Assessing Library Research Support in South Africa

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Assessing Library Research Support in South
Africa Pat Busby, Colin Darch, Karin de Jager
Qualitative Assessment
Quantitative Assessment
Our Vision To model transformation enrichment
in the support offered to researchers by South
African academic libraries Carnegie Corporation
of New York grant of US2.5 million Three
components The Academy (empowering librarians in
2 week residential courses and 6 week US
'internships') The Portal (facilitating
customised access to digital content) The
Commons (dedicated hi-tech physical space for
researchers) Three partners University Libraries
at Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal the Witwatersrand
Needs assessment - LibQUAL - Anecdotal
evidence - Focus groups Research Academy -
Daily post-its blogs - Virtual Learning
Environment - Publishable research reports -
'Before after' assessment - Impact study at
end 2008 US 'Internships' - Weekly reports
blogging - Mid-term evaluation meeting -
Institutional presentations
Baseline Snapshot 2006 - LibQUAL data 2005 -
Reference statistics - Knowledge Commons usage
- Circulation ILL - Use of electronic
resources Consortial Standard Measures Research
Commons - Login pop-ups - Exit surveys - Log
of activities - Tracking demand Portal -
Bandwidth monitoring - Tracking use - Usability
studies - Digitisation of African material
Outcomes Expected by Donor - Web portal with new
Africa-oriented content - Three equipped
functioning Research Commons - Domain expertise
research skills improved among
librarians Longer Term Outcomes - Develop
leadership qualities among librarians - Expand
model beyond 3 institutions - Increase research
output at 3 institutions (indirect outcome)
Problems - Project to improve research output -
How to measure success? - Institutions are
independent - Evaluation is not prescriptive