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AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
AALLSpectrum
MARCH/APRIL 2020 / VOLUME 24, NUMBER 4

       ENGAGE!
          THE NEXT-GEN
         OF ONLINE
          INSTRUCTION
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
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AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
EDITOR’S NOTE

                         EDUCATION
                         & THE NEXT
                         FRONTIER

A s law libraries continue to be transformed from a physical “space” to a “service,”
    as our budgets increasingly support an online digital footprint, and as the law-
     yers, judges and students we support are now armed with sophisticated smart
      technology, it should come as no surprise that legal instruction for lawyers,
       judges, and students is also moving to an online environment.

With an ever-increasing number of faster-
growing domestic and global law firms—at my
firm, for example, we now have over 800 law-
yers in 10 international offices—it is no longer
                                                         Keeping with the topic of enhancing edu-
                                                     cation, this issue also provides an article on cre-
                                                     ating screencasting videos that engage viewers.
                                                     At law firms and law schools alike, screencasts
cost-effective to provide traditional in-person      present law librarians with an opportunity to
instruction. Instead, our knowledge manage-          provide direct instruction to users, making learn-
ment (KM) services department, comprised             ing much more flexible and convenient for those
of almost 20 law librarians in various offices,      who wish to learn at their own pace or on their
provides online instruction via live videocon-       own schedule.
ferencing software (GoToMeeting, an online               As we enter a new decade in which new tech-
webinar platform), as well as Windows Remote         nologies will continue to advance at exponential
Assistance software, enabling law librarians to      rates and digital natives will demand online
conduct one-on-one point-of-need training.           instruction as the “new normal,” law librarians
These sessions can also be recorded and added        will be expected to become proficient, if not
to the firm’s Desktop Learning Management            expert, at providing online instruction. It is not
System, enabling lawyers to view recordings of       too late to make your New Year’s resolution to
live online instruction.                             embrace online instruction and learn the under-
    Most experienced classroom instructors will      lying technology that supports it. Carpe diem!
confess that online instruction is challenging,
as it can be a difficult transition from tradi-
tional classroom to online instruction. Luckily,
the authors of our AALL Spectrum cover story
“Engage! The Next-Gen of Online Instruction”
advise librarians to learn new strategies to “cre-
ate sustained engagement with students and
attorneys in their online courses and instruc-
tion,” and provide best practices to keep your       Steven A. Lastres
audience engaged.                                    salastres@debevoise.com

                                                                MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 1
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
INSIDE
  MARCH/APRIL 2020

              12
              Keeping students and attorneys engaged in online courses.

BoK DOMAINS KEY
  Professionalism +
  Leadership At Every Level
                                   FEATURES
  Research + Analysis

                                    12                                                 20
  Information Management                  ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF                           DISCOVERING DIAMONDS IN
  Teaching + Training                     ONLINE INSTRUCTION                                YOUR SURVEY DATA
  Marketing + Outreach                    Strategies for librarians seeking to              Understanding and implementing best prac-
  Management + Business                   create sustained engagement with                  tices in survey creation that yields better
  Acumen
                                          students and attorneys in their online            data for more insightful decision-making.
                                          courses and instruction.                          BY JESSICA DE PERIO WITTMAN
                                          BY AMY LIPFORD & KATHRYN CRANDALL                 & KATIE BROWN

                                   16     BUILDING STRATEGIC
                                          PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH                         23   LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
                                                                                            CREATING SCREENCASTING
                                          COLLABORATION BETWEEN                             VIDEOS THAT ENGAGE VIEWERS
                                          LAW LIBRARIES                                     A how-to guide for incorporating screen-
                                          Tips on networking, methods of collaborat-        casting videos into your lessons.
                                                                                                                                          Image © Istockphoto.com/Jacek Kita

                                          ing, and overcoming the obstacles to form-        BY ALISA HOLAHAN, JOE NOEL & LEI ZHANG
                                          ing dynamic partnerships.
                                          BY LINDSEY CARPINO, ANNIE MENTKOWSKI
                                          & CLANITRA STEWART NEJDL                          IN EVERY ISSUE
                                                                                            Editor’s Note 1
                                                                                            President’s Message 5
                                                                                            Wild Card 52

       2 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
30                                         38                      43                        50
Ask a Colleague                            AALL 2020               Vendor Voice              Reference Desk

                  UP FRONT                                         TECHNOLOGY

                  7    TRENDING
                       Tracking the numbers—and hot topics—
                                                                   33    TALKING TECH
                                                                         Breaking down the similarities and
                       for AALL’s educational offerings.                 differences between TPACK and SAMR.
                                                                         BY PATRICK PARSONS

                  8    MEMBER PROFILE
                       Meet Michael McHenry, director of
                       research & knowledge services at Vinson
                       & Elkins LLP in Houston, Texas.             EDUCATION

                  10   NEWS & NOTES
                       AALL Spectrum & Law Library Journal         38    2020 AALL ANNUAL MEETING:
                       Editorial Board call for volunteers, and
                                                                         UNMASKING OUR POTENTIAL
                                                                         A peek inside AALL’s premier educational
                       important 2020 dates.
                                                                         event, July 11-14, 2020 in New Orleans.

                  11   SHELF LIFE
                       What book has had the greatest impact
                       in helping you develop strategic working
                       relationships?                              BUSINESS EDGE

                                                                   43    VENDOR VOICE
                  LEADERSHIP                                             The inside scoop on the new LexisNexis
                                                                         digital library.

                  26   LEADER PROFILE
                       Beth Williams discusses innovation, her
                                                                   46    PRACTICAL COMPETITIVE
                                                                         INTELLIGENCE
                       experience at AALL’s Innovation Bootcamp,         How to create special purpose CI reports
                       and the evolution of law librarianship.           t at provide insig t l ans ers to specific
                                                                         questions.
                                                                         BY KEVIN MILES
                  30   ASK A COLLEAGUE
                          ie nnovation ficer           titles in
                       la firms ave ecome t e latest posi-
                       tions to be added to the C-Suite. Please
                                                                   50    REFERENCE DESK
                                                                         Tackling public speaking.
                       e plain o r ie nnovation ficer                    BY DOLLY M. KNIGHT, MARIBEL
                               role it in o r organi ation and           NASH & SCOTT VANDERLIN
                       how innovation factors in. Advice from
                       Catherine Monte and Gina Lynch.

