supporting humanities doctoral student success

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Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success A Collaborative Project between Cornell University Library and Columbia University Libraries CUL/IS Staff Forum April 27, 2011 Damon Jaggars, AUL Collections & Services Alysse Jordan, Head, Social Work Library Jennifer Rutner, Assessment & Planning Librarian John Tofanelli, British and American History and Literature Librarian

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A Collaborative Project between Cornell University Library and Columbia University Libraries

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Page 1: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success A Collaborative Project between Cornell University Library and Columbia University Libraries

CUL/IS Staff Forum April 27, 2011Damon Jaggars, AUL Collections & Services

Alysse Jordan, Head, Social Work LibraryJennifer Rutner, Assessment & Planning Librarian

John Tofanelli, British and American History and Literature Librarian

Page 2: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Motivation

• Decline in number of degrees awarded: the number of doctorates awarded in the humanities has declined by 12% between 1998 and 2008, while those in science and engineering have increased by 20.4% (2008 NSF SED)

• Longer time to completion: while the mean registered time to degree in all disciplines has increased since 1978, it is still the longest in the humanities, increasing to 9 years in 2003 as compared to 6.9 in engineering, 6.9 in the life sciences, and 6.8 in the physical sciences (NSF Time to Degree)

• Higher rates of attrition: the cumulative attrition rates at year ten in the humanities are 32% compared to 27% in engineering and 26% in the life sciences (CGS 2008)

• Complex landscape: the factors that influence time to completion and retention rates vary according to discipline, institutional characteristics, availability of financial aid, quality of advising, clarity of program requirements, quality of family life, job prospects, lack of community, etc. (Ehrenberg et al., 2009)

Page 3: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

How can the library better-support doctoral work on campus?

Page 4: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Collaboration

Page 5: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

The 2CUL Project

“Columbia and Cornell University Libraries are pleased to join forces in a transformative and enduring partnership between our two great library systems that enables us to pool resources to provide content, expertise, and services that are impossible to accomplish acting alone.”

http://2cul.org/

Page 6: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Project Team

Cornell University• Kaila Bussert

• Kathy Chiang

• Michelle Hubble

• Gaby Castro Gessner (Project Manager)

• Sussette Newberry

• Deb Schmidle

• Kornelia Tancheva

• Jill Ulbricht (Admin Support)

• Wendy Wilcox

Columbia University• Amanda Bielskas

• Jim Crocamo

• Fadi Dagher

• Damon Jaggars

• Alysse Jordan

• Victoria Gross (Research Assistant)

• Jennifer Rutner (Project Manager)

• John Tofanelli

Page 7: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Day-to-Day

• Travel (shuttle)

• Video conferencing

• Phone calls (many!)

• Phone conferencing

• Email

• Wiki

• Group training

• Camtasia training video

Page 8: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Methods

Page 9: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Research Procedures

Spring 2010• Ethnographic Training• Focus groups (5 total)

Summer + Fall 2010• Interviews (45 total)

– 90 minutes, individual

• Post-questionnaire (paper)

Winter 2010-11• Analysis and reporting

$

Page 10: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

870 pages of transcripts.

Page 11: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

The Student

Personal Space

Previous Experience

Personal Expectations

Self-determination

Personal Life

The Institution + Department

Institutional Space

Funding

Dept. Requirements + Expectations

Culture + Community

Advising

Teaching

Attrition

Research + Writing

Coursework

Exams + Preparation

Prospectus + Preparation

Discovery

Writing Process + Revision

Defense + Preparation

Information Management

The Library

Librarians

Collections

Services

Library Space

Technology

The Profession

Job Search

Publishing

Challenges

Successes

Opportunities

First

Second

Third

Code Level

Fourth

Code Tree

Page 12: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Results

Page 13: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

DEMOGRAPHICS

Page 14: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Interview Participants

Discipline Cornell Columbia Total

Art History 0 7 7

Asian Studies 2 0 2

Classics 2 0 2

Comparative Literature

2 0 2

English 4 6 10

History 7 5 12

Medieval Studies 4 8 12

Religion 0 6 6

Total 21 24 45

Page 15: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Interview Participants

Cornell Columbia Total

Pre-exam 9 8 17

Post-exam 12 16 28

Yes MA 11 13 24

No MA 10 11 21

Page 16: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

21-24 25-30 31-34 35-38 39-44 45-55 56-65 66-75

Nu

mb

er

of

Stu

de

nts

Age

Age of Participants

Page 17: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Time from BA graduation Through Expected PhD Completion

Graduation from undergrad to start of PhD Start of PhD to candidacy Candidacy to PhD expected graduation

Page 18: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

14

14

10

21

24

3

24

22

8

19

16

6

2

2

2

3

2

8

3

2

1

5 1

2

5

3

2

3

1

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Grad Program

Funding

Advising (Columbia only)

