Kathryn Ray

The JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

Describes key aspects of the methodology and outcomes of the JISC User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework in its first three annual cycles (1999‐2002). The Framework was initiated to assure the JISC that their investment in digital content and network infrastructure facilitates use and learning, and to identify barriers and facilitators to the use of electronic information services (EIS). Key Framework outcomes are: a multi‐dimensional across sector methodology for the continued monitoring of user behaviour in respect of EIS and the factors that impact on that behaviour; a profile of user behaviour in respect of EIS over the three annual cycles of the Framework; the EIS Diagnostic Toolkit that can be used to benchmark development in the provision and use of EIS in specific disciplines or at specific institutions; a methodology for monitoring, and a profile of the EIS resources available to higher and further education users; and a summary of some of the key issues in their provision. The challenge for the future is the embedding of EIS in curricula and learning experiences.

Using action research to investigate the use of digital information resources in further education

Within the Third Annual Cycle of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, six small‐scale action research interventions were undertaken in further education (FE) institutions. The aims of these interventions were two‐fold: (i) to develop understanding of the facilitators and barriers to the use of digital information resources by students in FE; (ii) to test the value of the action research approach in facilitating change and developing transferable knowledge in this context. The objectives for each intervention were developed in collaboration with the FE college site staff and students. The process generally involved identification and elaboration of the problem situation, development of an intervention that might help to overcome some of the barriers to more effective use of electronic information services and evaluation of the outcomes of the intervention. Both practical–deliberative and participatory action research methods were used, with interviews and focus groups used to determine the problem and assess the effectiveness of interventions. Six interventions are reported. These included: a database implementation, the development of a subject guide, training sessions, a major change project and a web site. The main findings on the use of digital information resources in FE were: (i) interventions can make the students more aware of resources available, but the immediate impact may be low; (ii) FE students are often part‐time and work in subject/cohort groups in the FE college, therefore targeted initiatives which are aimed at ‘their’ group are likely to be most effective; (iii) incorporation of the use of specialized digital resources in assignments is constrained by student preference for books and/or the Internet, a lack of new products aimed at the FE student market and physical information technology (IT) problems or the perceived lack of IT support. The action research methodology offers benefits not available through survey‐based methodologies. The challenges that arise from the integration of learning from different action research projects need to be balanced against the benefits accruing from embedding learning and knowledge creation in innovation and using research to promote change, rather than simply to measure it.

Providing access to electronic information resources in further education

This article aims to provide a baseline for future studies on the provision and support for the use of digital or electronic information services (EIS) in further education. The analysis presented is based on a multi-level model of access, which encompasses access to and availability of information and communication technology (ICT) resources, access to and availability of EIS resources, and the third leg of staff skills and their development. The research was conducted within the third cycle of the JISC (Joint Information Services Committee) User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, in 2001/2002. Evidence was gathered from library and information service web sites and various stakeholders, including library and information service staff, academic staff and students to generate insights into the provision of access to EIS in further education. Sector-wide funding initiatives have had a significant impact on ICT infrastructures, and these attract a positive response from students. EIS are represented on some library web sites but both web site development and EIS availability is very much less advanced than in higher education. Staff, however, lack sufficient dedicated access to ICT to be able to develop their own skills and use. There remains a low level of access to electronic information resources, with only limited access to these resources through library web sites. LIS managers face a number of challenges in enhancing this provision, including licensing arrangements, tight budgets that need to be spread across many discipline areas, and the absence of EIS designed specifically for the further education student. The other key challenge lies in the provision of time and opportunity for academic and LIS staff to develop their ICT and EIS skills, and, more generally in the further development of the role of Information and Learning Technology (ILT) Champions.

The need for a converged approach to EIS provision? Evidence from the JUBILEE project

This paper reports and reflects upon a number of the findings and issues emerging from evidence collated to date as part of JUBILEE (Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) user behaviour in information seeking: longitudinal evaluation of electronic information services), a significant, ongoing UK research project. The evidence is largely based on analysis and interpretation of the qualitative data from the research, with discussion focusing on information seeking behaviour and information skills in relation to electronic information sources. The background and aims of the research are outlined, succeeded by an exploration of the differing types of information technology (IT) skills needed by users to ensure effective use of electronic information services (EIS). Finally, extrapolating from the research data, there is consideration as to how these IT skills can be effectively developed in the higher education environment. Referring back to the title of this paper, a stress is placed on the importance of a converged, “joined up” approach to EIS provision.

Modeling Service-Seeking Behavior in an Academic Library: A Methodology and Its Application.

The modern library is an ensemble of information services. The ways that its users choose and move between its services can be investigated and the picture so obtained complements that obtained from surveys on the effectiveness of individual services.

