Digging in the Mines: Mining Course Syllabi in Search of the Library

Abstract

Nielsen, and Wong-Welch. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons-Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the same or similar license to this one. AbstractObjective -The purpose of this study was to analyze a syllabus collection at a large, public university to identify how the university's library was represented within the syllabi. Specifically, Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 2017, 12.1 73 this study was conducted to see which library spaces, resources, and people were included in course syllabi and to identify possible opportunities for library engagement.Methods -A text analysis software called QDA Miner was used to search using keywords and analyze 1,226 syllabi across eight colleges at both the undergraduate and graduate levels from the Fall 2014 semester.Results -Of the 1,226 syllabi analyzed, 665 did not mention the library's services, spaces, or resources nor did they mention projects requiring research. Of the remaining 561, the text analysis revealed that the highest relevant keyword matches were related to Citation Management (286), Resource Intensive Projects (262), and Library Spaces (251). Relationships between categories were mapped using Sorensen's coefficient of similarity. Library Space and Library Resources (coefficient =.500) and Library Space and Library Services (coefficient-=.457) were most likely to appear in the same syllabi, with Citation Management and Resource Intensive Projects (coefficient=.445) the next most likely to co-occur. Conclusion -The text analysis proved to be effective at identifying how and where the library was mentioned in course syllabi. This study revealed instructional and research engagement opportunities for the library's liaisons, and it revealed the ways in which the library's space was presented to students. Additionally, the faculty's research expectations for students in their disciplines were better understood.

Revealing instruction opportunities: a framework-based rubric for syllabus analysis

“…These themes closely resemble the language and threshold concepts articulated in ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, allowing for an easy translation between curricular goals and relevant information literacy instructional support. Jeffery et al (2017) used text-mining software to search across a large set of 1258 syllabi for specified keywords to learn in which courses the library (and its various services) was referenced. While some of the more recent syllabi analyses have examined a more focused set of syllabi for information literacy themes embedded in courses to guide outreach, textmining a large syllabi set reveals a broader sense of library use within the university.…”

“…While some of the more recent syllabi analyses have examined a more focused set of syllabi for information literacy themes embedded in courses to guide outreach, textmining a large syllabi set reveals a broader sense of library use within the university. The text-mining process used by Jeffery et al (2017) determined that more than half of the mined syllabi made no mention of the library. However, the mining did find which departments and courses reference library space or services or include a research paper, allowing the library to know which departments use the library more heavily and identify gaps where the library might reach out to offer more support.…”

Syllabus Mining for Information Literacy Instruction: A Scoping Review

“…Recommended a required library course for students Dubicki, E., 2019 Addressed need to tailor IL instruction for specific disciplines; Found that tiered IL instruction is important for a student's development. Jeffery, K. M., et al, 2017 No mention of library related services or spaces or research assignments was found in 54% of the syllabi. The most popular keyword codes were Research paper, APA, and MLA.…”

Informatics for cultural heritage instruction: an ontological framework

“…A common technique in current literature and practice is librarians and archivists’ use of syllabi and other learning objects to understand how to better support faculty instruction (Sayles, 1985; Dewald, 2003) and increase the amount of instruction by librarians within the course (Bean and Klekowski, 1993), particularly for information literacy (Williams et al , 2004; Van Scoy and Oakleaf, 2008; Smith et al , 2012; Hubbard and Lotts, 2013; Boss and Drabinski, 2014; Maybee et al , 2015; Alcock and Rose, 2016). Jeffery et al (2017) use text mining on syllabi to discover teaching opportunities. Charles (2015) advocates collaboration with educators, librarians and administrators using “curriculum mapping” to match information literacy instruction competencies to course learning outcomes.…”