Library Services

Library Collections

Library Spaces(Columbia only)

Humanities PhD Student Study QuestionairePlease rate your overall satisfaction with the following at CU:

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Neutral

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

n/a

Page 19: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1< 1 -2 hrs 2 - 4 hrs 4 - 6 hrs 6 - 8 hrs 8+

No

. of

Stu

de

nts

Time Spent in the Library by Frequency and Duration

Daily Weekly Monthly

Page 20: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

browse

write

read

office hours

research w. library …

research w. non-library …

computers

consult librarian

meet colleagues

otherPost-Exam Pre-Exam

Activities in the Library by Status

Percentage of Students

Page 21: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

30

10

5

Humanities PhD Student Study QuestionaireHave you visited any non-CU libraries to use their collections

for dissertation research?

Yes No n/a

Page 22: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

39

2

4

Humanities PhD Student Study QuestionaireDo you receive financial support from CU for the academic

year?

Yes No n/a

Page 23: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

6

34

5

Humanities PhD Student Study QuestionaireDo you have an outside job that provides income?

Yes No n/a

Page 24: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

INTERVIEWS

Page 25: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

The Student

The Library

The Institution + Department

The Profession

Research + Writing

Page 26: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Findings: Provide Space

"The thing that has been the best for me is having a space to work. I got more done last year when I had my locked carrel than I had gotten done in years before or since, because it was a dedicated space in which I could keep all of my sources [...]."

Opportunities:

• Provide dedicated spaces for doctoral students that promote academic and social community building.

• Provide spaces that could be reserved by doctoral students for writing groups, dissertation discussion groups, etc.

• Increase the number of quiet individual study areas with appropriate lighting, power, and security.

• Consider 24/7 access to study/research spaces used by graduate students

Page 27: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Findings: Foster Community

“It’s having community. Belonging to your community, having friends that are doing this and feeling that you have something worthwhile to say that other people are recognizing it.”

Opportunities:• Working with appropriate campus partners, position the library as a central

referral hub, or single point of entry, offering guidance and direction in a wide range of areas important to graduate student success.

• Serve as a central repository of sample collections of academic documentation and offer guidelines or best practices for preparing reading lists, prospectuses, etc.

• Offer hands-on training on developing, understanding, and mastering the documentation of doctoral projects.

Page 28: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Findings: Provide Access to Deep Research Collections

“I have to say that I have had every resource that I have needed from the library. I really can’t say, ‘Here I am in the sixth year because you didn’t buy that set of resources for me and I don’t have the materials to work with, so how can you expect me produce work?’”

Opportunities:• Make channels for graduate students purchase suggestions more visible and ensure that specific

resources mentioned as missing are purchased. • Work actively with vendors and publishers to increase the usability of e-books (PDFs,

downloadable, no restrictions, and a standard format).• Improve search and discovery interfaces, including library catalogs, web sites, database platforms,

and the interconnections between them.• Expand the types of materials allowed for borrowing and lending, such as audio and video formats

and primary source materials.

Page 29: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Findings: Provide Research, Information Management, and Teaching Expertise Assistance

“[…] maybe sitting down with an advanced research reference librarian . . . might be in my best interest as I go into the writing stage of my paper, just so that I can make sure I am not saying something that has already been said or duplicating research, or that I am not missing something that is cutting-edge and that's really important to my argument.”

Opportunities:• Work with academic departments to promote graduate student awareness of

subject librarian services.• Take advantage of events sponsored by academic departments and by the libraries

as an occasion for librarians to interact with graduate students and promote library services.

• Offer consultation services, workshops and/or online instruction

Page 30: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Findings: Developing Scholarly Identity

“I had to tell my committee in an email, I plan on having a draft of the first chapter to you by June. If I don't, please get on my case… So, I actually found that I needed to make deadlines for myself and then tell them so that they knew, and even though they wouldn't care, my pride was at stake at that point.”

Opportunities:• Host writing or discussion groups to inspire increased productivity during the dissertation writing

process. • Offer time management workshops for students approaching or just completing exams. • Work with academic departments to help establish best practices for students who wish to publish

before graduation. • Assign librarians to doctoral students as library mentors or "personal librarians," available to consult

on research, writing, publication, discipline-specific literatures, etc. and connect them to other appropriate support services on campus as appropriate.

Page 31: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Next Steps

Page 32: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Next Steps at Columbia

• Share findings with CUL/IS staff

• Communicate findings to GSAS and the University community

• Work with H&H to incorporate findings into planning for Butler Library and DHC

• Further analysis

Page 34: Supporting Humanities Doctoral Student Success

Photo credits

Columbia University

Cornell University

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3110/3224486233_cd6f7372db.jpg