                                                                              MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 3
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
AALLSpectrum
                              105 West Adams Street, Suite 3300, Chicago, Illinois 60603     This publication is provided for informational and educational purposes only.
                                                       www.aallnet.org | 312.939.4764
                                                                                             The American Association of Law Libraries does not assume, and expressly
                                                                  EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR         disclaims, any responsibility for the statements advanced by the contributors
                                                                         Vani Ungapen        to, and the advertisers in, the Association’s publication. Editorial views do not
                                                                                  EDITOR     necessaril represent t e o ficial position o t e ssociation or o its o ficers,
                                                                        Steven A. Lastres
                                                                                             directors, staff, or representatives. All advertising copy is subject to editorial
                                       DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS                approval. The Association does not endorse or make any guarantee with re-
                                                                Heather Haemker
                                                                                             spect to any products or services mentioned or advertised in the publication.
                                                                           COPY EDITOR
                                                                        Timothy Johnson
                                                                                             All content copyright 2020 by the American Association of Law Libraries, except
                                                                                 DESIGN
                                                                               Feldcomm
                                                                                             where otherwise expressly indicated. Except where otherwise express-
                                                                                             ly provided, the author of each item in this issue has granted permission for
                                                    AALL SPECTRUM EDITORIAL BOARD
                                   Kristina J. Alayan • Cynthia L. Brown • Tina S. Ching •
                                                                                             copies of that item to be made for classroom use or for any other educational
                 li a et   arrell li ord    laine     gan     arin o nsr d      im a er      p rpose, provided t at      copies are distri ted at or elo cost,      a t or
                                                                                             and AALL Spectrum are identified, and       proper notice o cop rig t is a fi ed
                                                 AALL EXECUTIVE BOARD LEADERSHIP
                                                                                             to each copy. For items in which it holds copyright, the American Association
                                                             Michelle Cosby, President
                                                         Emily R. Florio, Vice President
                                                                                             of Law Libraries grants permission for copies to be made for classroom
                                                         Cornell H. Winston, Treasurer       use or for any other educational purpose under the same conditions.
                                                                Luis Acosta, Secretary
                                                                          ADVERTISING
                                               Bill Spilman | Innovative Media Solutions
                                      309.483.6467 | bill@innovativemediasolutions.com
                                                                       SUBSCRIBE
              AALL Spectrum is a enefit o mem ers ip in t e merican ssociation o
         Law Libraries. Nonmembers may subscribe to AALL Spectrum for $75 per year.
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American Association of Law Libraries. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, and
                    additional mailing o fices                 end address c anges to
                  AALL Spectrum, 105 W. Adams St. Ste. 3300, Chicago, IL 60603-6225.

  RETIRING?
    CONTINUE YOUR LEGACY & SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE
    BECOME A SUSTAINING MEMBER
                                                                                                                                             KNOW
    If retirement is in your near future,
                                  future and you want to stay                                                                              SOMEONE
    connected to your friends and colleagues as well as the                                                                            ABOUT TO RETIRE?
    legal community, consider the AALL Sustaining Member                                                                                 The Sustaining
    option. For a one-time renewal rate of $425* continue                                                                               Member benefit
    en o ing all t e enefits o mem ers ip                                                                                                makes a great
                                                                                                                                        retirement gift!
    • Networking
    • Publications
    • Leadership Opportunities                                       DID YOU KNOW?
    • Advocacy                                                     AALL’s Encore Caucus
                                                              was created as a way for retired
                                                            members to continue to collaborate
                                                            with members of the legal informa-
    * Does not include SIS memberships                     tion profession, share common inter-
                                                               ests, and further personal and
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                                                                        Learn more at
                                                                     bit.ly/AALLencore.

                                                                                                                                         learn more at
                                                                                                                                bit.ly/AALLsustainingmember

4 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

                              EMPOWER
                              YOURSELF

I
                               AALL Publications, Programs, and Meetings

    am truly excited for you to read this issue of AALL Spectrum, as education is one of my
    favorite topics. For law librarians, education can refer to several types of formal and
    informal learning and teaching activities, including self-improvement, professional
    development, and patron instruction.

    By educating ourselves about the newest tools,         can help us build strong relationships that can
    technologies, pedagogical approaches, and              continue to grow in value. The article “Building
    strategies, we not only become better librarians,      Strategic Partnerships Through Collaboration
    but also better teachers, which in turn helps us       Between Law Libraries” discusses the value in
    to better empower our patrons for the rapidly          collaboration and provides examples of collabora-
    changing world we all live in. Along those lines,      tion by library type.
    if you are interested in educating yourself or your       Legal information professionals tend to be
    stakeholders about your patrons’ needs, demo-          knowledge seekers, and continuing education can
    graphics, or user-satisfaction levels, I encourage     feed that need. If you are looking for continuing
    you to read “Discovering Diamonds in Your              education opportunities, AALL will be hosting
    Survey Data” by Jessica De Perio Wittman and           the Competitive Intelligence (CI) Strategies &
    Katie Brown. The article provides several tips         Analysis program May 7-8 in Chicago, Illinois.
    for creating a robust survey that produces quality     This course is for those interested in expanding
    results. In addition to offering general guidance      the CI offerings of their library. CI Strategist
    on survey creating, the article also covers issues     Zena Applebaum will educate participants on
    you may not necessarily think are important to         several topics, including framing CI reporting,
    survey creation, such as developing strong rela-       communicating results, and the role of data and
    tionships through collaboration.                       data visualization. Similarly, I encourage you to
        Amy Lipford and Kathryn Crandall’s article         register for the 2020 AALL Annual Meeting in
    “Engage: The Next-Gen of Online Instruction”           New Orleans, Louisiana. From Saturday work-
    is a great read for anyone looking to create           shops to a myriad of program offerings, you are
    engagement with their audience in an online            sure to find something of interest to attend.
    setting. Similarly, this issue also offers tips from      I hope you find this issue of AALL Spectrum as
    Alisa Holahan, Joe Noel, and Lei Zhang on cre-         informative as I do, and that it inspires you take
    ating engaging videos for library users (“Lights,      advantage of the many educational resources that
    Camera, Action! Creating Screencasting Videos          AALL offers.
    that Engage Others”).
        Aligning with AALL’s 2019-2022 strategic
    plan pillar of Alliances, this issue has a wonderful
    article on how law libraries can build strategic       Michelle Cosby
    partnerships. Collaboration and networking             michelle.cosby@temple.edu

