A poster session I did on using Summon in library instruction

1. Amanda Foster
School of Information and Library Science, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Use of Serial Solutions’ Summon™ in Information Literacy Instruction
Acknowledgments
Photo Credits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtuallearningcenter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucdaviscoe.
Findings
Describing Summon, cont’d
• Many librarians use metaphors or similes to describe
what Summon does. Popular ones include:
• Super Wal-Mart, Super Target
• Google, Google Scholar
• Buckets
• Pies
Information Literacy Skills
One major research question of this study involved
information literacy skills and whether or not the
introduction of Summon was affecting which skills were
being taught. Based on the interviews, I drew conclusions
on which information literacy skills were receiving more or
less focus.
More Focus Less Focus
Student Questions
Librarians noted there were no significant differences
between questions asked about Summon in comparison
to other databases.
Recommendations
Branding
Summon has been branded under several names
including, but not limited to: One Search, Quick Search,
Articles Plus, Articles, All, and Search. Branding can be
tricky because the “brand” may not be accurately
descriptive of the content being searched. This can cause
negative fallout among library staff and university faculty.
One recommendation is that libraries should be cautious
and thoughtful when branding Summon and other search
features.
Staff Training
In some of the interviews, statements were made that
displayed some confusion among librarians about the
content that Summon™ indexed. This problem is
exacerbated by different institutions including and
excluding different content in the results like the catalog,
newspaper articles, and book reviews. Also, Summon™
indexes content from some journals but not others,
making it difficult to know what content is actually being
covered by Summon™. One recommendation for libraries
is to provide training for librarians who will teach
Summon™ during information literacy instruction.
Training on Summon™ may cut down on confusion about
what content is actually being indexed in Summon™.
Research Questions
• What does an information literacy session in which
Summon is taught look like?
• What audience(s) are librarians most likely to
teach Summon™ to?
• How do librarians describe what Summon™ is,
what it does, and how it works?
• What information literacy skills do librarians focus on
when teaching Summon™?
• How do librarians feel the introduction of Summon™
has changed the way they teach information literacy?
• What are librarians’ thoughts on Summon™ as a
resource and as a tool for teaching information
literacy?
.
Abstract
This study investigates the how librarians use the web-
scale discovery tool, Summon™, during information
literacy instruction. Questions explored include the
process of teaching Summon, which information literacy
skills librarians focused on, and librarian perceptions of
the tool and its influence on information literacy skills.
Eight librarians were interviewed about their experiences
teaching Summon using the critical incident technique.
The interviews reveal which information literacy skills
librarians focus on while teaching Summon™ during
information literacy instruction. Librarians are teaching
Summon to all audiences, though the method and
delivery are dependent on the context of the information
literacy session. Overall, the librarians interviewed were
positive about the introduction of Summon™ at their
library.
Methodology
• Interview 8 instruction librarians
• Use critical incident technique
• Code using NVivo, focusing on the following:
Course-Related Information Literacy Skills
Audience Using facets
Time Evaluating sources
Course-Level Generating Keywords
Student Questions, etc... Peer-Review, etc…
Conclusion
In this study, eight librarians were interviewed about their
experiences teaching Summon™ during information
literacy instruction. The interviews revealed interesting
facts about how librarians are teaching
Summon™. Librarians are teaching Summon™ to all
audiences, though the method and delivery are
dependent on the context and audience of the
information literacy session. In terms of which information
literacy skills librarians are focusing on while teaching
Summon™, there appears to be a trend toward teaching
how to utilize facets, broaden and narrow search results,
and generating keywords. Overall, the librarians
interviewed were positive about the introduction of
Summon™ at their library.
Findings
Audience
• Summon is being taught to all audiences: undergrads,
graduate/professional students, and faculty.
• Librarians tend to agree that Summon is a more
appropriate resource for undergraduate research,
particularly in first-year courses. Summon was often
referred to as “a good starting point.”
• For more advanced research, Summon is generally
thought to be a “complimentary” or “supplementary”
tool and is taught in conjunction with other resources
like databases or the catalog. The major exception to
this is inter-disciplinary research or subjects where the
database offerings are not very good.
Describing Summon
• Most librarians describe Summon to students by
explaining what it searches. Sometimes this may
include a discussion of what it doesn’t cover, but not
always.
• 3 of the 8 librarians interviewed choose to not explain
Summon at all. As one librarian put it, “We [librarians]
care a lot more about what Summon is searching than
they [students] do.”
• Some librarians still use outdated “library-jargon” like
“database” and “index” to describe Summon. One
librarian referred to Summon as a “search engine,”
believing that students may relate to this term better.
Library
E-Content
Summon
Library
Databases
& Journals
Catalog
Facets
Narrowing
Your Search
Topic
Generating
Keywords
Boolean
Searching