The bidding culture in the UK public library – a case study approach

Effective participation in the competitive bidding arena is one of the main vehicles for securing the necessary additional funds to maintain and develop UK public library services. This paper documents the extent and scale of bidding by public libraries and presents areas of good practice emerging from research into the effects that the bidding culture has had on the development of English local government archive, library and museum services. Key findings suggest that approaches to external funding should be strategy‐driven taking place within a framework of purpose and rationale; that success is often highly dependent on the leadership and networking skills of library managers; and that partnership working should be encouraged and adopted. Successful proposals should demonstrate the benefits and credibility of proposers to deliver; provide evidence of properly resourced project management including methods of monitoring and evaluation; explicitly address the relevant funding criteria and be well‐researched and carefully planned.

Evaluation, impact and outcomes – the JUBILEE project

The paper is based on a presentation made at Northumbria Lite, the one‐day session held by the Northumbria Performance Measures Conference series team at IFLA in Glasgow, August 2002, on the invitation of the IFLA Statistics and Library Theory and Research Roundtables. It has been supplemented with some up‐dated figures and graphs. Dr Linda Banwell, Director of the JUBILEE project, gave the presentation, which focuses on evaluation in JUBILEE, with specific reference to the derivation and representation of impact and outcomes for library services.

The LOGOPLUS project: a seamless transition?

Presents the findings of the LOGOPLUS project. The aim of this project was to ascertain to what extent the move to unitary authorities during the 1995‐1998 re‐organisation of local government was seamless for public library users and staff. Case studies were undertaken in nine local authorities. Representatives formed the Steering Group which identified the following significant areas of change to be investigated: politics, finance, integration, co‐operation, staff, communication and users. Research findings have indicated a number of success factors which contributed to seamlessness: councillors and managers who were committed to the provision of excellent services; transitional finance sufficient to cover the process of the change; effective leadership; clear definition of mission and goals; multi‐skilling where appropriate and supportive users. However, some libraries have suffered because councillors or managers did not have a clear vision; there was insufficient finance; managers were not good commun...

Accessing electronic information in UK further education: Findings from JUBILEE in FE, a JLSC‐funded research project

The further education sector has been exposed to many changes during the last decade, including the development of a National Information and Technology structure, an increasing emphasis on ‘lifelong learning’, ‘key skills’, collaboration and regional planning, changes in funding arrangements and growth in student numbers and wider participation. Growing emphasis on the use of Electronic Information Services (EIS) in teaching is forcing academic staff to acquire and expand their ICT and information literacy skills. In the course of this paper some of the main barriers and impediments faced by academic staff in the present climate are discussed as identified by the JUBILEE research. These included access to technology, staff attitudes and skill levels and the focus of available EIS. Enabling access to EIS has emerged as a pivotal aim and the research found that through the implementation of an informed EIS strategy, effective communication and awareness raising, tailored user training programmes, and embedding EIS into the curriculum, the ability of users to access and use EIS effectively is enhanced. The necessity for further education institutions to succeed in this aim is vital given that, in an increasingly digital world of information, access is the key.

Bidding for records: local authority archives and competitive funding

If competition, in the form of Compulsory Competitive Tendering or the Local Management of Schools, for example, was a key feature of the so-called new public management of local government in the 1980s, competitive bidding for funds would in turn become a characteristic of the public service managerialism of the 1990s. Resource allocation by competition has become a reality of contemporary public policy. The decade saw the introduction of many such schemes, the best known in the field of urban policy perhaps being initiatives such as TEC Challenge or the Local Initiative Fund (1991), City Challenge (1991), the Single Regeneration Budget (1994), Estates Renewal Challenge (1995) and Capital Challenge (1996), to mention only a handful of examples. The advantages of allocating funds in response to competitive bids, rather than by traditional methodologies revolving around census-derived statistical indicators of ‘need’, were deemed to include less bureaucracy, cost savings, better value for money, more innovative, enterprising and imaginative proposals, sharper strategies, greater flexibility, more local choice and enhanced responsiveness as well as greater policy integration through partnership. Critics, on the other hand, pointed to finite and diminishing resource bases, the substitution of core funding with opportunistic funding, the large financial and human costs of bidding, fragmentation, and the distorting allocative and distributional effects of sexy bids, glossy submissions and slick presentations succeeding at the expense of genuine indicators of local need. Local authority archive, library and museum services have not been insulated from these developments. Indeed, some of the earliest challenge fund initiatives such as the National Heritage Memorial Fund (1980), The Arts Pairing Scheme (1984) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF, 1994) all addressed aspects of heritage provision. Over recent years, funding from a diverse range of bodies such as the Department for Bidding for Records: local authority archives and competitive funding