                                                                     MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 5
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
MEMBER-GET-A-MEMBER PROGRAM

                                    ENRICH OTHERS + ENRICH YOURSELF
                                    We are stronger, smarter, and more successful together.
                                    Invite your peers, colleagues, and staff to join AALL through
                                    t e          em er et a em er                   rogram
                                        or eac mem er recr ited receive
                                    ›            ma on gi t card
                                        ter t ree mem ers recr ited, receive
                                    › A MGAM lapel pin
                                        ll recr iters receive e site recognition
                                    › MGAM Leaderboard
                                    › My Communities MGAM digital badge

                                    learn more at bit.ly/AALL-mgam

6 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
UP FRONT

                                   TRENDING
                                   AALL EDUCATION
                                                                                                                                                 66
                                                                                                                                                  ANNUAL MEETING
                                   The legal information world is constantly
                                   changing, and it’s crucial to stay
                                   abreast of the latest developments
                                   and technological innovations                                                                                  Average number of programs

                                   that shape the way you
                                                                                                                                                  LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

                                                                                                                                                 227
                                   work within your
                                   organi ation ne
                                   way to stay ahead
                                                                                                                                                 Fellows and counting
                                   is through quality
                                   continued pro-                                                                                                MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

                                                                                                                                                  336
                                   fessional
                                   education.
                                   AALL is the                                                                                                    Attendees and counting
                                   premiere
                                   resource for                                                                                                   CONFERENCE OF NEWER

                                                                                                                                                 2,048
                                                                                                                                                  LAW LIBRARIANS (CONELL)
                                   continuing
                                   education,
                                   offering quality
                                   programming, webi-                                                                                             Attendees since 2004

                                   nars, and special events designed
                                   exclusively for law librarians and                                                  TOP 2019 ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAMS*
                                   legal information professionals.                                                    ¡ New Metrics for Measuring     ¡ A Peek Behind the
                                                                                                                          c olarl mpact a                Curtain of the U.S. Code
                                                                                                                         Librarians, HeinOnline, and   ¡    eep ive     e ederal
                                                                                                                         U.S. News & World Report          and State Court Analytics
                                                                                                                       ¡     no t sed to e ere             Market—Should the Buyer
                                                                                                                           Using Web Archives in           Beware? What’s on the

                                   1,061
                                                                                                                           Legal Research                   ori on
                                                                            PEOPLE                                     ¡ Assessing Legal Research      ¡ Finding a Needle in a
                                                                      AT T E N D E D A A L L                              ompetenc     ridging t e        tac o eedles est
                                                                         WEBINARS                                        Gap between Law School          Practices for Alerts
                                                                            IN 2019                                      and Practice                  ¡      ngr , ngr     pos
                                                                                                                       ¡    o ore it ess                   Designing Raw Materials
Image © iStockphoto.com/gothappy

                                                                                                                            or place ficienc   ools        for Problem-Based
                                   TOP WEBINARS*                                                                                                           Instruction
                                                                                                                       ¡ o atc a ie o t e
                                   1.   rom onversation to onversion        etting a       ers to se e          ools    Librarians and Archivists      ¡ Cool Tools Café
                                   2.   n one an e a eader         ven     ose    it o t       ct al   t orit           at the Folger Shakespeare
                                                                                                                                                       View the recordings at
                                                                                                                        Library Masterminded the
                                   3. Inside the State of the Profession                                                                               bit.ly/AM19Recordings.
                                                                                                                        Recovery of the Durham
                                                                                                                        First Folio
                                   View all of AALL’s webinars at bit.ly/AALL2gowebinars.                                                              *Ranked by attendance

                                                                                                                                  MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 7
AALLSpectrum ENGAGE! THE NEXT-GEN OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
UP FRONT

MEMBER PROFILE
VANTAGE
POINT
MICHAEL McHENRY
3 DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH & KNOWLEDGE
  SERVICES
3 VINSON & ELKINS LLP
3 HOUSTON, TX

          WHAT INSPIRES YOU MOST? Seeing people working                                      IF YOU COULD BE
          together for a common, worthy goal. Whether it be                                  ANY CHARACTER
          after Hurricane Harvey or just in a normal work sit-                               IN FICTION, WHO
          uation, I love being a part of a team that sees some-                              WOULD YOU BE?
          thing that needs to be done and tackles it with fervor.                            Indiana Jones—
                                                                                             traveling the world
                                                                                             looking for historical
                                                                                             objects. I already
                                                                                             hate snakes, so I’m
                                                                                             really halfway there.

   IF YOU WROTE AN
   AUTOBIOGRAPHY,
   WHAT WOULD ITS TITLE
   BE AND WHY?
   Watch Your Head: The Trials
   and Travails of Being Super
   Tall    m         ere s a
   lot of ducking in my life.

                                                                               WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST
                                                                               ACHIEVEMENT AND HOW HAS IT
                                                                               SHAPED YOU? I met a beautiful
                                                                               and awesome law librarian at the
                                                                               2008 AALL Annual Meeting and
                     FAVORITE TRAVEL DESTINATION? It’s fairly low-key,         convinced her to marry me.
                     but we go camping with a few families two to three
                     times a ear in im erle , e as t s asi r stic tent
                                                                                                                      Photo © 2020 by AALL

                     camping, t also electricit and an o tdoor s o er ,
                     but 15 minutes from an artsy town with great restau-
                     rants. It’s very peaceful—even with our group’s 10-plus
                     kids running around in the woods.

