Library Liaisons Toolkit: Record your Instruction Stats

Record Instruction Statistics

It's really important to record your instruction stats, and here's why:

• The library is required by the Association of Research Libraries to submit certain stats. It allows us to communicate our effort in library instruction on a national scale.
• The library needs to keep track of our own statistics so that we can assess our instructional activities. It allows us to demonstrate our value.
• It's a good way for faculty and staff to keep track of instruction efforts to record in our Annual Activity Reports and CVs. 

LibInsight is the Libraries' tool for recording and compiling instruction statistics.

Credit courses:  Record the first class meeting with the audience count and include the number of sessions.

Multi-session workshops:  Record the first session and audience count and include number of sessions.

Other activities to record:  Any other efforts that may not seem to be clearly-defined library instruction still should be recorded in LibInsight (e.g., the uncommon reading program), because ARL states that “Presentations to groups may be for either bibliographic instruction, cultural, recreational, or educational purposes."

Asynchronous instruction:

According to ACRL:

Asynchronous presentations can be defined as a recorded online session, tutorial, video, or other interactive educational module created in a digital/electronic format, and includes web-based presentations such as recorded webinars. If a presentation begins in one format (such as in-person) and ends in another (such as asynchronous online), report it as the format that concludes the presentation. If multiple modules are created with the intent to be part of one presentation, please count them as one presentation.

Include:

● Asynchronous presentations created by your library staff for educational or training purposes 

Exclude:

● Asynchronous presentations that your library staff used but were created by another library or organization

● Asynchronous presentations that serve informational or marketing purposes, e.g., a welcome video that plays in loops at the library entrance

● Handouts or text-based, non-interactive research guides

Please report any statistics available regarding attendance that occurred during the fiscal year that may include expected attendance from registration or course enrollment. Please do not report downloads, views, and/or webpage hits.

As an example, if an information literacy video was created for a session for a first-year seminar that had 40 students, and then was reused for a second seminar of another 40 students, the presentation counts would be 2 and the Attendance would be 80.

Consultations with individuals or small groups are recorded in LibAnswers (e.g., GIS and copyright consults).

Librarians in the Health Science Center Library and the Law Library should see the instruction coordinators in their area for information on how to report their instruction statistics.  Neither the HSCL nor the Law Library uses the LibInsight software at this time.