWe have also collected together some audio feedback to use

in promoting the resource next year:-

Sarah FranBSc Crime and Criminology MSc Counter Fraud &

Counter Corruption Studies

Lisa BSc Crime and Criminology

Alan KevinFD Police Studies MSc Criminology

Celebrate Success

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Hits on R@P by over academic years from August 2006- mid May 2010.

2006-7 2007-8 2008-9 2009-100

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Series1

Celebrate SuccessHits rates on R@P growing year by year.

Celebrate Success

The projects have been publicised with posters and

presentations at internal Teaching and Learning

Conferences.

Library staff involved in both projects have been given

Contribution Awards, Teaching and Learning Awards.

The projects have been mentioned in presentations at

Umbrella and LILAC conferences and have been

written about in various professional journals.

Be prepared for unexpected consequences

My email inbox has shrunk, although I doubt all the predicted 420,000 Referencing@Portsmouth hits

were really heading my way. Perhaps a more realistic plus is that access queries were down by

two thirds with the launch of the Body in the Library.

So are my elephants sliced, diced or tamed?

Perhaps, but …The Library has acquired a reputation for

imaginative and creative problem solving and for

delivering on projects.

Library staff have developed a liking for working

‘outside the box’.

I have been energised in my work on information

literacy.

What next?I am:-

currently involved in a bid to pilot a scheme for student information literacy mentors in our Business School.

involved in work on multi-level, cross-unit subject hubs in our VLE for Criminology.

looking at developing some guidance on developing Law dissertation proposals.

still nursing an ambition to develop a RLO on‘Weighing the Evidence’.

What’s that on the horizon?

No elephants were harmed in the making of this presentation

butuntil 4th July there is time to capture

one of your own on film.

For more information seehttp://www.elephantparadelondon.org