      8 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
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    FOR THE
PROFESSION
 & FOR AALL
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 ALSO RECEIVE
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     Meeting Association Luncheon [$45 value]
     at the AALL Annual Meeting

 *Members who upgrade before June 12, 2020, will receive
  2020 AALL Annual Meeting recognition, a complimentary
  Association Luncheon ticket, and will be listed in the
  September/October 2021 issue of AALL Spectrum.

  learn more at bit.ly/AALLchampion

            MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 9
UP FRONT

  NEWS & NOTES
 Volunteer for the AALL Spectrum & Law Library Journal Editorial Boards Today

  Ensure your peers get the perspective        job description and the Law Library
  and insights they need to stay ahead of      Journal Editorial Board Member                          AALLSpectrum
  the curve. AALL Spectrum—our bimonthly
                                                                                                       SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 / VOLUME 24, NUMBER 1

                                               job description before applying. For
  member magazine, and Law Library             more information visit the AALL                            DATA-DRIVEN
  Journal—the official journal of AALL—        Spectrum Editorial Board profile at                       LEGAL
                                                                                                         SERVICES
  provide scholarly articles on law, legal     bit.ly/Specboard and the Law Library                        NEW ROLES FOR INFORMATION
                                                                                                           PROFESSIONALS
                                                                                                                            ORMA
                                                                                                                            ORMATION

  innovation, technology, and librarianship.   Journal Editorial Board profile at bit.ly/
                                               LLJboard on AALLNET.
  We Need You!
  AALL is seeking applicants to serve
  on the 2020-2022 AALL Spectrum               Please consider lending your
  Editorial Board, and the 2020-2022 Law       time and talent to AALL—submit
  Library Journal Editorial Board.             your application by Tuesday,
     Please read through the AALL              March 24, 2020. View the
  Spectrum Editorial Board Member              application at bit.ly/Pubsapp.

 2020 CALENDAR

 VIEW MORE UPCOMING EVENTS AT                  APRIL                                        08      Virginia Association of Law Libraries
 bit.ly/AALLevents                                                                                  Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, VA
                                               01      AALL Annual Meeting grant
                                                       applications due                     12      Atlanta Law Libraries Association
 MARCH                                                                                              Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA
                                                       AALL Research Grant                  16      AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers
 01      AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers               applications due                                ard s missions d e st dent
           ard s missions d e open, ne                 AALL Scholarship Program                     division
         mem er, and s ort divisions                   applications d e or                  21      Chicago Association of Law Libraries
 06-07 Southern California Association
                                                     ¡ AALL Educational Scholarship                 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
         of Law Libraries 48th Annual
         Institute, San Diego, CA                    ¡ George A. Strait Minority            27      Law Librarians of Puget Sound
                                                       Scholarship & Fellowship                     Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA
         AALL Winter Finance & Budget
         Committee Meeting, Chicago, IL              ¡ LexisNexis John R. Johnson
                                                                                            JUNE
                                                       Memorial Scholarship
 10      “Combining Internal and External
         Data Sources to Improve Firm’s              ¡ Marcia J. Koslov Scholarship         11      British & Irish Association of Law
          er ormance      omson e ters         02-03 AALL Executive Board                           Libraries Meeting, North Yorkshire,
          artner e inar                                Spring Meeting, Chicago, IL                  England
 20      AALL/Bloomberg Law Continuing         16-18 Southeastern Chapter of the            JULY
         Education Grants proposal due                 American Association of Law
         Northern California Association               Libraries Annual Meeting,            09-10 AALL Executive Board
         of Law Libraries Spring Institute,            Jackson, MS                                  Summer Meeting, New Orleans, LA
         Davis, CA                             23      “Effective Leadership with Virtual
                                                                                            11-14 113th AALL Annual Meeting
 25      AALL @ Legal Marketing                         eams o nfinit and e ond
                                                                                                    & Conference, New Orleans, LA
         Association Annual Conference,                         e inar
         Denver, CO                            24      AALL Spectrum & Law Library
                                                                                            ••••

         “Using Cognitive Theory to Boost              Journal Editorial Board
                                                       application deadline                        QUICK LINKS
         Long-Term Retention of Legal
          esearc    ills          e inar       29      AALL Connection                             AALL ANNUAL MEETING
                                                                                                   bit.ly/AALL2020
 26      Southwestern Association of Law       MAY                                                 AALL COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
         Libraries Annual Meeting, San                                                             STRATEGIES & ANALYSIS
         Antonio, TX                           07-08 AALL Competitive Intelligence                 bit.ly/AALLci2
 27-28 AALL 2020 Leadership                            Strategies & Analysis,                      AALL SCHOLARSHIPS
         Academy, Oak Brook, IL                        Chicago, IL                                 bit.ly/AALL-scholarships

10 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
SHELF LIFE

                                                            RELATIONSHIP RECS
                                                            What book has had the greatest impact in helping you develop strategic working relationships?

                                                                  1                                          2                                           3                                    4
                                                                        GOOD BOSS, BAD BOSS:                        STEEL MAGIC; THE GIFT                      DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICAL               SIX THINKING HATS by
                                                                        HOW TO BE THE BEST...                       OF FEAR; BOSSYPANTS                        TECHNIQUES FOR                         d ard e ono ittle,
                                                                        AND LEARN FROM THE                             t first glance, t e t ree               LIBRARIANS, 2ND                        ro n      ompan ,
                                                                   WORST by Robert I. Sutton                 books I credit with teaching                EDITION by Arthur W. Hafner          “I was introduced to this book
                                                                       siness l s, arc         ,             me to build strategic relation-               merican i rar ssociation,          by Tracy Thompson, who at the
                                                                              is oo is a great               ships seem odd choices. Steel                 arc ,             ne o m           time was the executive director
                                                                   read for anyone looking to build          Magic          ndre orton imon              biggest challenges is commu-         of NELLCO. Often, when deal-
                                                                   and strengthen working rela-                  lse, g st ,             is a            nicating data in a way that is       ing with others, our emotions,
                                                                   tions ips t distills scientific           middle-grade fantasy. The Gift              easily understood. This book         outside information, logic, hope,
                                                                   research and practical sense              of Fear: Survival Signals That              walks the reader through the         etc., all invade our thoughts,
                                                                   into basic principles for how to          Protect Us from Violence by Gavin           process of compiling data,           which can lead to confusion.
                                                                   change the emotional tone of a            de ec er ell, a              ,              creating algorithms, and trans-      In Six Thinking Hats, De Bono
                                                                   workspace to one of positivity            is sed among ot er t ings to                lating the results into easily       takes the things that crowd our
                                                                   and productivity. Simple tips             train law enforcement profes-               understood charts and tables.        thoughts and separates them
                                                                   include actively listening to             sionals. Bossypants by Tina Fey             Using this book, I discovered        into six categories and assigns
                                                                   your co-workers, having strong               ac a oo s, an ar ,                       ways of working with practice        a colored hat to represent each
                                                                   opinions but weakly held beliefs,                 is an entertaining iogra-           gro ps, t e finance team, and        category. By doing so, you can
                                                                   being willing to admit your own           phy. But all three books empha-             the marketing team to commu-         separate your thoughts into the
                                                                   faults, and confronting problems          si e recogni ing and tr sting               nicate important information         different categories and deal
                                                                   directly, quickly, and with hon-          your strengths, your intuition,             in a quick, easy-to-understand       with each emotion or idea at
                                                                   esty. While there is no formulaic,        and yourself. When you do that,             format. I use chapter 4 on           the appropriate time. This has
                                                                   one si e fits all sol tion to             it’s easier to accept the qualities         tables and charts nearly every       been profoundly helpful as I
                                                                   becoming a great leader, this             that others bring to the table.             day, which helps me to clearly       have progressed in my career
Image © iStockPhoto.com/Kadirkaba/SurfUpVector/Enis Aksoy

