Leo Appleton

Perceptions of electronic library resources in further education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report upon the design, implementation and findings of a research study investigating the perceptions of electronic library resources within the UK further education sector. While such resources are widely available to the sector, very little qualitative investigation has been done as to its impact upon teaching and learning and how it is viewed by those who have access to it.Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a case study in which staff and students at three separate further education colleges are encouraged to explore and share their experiences of using electronic library resources. This is achieved through structured interviews with teaching staff and focused student discussion groups. Extensive reference to relevant literature is also employed as a method.Findings – The findings of the research are entirely qualitative, and are reported through a sequence of annotated quotations, which reveal personal experiences and perceptions of using electron...

Using electronic textbooks: promoting, placing and embedding

Purpose – The paper illustrates the experiences of both academic and support staff in the use of electronic books within a higher education setting. The case studies report upon practice at Edge Hill College of Higher Education, which has allowed for successful e‐book development strategies to be employed in teaching and learning within the college. The paper will deal particularly with e‐book marketing, implementation and evaluation strategies, as well as embedding e‐books into virtual learning environments (VLEs).Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports upon two significant chapters within e‐book development at the college. The first of these is an initial evaluative e‐book research project, from which strategy and policy were formulated. The second part of the paper introduces case studies in which the findings of the initial research impact upon the embedding of e‐books into teaching and learning and subsequently into the colleges VLE.Findings – User evaluations provide qualitative analytic da...

Developing learning landscapes: academic libraries driving organisational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons and drivers for academic libraries affecting university strategy with regards to shaping and developing learning spaces in response to changing pedagogic behaviours.Design/methodology/approach – A review of available literature within the context of academic libraries and their position to influence and lead institutional strategic change. This theory and practice is addressed and evidenced by four case studies of university libraries in the UK.Findings – Many UK academic libraries find themselves able to lead on and influence their institutions strategic direction with regards to teaching, learning and research. This is particularly the case in the design and development of learning spaces within the university. Academic libraries are in a unique position within a university with a view to observing student behaviours, being responsive to ever changing demands from academics and students, spotting trends and benchmarking against comparative i...

We Said … We Did!: A Partnership Approach to Developing Library and Student Support Services.

This article discusses the UK higher education environment and how increasing student expectations have led to students engaging with their academic institutions as partners. The differences between consumerist and partnership models of engagement are discussed and the article includes a UK-based case study which illustrates how effective student partnership relationships and practices can be beneficial for the development and continual improvement of academic library and student support services. The case study provides practical examples of effective partnership initiatives which can be applied to a wider group of university professional services areas.

Assuring quality using “moments of truth” in super‐converged services

Purpose – Bringing together diverse areas of a university means having to work with several different methods and frameworks for measuring and assuring quality and identifying key performance indicators. The Business and Strategic Planning area of Library and Student Support at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has been involved in such a case study, and this paper aims to present the findings of this work, which may be of interest to performance measurement practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – This paper applies a case study approach, in that the background of the institution and change management programme will be clearly presented in order that the subsequent overview of the performance management work can be placed into context. The newly‐formed department already had several quality assurance and user satisfaction measurement instruments which were being used within the constituent parts of the service area (i.e. LibQUAL, SCONUL benchmarking exercises, Matrix assessment, enrolment survey...

LolliPop for Learning Resources: Information Literacy Staff Training within Further Education

This paper looks at how the provision of information literacy training is supported in the further education sector. Using a case study, the results demonstrate how an online information literacy programme can be used as a staff development tool, in order that Learning Resources staff are better equipped to support students in their information literacy needs. The online programme was also used so that staff could become familiar with the institutional virtual learning environment (VLE), again in order that they are able to better support students.

Qualitative methods for engaging students in performance measurement

In the modern “student focused” university setting, quality assurance and continual service improvement have become more and more important in the delivery of academic library services. Working in partnership with their students, academic libraries can enable meaningful engagement, through qualitative methods which allow individual students to contribute to performance measurement activities and service development. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how qualitative methods can be used to engage students in the performance measurement activities of academic libraries.,Through a review of relevant literature, discussion around the main themes and some case study examples, this paper illustrates how effective student engagement through qualitative methods can contribute to the quality assurance, performance measurement and ultimate service improvement of academic libraries.,The paper focuses specifically on focus group and reflective methods and also details some elements of user experience (UX) which brings together different qualitative techniques available for academic libraries. The paper concludes with a feature case study which discusses how meaningful student engagement was achieved through a large-scale UX project at the University of the Arts, London.,The paper brings together many different discussions around qualitative methods in performance measurement and is original in its discussions around such activity as student engagement initiatives.

Measuring Quality in Super-Converged Services

Library and Student Support, a super-converged student facing service at Liverpool John Moores University developed a Quality Assurance Framework in order to achieve a consistent approach to measuring performance and quality within and across its constituent functions. Having been unable to find a suitable framework within the higher education sector, the management team sought advice and innovation from the commercial sector and developed a new approach to quality assurance based around the concepts of ‘moments of truth’. The approach entailed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods and provides a very different approach for academic library services.