                                                                   book is for anyone who wants to           That leads to more productive               communicate my ideas without         and have had to communicate
                                                                   tr to e etter                             colla orations                              getting bogged down in reams         with my library staff, the law
                                                                   Camilla Tubbs; Associate Dean for         Carol Ottolenghi; Director of Library       of data. Applying the skills         school faculty, and other law
                                                                   Library and Technology; University of     Services; Ohio Attorney General’s Office;   detailed in this book provides       library directors. It has made
                                                                   California; Hastings College of the Law   Columbus, OH                                tangible evidence of my value        it easier for me to understand
                                                                   Library; San Francisco, CA                                                            to these groups as a source          my emotions and the emotions
                                                                                                                                                         and partner                          others bring to the table. This
                                                                                                                                                         Mark Gediman; Reference Librarian;   has improved my relationships
                                                                                                                                                         Alston & Bird LLP; Los Angeles, CA   and has made it easier for me
                                                                                                                                                                                              to deal—at the appropriate time
                                                                                                                                                                                              and in the appropriate way—
                                                                                                                                                                                                 it an iss es t at arise
                                                                                                                                                                                              Christine Dulac; Law Library Director;
                                                                                                                                                                                              Donald L. Garbrecht Law Library;
                                                                                                                                                                                              University of Maine School of Law;
                                                                                                                                                                                              Portland, ME

                                                                                                                                                                         MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 11
ENGAGE!
 THE NEXT-GEN
OF ONLINE
 INSTRUCTION
  BY AMY LIPFORD & KATHRYN CRANDALL

12 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
Strategies for librarians
    seeking to create
 sustained engagement
   with students and
attorneys in their online
courses and instruction.

O
               nline learning, the
               final frontier. Whether
               instructing an attorney
               or student, all librarians
               are faced with the chal-
               lenge of keeping their
audience engaged. This is especially
true in the online learning environ-
ment. However, keeping the “on” in
online engagement doesn’t have to
be as taxing as originally thought. By
understanding various learning styles,
structuring content to meet learner
needs, utilizing opportunities to create
engaging material, and implementing
techniques to encourage participation,
sustained engagement has become an
essential component of the next gen-
eration of online course development
and instruction.

Who Are You Engaging?
There is no standard definition of a
learning style. According to an article
by Susan A. Santo, “Relationships
between Learning Styles and Online
Learning: Myth or Reality?” scholars
struggle with differentiating between a
person’s preference in how they learn
versus the manner in which they learn
best. While instructing adult learn-
ers, instructors will find a spectrum
of learning behaviors that comprise
a course’s student population. One
method to define the various types
of online learners is the Grasha-
Riechmann Student Learning Style
Scales. Each of the styles identified in
the Grasha-Riechmann model presents
its own opportunities and challenges in

MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 13
can be consistent with the actual learn-
                                                                                                 ing styles of the students.”
                                                                                                    Schellens and Valcke determined
                                                                                                 learning styles based on the following
                                                                                                 dimensions:
                                                                                                 3   Auditory vs. Visual. Students with
                                                                                                     an auditory style prefer learning by
                                                                                                     listening; students with a visual style
                                                                                                     prefer learning through reading text
                                                                                                     or looking at diagrams.
                                                                                                 3   Applied vs. Conceptual. Students
                                                                                                     with an applied style prefer learning
                                                                                                     through examples and cases; students
                                                                                                     with a conceptual style prefer con-
                                                                                                     cepts and theories.
                                                                                                 3   Spatial vs. Non-spatial. Students with
                                                                                                     a spatial style prefer learning in con-
                                                                                                     text; students with a non-spatial style

DIGITAL MEDIA TOOLKIT
                                                                                                     are more abstract in their preferences.

                                                                                                 3   Social vs. Individual. Students with a
                                                                                                     social style prefer teamwork; students
                                                                                                     with an individual style prefer work-
   ¡ Adobe Creative Cloud                         ¡ Moovly
                                                                                                     ing alone.
     bit.ly/MA20Adobe                               bit.ly/MA20Moovly
   ¡ Adobe Spark                                  ¡ Piktochart                                   3   Creative vs. Pragmatic. Students
     bit.ly/MA20Spark                               bit.ly/MA20Piktochart                            with a creative style prefer using their
   ¡ Camtasia                                     ¡ PowToon                                          creativity to solve elaborate problems;
     bit.ly/MA20Camtasia                            bit.ly/MA20Pow                                   students with a pragmatic style prefer
   ¡ Canva                                        ¡   re i                                           to work on simpler problems.
     bit.ly/MA20Canva                                 it l /     re i
   ¡ Google Slides                                ¡ SlideDog
                                                                                                 How Are You Engaging?
     bit.ly/MA20Google                              bit.ly/MA20Slide
                                                                                                 To maximize online engagement for the
   ¡ Haiku Deck                                   ¡ Tableau
     bit.ly/MA20Haiku                               bit.ly/MA20Tableau                           various learning styles, there are several
                                                                                                 best practices. First, online learning
                                                                                                 should be adjusted based on students’
                                                                                                 needs and wants. One of the benefits
                                                                                                 of using an online discussion board
                                                                                                 early on in a classroom setting is that it
   an online setting. According to Grasha-        3   Collaborative. This learner works well     helps you discover what your learners
   Riechmann, there are six primary                   with others and enjoys group work.         need. When teaching a course, this is
   learning styles:                                                                              easily done by adjusting assignments
                                                  3   Competitive. This learner tries to do      based on student interests. In a firm
   3   Participant. This learner is eager to          better than others in the course.          setting, examples in video recordings
       take part in course content and asks
                                                                                                 and trainings can be selected based on
       questions.
                                                  When most people refer to learning             the types of research questions typically
   3   Avoidant. This learner does as little      styles, they are usually referring to visual   asked. An instructor can arrange assign-
       work as possible or waits until the last   vs. auditory learning or applied vs.           ments to compliment different styles
                                                                                                                                                Image © Istockphoto.com/Jacek Kita

       minute.                                    conceptual learning. Another model,            of learning. For example, to accom-
                                                  the Schellens and Valcke Learning              modate collaborative learners, create a
   3   Independent. This learner prefers to
                                                  Styles, encompasses these more com-            discussion board that requires student
       work independently and makes few
                                                  monly referred to learning styles and          engagement with another student’s
       requests for help.
                                                  explains how they relate to one another.       answer. Assign short-answer quizzes for
   3   Dependent. This learner needs              Schellens and Valcke contend that “the         those independent learners who want
       detailed instructions and lots of help.    demands of the learning environment            to apply the skills they have learned.

  14 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
Post videos where learners are walked
through the various approaches to a
research problem.                           There are a number of technologies that make creating engaging
   Another way to encourage engage-         online materials easier. The most important factor is to use the
ment with online materials is to give       resources that are available to you. For example, green screen
clear goals, both regarding anticipated     software allows you to record lectures and add visuals (e.g., charts
completion time required and learning       and graphs) to the background later, in a manner similar to how
outcomes for the materials. For online
courses, having a to-do list each week
                                            weather forecasters present their reports on TV.
with learning objectives is extremely
helpful. Students can work at their own
pace, checking off each required read-
ing, video, and assignment, as they com-    improvement. Because face-to-face            understand your audience and their
plete them. For online video instruction,   interaction is limited in most online        various learning styles, creating different
having a road map of the materials cov-     learning situations, providing timely        instruction techniques will make every-
ered at the beginning will set the user     feedback is a way for the user to feel       one’s online learning experience richer
up for success. Make sure to couple this    the instructor is engaged with their         and more productive. Now go forth and
road map with short videos, no more         work. Often feedback will spark related      make it so!
than 20 minutes each, to ensure users       questions or concerns that can also be
stay focused. A busy online learner is      addressed. Based on our experience, we           Teaching + Training
more likely to complete materials if the    have found having multiple avenues of
length of the material is known and the     communication can help with different
learner can split the work up into multi-                                                READ
                                            users’ needs. For example, a combi-
                                                                                         Taryn Marks and Rachel Licona’s
ple sessions as needed.                     nation of emails, phone calls, video
                                                                                         article “Enhancing the Online Learning
   There are a number of technologies       conferencing, discussion board posts,         nvironment, rom t e arc / pril
that make creating engaging online          assignment feedback, and recorded            2018 issue of AALL Spectrum at
materials easier. The most important        video announcements can be used to           bit.ly/MA18online.
factor is to use the resources that are     communicate ideas. This is particularly
                                                                                         Rebecca S. Trammell’s article “Improving
available to you. For example, green        helpful when learners are scattered            t dent tcomes in nline earning,
screen software allows you to record        geographically and subject to various        from the March/April 2018 issue of AALL
lectures and add visuals (e.g., charts      extraordinary circumstances, such as         Spectrum at bit.ly/MA18outcomes.
and graphs) to the background later,        natural disasters. These extenuating
in a manner similar to how weather          circumstances can make one form of
forecasters present their reports on TV.    communication preferable over another.

                                                                                                                            © 2020 BY AMY LIPFORD
Websites such as Lynda.com provide
tutorials for learning software, such       Tying It All Together
as Camtasia, which is a video-editing       The last step is really the first step.
program that improves and enhances          Evaluate methods and structures
online lectures. Regardless of the for-     employed for the eLearning environ-
                                                                                         AMY LIPFORD
mat used, establish a basic technology      ment. Create surveys before giving           ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR
competency requirement for your             instruction to create a baseline. What       RESOURCES
eLearners. To accomplish this, create       skill levels do they have with technol-      Florida State University
                                                                                         College of Law Research Center
assignments or how-to quick-start           ogy? What is their preferred learning        Tallahassee, FL
guides so learners have the basic skills    method? What do they expect to get           alipford@law.fsu.edu
required for viewing and interacting        out of these trainings? After the instruc-
with your online materials.                 tion is complete, survey your audience
                                                                                                                            © 2020 BY KATHRYN CRANDALL

                                            again to find out what worked and
Providing Meaningful Feedback               what didn’t. If they didn’t understand a
After users engage with your materials,     concept, find out why. Academic librar-
providing them with quick and respon-       ian instructors should use both formal
sive communication is key. By being         student evaluations and optional eval-       KATHRYN CRANDALL
responsive both in communications as        uations, such as an informal discussion      ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR
well as feedback, students will be more     board, where students are asked what         OUTREACH
engaged. Particularly in a classroom                                                     Florida State University
                                            concepts worked best and why. Learn          College of Law Research Center
setting, students want to know how          from the learners so you can continue        Tallahassee, FL
they did and where there is room for        to improve created content. Once you         kcrandall@law.fsu.edu

                                                                                          MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 15
BUILDING STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS
THROUGH
COLLABORATION
BETWEEN
LAW LIBRARIES
BY LINDSEY CARPINO, ANNIE MENTKOWSKI & CLANITRA STEWART NEJDL

    16 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
Tips on networking,
                 methods of collaborating,
                   and overcoming the
                   obstacles to forming
                  dynamic partnerships.

“C
                      ollaboration” and          Secondly, collaboration is a major
                      “partnership”          benefit to our institutions and orga-
                      are two words          nizations because it can result in
                      that most of us        saving money and resources through
                      hear on a regular      cost-sharing, which in turn allows for
                      basis. It has almost   more services to be provided.
become a truism that it is important to          Thirdly, collaborative partnerships
collaborate with others to succeed pro-      help foster good relationships with other
fessionally. However, as law librarians      entities that may prove important to our
and legal information professionals, it is   employer institutions and organizations
incumbent upon us to actively embrace        in the future.
collaboration and form strategic part-           Finally, collaboration is a boon to
nerships with other law libraries.           our profession because it improves the
                                             skills of the individual law librarians
Why Collaborate?                             and legal information professionals
First, collaboration is a significant way    involved and leads to the creation of
to provide additional benefits and ser-      best practices that can be shared across
vices to our end users, be they judges,      the profession. It is also worth noting
attorneys, students, faculty, or members     that the American Association of Law
of the public. Not only do collaborative     Libraries (AALL) Body of Knowledge
partnerships maximize the resources          (BoK) specifically encourages partner-
available for services to these users, but   ship and collaboration in the domains
they also allow for faster, more efficient   of Professionalism + Leadership at
service and the potential for creating       Every Level, Marketing + Outreach,
more unique and innovative services.         and Management + Business Acumen.
Examples of such innovative services
could include embedding an academic          Networking
law librarian in a public law library to     You cannot have a meaningful discus-
improve access to justice, or creating an    sion about building strategic partner-
advanced legal research course that has      ships without talking about networking.
an experiential component that takes         However, it is critical to think about net-
place in a law firm under the guidance       working in a new light and push your-
of a law firm librarian.                     self outside of your typical networks. It

                                              MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 17
is not unusual to take a siloed approach
                                                                                       to networking by only networking in
                                                                                       your established communities (e.g.,
                                                                                       attending continuing education events
                                                                                       that only apply to your current role, only
                                                                                       attending events were you already know
                                                                                       most of the attendees, etc.). However,
                                                                                       the siloed approach, while convenient
                                                                                       and comfortable, may not yield the best
                                                                                       results for dynamic partnership building.
                                                                                           To really stretch yourself profession-
                                                                                       ally and grow a diverse network takes
                                                                                       some thought and planning. Below is a
                                                                                       short list of suggestions for improving
                                                                                       your networking skills.
                                                                                       3   Take advantage of social media plat-
                                                                                           forms such as Meetup and seek out
                                                                                           like-minded librarian groups in other
                                                                                           disciplines.
                                                                                       3   Reach out to the alumni association at
                                                                                           your alma mater.
                                                                                       3   Attend webinars and conferences
                                                                                           hosted by AALL chapters or groups of
                                                                                           which you are not already a member.
                                                                                       3   Get involved with your local bar or
                                                                                           other professional association.

AALL MY COMMUNITIES                                                                    If you are willing to push yourself out-
                                                                                       side your established network of law
                                                                                       librarians, the possibilities for collabora-
                                                                                       tion are infinite.
   One very simple step you can take to build
                                                                                       Collaboration Methods
   your professional network is to update your AALL
                                                                                       Once you identify strategic partners
        omm nities profile                                                             through networking, you’ll find that
                                                                                       there are endless methods for collabora-
                                                                                       tion. For example:
          as added t ree ne sections to t e      omm nities mem er profile

                                                                                       Government Law Libraries
   3 Areas of Expertise currently includes 23 topic areas
                                                                                       Government law librarians may
   3 Speak On Areas of Expertise is where you can state whether you would be willing   consider:
     to speak on the areas of expertise you selected
                                                                                       3   Providing tips or strategies for regula-
   3 Teach Areas of Expertise is where you can state whether you would be willing to       tory or legislative history research to
     teach within these areas                                                              incoming clerks or to new associates at
                                                                                           law firms.
    e s re to eep o r         omm nities profile c rrent oing so can elp o find
                                                                                                                                      Image © Istockphoto.com/metamorworks

   potential partners and elp ot ers find o       en t e are loo ing or spea ers or    Law Schools and Academic
   additions to their professional networks.                                           Organizations
                                                                                       Academic law librarians may consider:
   Update your profile at bit.ly/AALLMyCommunities
                                                                                       3   Introducing graduating law students
                                                                                           to law firm or government librarians,
                                                                                           thereby helping students build import-
                                                                                           ant professional connections;

 18 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
3   Hosting or sponsoring a “Bridge
    the Gap” program with a law firm
    library;                                 Unfortunately, barriers to collaboration may come up from time to time.
3   Offering a professional development
                                             These tend to fall into two categories: administrative and practical.
    program or workshop for law students
    and alumni; and
3   Providing trainings related to access    regard to this last barrier, remember         ADDITIONAL RESOURCE
    to justice.                              that lack of financial resources is a com-    Visit Teaching Legal Research: A
                                             mon condition among all types of law          Collaboration in My Communities at bit.ly/
Law Firms                                    libraries and that there may be grants        AALLMyCommTLR to share information,
Law firm librarians may consider:                                                          strategies, and resources to help law
                                             or other funding sources available
                                                                                           students and new attorneys build solid
3   Guest lecturing in local law school      depending on the type of collaborative        legal research skills. This group is open to
    legal research courses to share best     project being developed. As part of the       all la li rarians academic, private, and
    practices for new associates.            process, it is well worth investigating the   government
                                             availability of such sources as additional
Public Libraries and Institutions            ways to fund the partnership.
Public libraries may consider:                   It is important to acknowledge

                                                                                                                                     © 2020 BY LINDSEY CARPINO
                                             potential barriers early in the process,
3   Expanding access to resources            because if they are anticipated at the
3   Providing CLE (continuing legal          outset they will be easier to eliminate.
    education) programs                      Our best advice is to be realistic but
                                             resolute. Do not give up unnecessarily,
                                                                                           LINDSEY CARPINO
3   Hosting law-related book clubs           because the benefits of collaboration         LEGAL CONTENT SERVICES
3   Collaborating on community               can far outweigh the efforts.                 SUPERVISOR
                                                                                           BakerHostetler
    resources such as law-related online                                                   Chicago, IL
    guides                                   Onward to Success                             lcarpino@bakerlaw.com
                                             Even though we may think of our own
                                             areas of law librarianship as distinct,
Additionally, all types of legal infor-

                                                                                                                                © 2020 BY ANNIE MENTKOWSKI
                                             all law librarians and legal information
mation professionals may consider            professionals are facing similar con-
resource-sharing and serving as contacts     cerns. Shrinking budgets, collection
for interlibrary loan needs. Other pos-      reductions, security concerns, vendor
sibilities include collaborating on grant    negotiations, and the overall need to
applications to develop library out-                                                       ANNIE MENTKOWSKI
                                             “do more with less” pervade our pro-          AGENCY LIBRARIAN
reach and programming, and working           fessional lives. If we can look at the        United States Railroad
together on technology-related efforts       bigger picture of law librarianship as a      Retirement Board
such as the digitization of resources.                                                     Chicago, IL
                                             whole, we can work together and share         annie.mentkowski@rrb.gov
    Remember, collaborating on small         our unique perspectives on how our
projects can lead to big opportunities       similar challenges can be overcome.
for greater collaboration.
                                                                                                                               © 2020 BY CLANITRA STEWART NEJDL

                                             Continuing to network and to collab-
                                             orate with colleagues in our own orga-
Overcoming Barriers to                       nizations and at other organizations
Collaboration                                will be critical to our own success, the
Unfortunately, barriers to collaboration     success of our organizations, and the
may come up from time to time. These                                                       CLANITRA STEWART NEJDL
                                             success of our profession.                    RESEARCH SERVICES LIBRARIAN
barriers tend to fall into two categories:                                                 AND LECTURER IN LAW
administrative and practical.                                                              Alyne Queener Massey Law Library
                                                Teaching + Training
    Administrative barriers can include                                                    Vanderbilt University
                                                                                           Nashville, TN
difficulties getting buy-in from senior                                                    clanitra.s.nejdl@vanderbilt.edu
                                             AALL2go EXTRA
leadership, IT restrictions, and other
                                             Listen to the 2019 AALL Annual Meeting
rules and regulations, such as licensing     program       ilding trategic artners ips
restrictions.                                Using Outreach Between Academic,
    Practical barriers can include lack      Government, and Law Firm Libraries
of time, fear of failure, and, most com-     to a imi e al e, at
monly, lack of financial resources. In       bit.ly/AM19Partnerships.

                                                                                            MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 19
DISCOVERING DIAMONDS IN YOUR

   SURVEY DATA
                                       L
                Understanding and                  ibrary surveys enable us to open up a dialogue with our patron base
     implementing best practices                   in order to uncover areas of improvement and to facilitate a better
                                                   user experience for all of our patrons. Traditional survey creation
            in survey creation that
                                                   has innate challenges, such as asking the right questions, properly
       yields better data for more                 coding the data, and addressing the proper audience. All of these
      insightful decision-making.                  challenges must be considered when drafting and designing surveys
     BY JESSICA DE PERIO WITTMAN       to ensure the collection of useful data for outcome-driven decision-making
                   & KATIE BROWN       at your library. Additionally, librarians can also redesign their own or other
                                       open-sourced surveys to enable library administration to plan for, manage, and
                                       achieve outcomes that will drive future services, initiatives, and programs aimed
                                       at improving the entire institution.

                                       Step 1: Identify Your Survey Goals
                                       Libraries typically develop surveys for three reasons: to assess user satisfaction with
                                       place or services, to identify users’ needs, and to gauge the reception of future ser-
                                       vices. A fourth potential reason for survey development is to gather demographic
                                       information about the library’s users.

  20 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
Traditional surveys have been used
                                       to collect data that often confirms what
                                       is already known. We, the authors of            Quantitative data is not necessarily more valuable than qualitative
                                       this article, assert that an effective survey   data, but analyzing qualitative data creates more work. Most
                                       will collect data from outcome-based            qualitative data comes from open-ended comment fields, and the
                                       questions from which answers are not            data only becomes valuable once those comments are coded.
                                       already known.

                                       Step 2: Select a Measurement Tool
                                       Once a survey goal has been identified,         3   Longitudinal Study: Unlike a                and written down with numbers. In
                                       librarians must determine the most                  cross-sectional survey, this survey col-    contrast, qualitative data is defined as
                                       appropriate measurement or survey tool.             lects data to make inferences about a       information that is non-numerical in
                                       There are a myriad of tools to choose               sample population over time. The key        nature. It approximates and charac-
                                       from, ranging from awareness surveys to             to longitudinal studies is surveying the    terizes, but does not measure the attri-
                                       satisfaction surveys, the traditional sur-          same sample population several times        butes, characteristics, or properties of a
                                       vey form used by most libraries.                    over a period of time.                      thing or phenomenon. Some librarians
                                           Below is a brief description of each                                                        have argued that our profession relies
                                                                                       3   Perception Survey: This survey is
                                       tool.                                                                                           too heavily on quantitative surveys and
                                                                                           most often used when one is trying
                                                                                                                                       that librarians should explore quali-
                                       3   Awareness Survey: Measures the                  to find out how patrons understand
                                                                                                                                       tative methods, such as focus groups,
                                           extent to which patrons are familiar            or feel about their situations or envi-
                                                                                                                                       interviews, observational studies,
                                           with your product or service. Is your           ronments. It is used to assess needs,
                                                                                                                                       rubrics, and other tools.
                                           library the first thing that comes to           answer questions, solve problems,
                                                                                                                                           While there is a place for qualita-
                                           mind when someone wants that prod-              establish baselines, analyze trends,
                                                                                                                                       tive data, it is oftentimes anecdotal
                                           uct or service? For example, will stu-          and select goals.
                                                                                                                                       in nature and difficult to use in deci-
                                           dents think of consulting a reference
                                                                                       3   Post-Mortem Surveys: Also called a          sion-making. Quantitative data is not
                                           librarian for research help or will they
                                                                                           post-mortem review, this survey pro-        necessarily more valuable than qualita-
                                           consult Google? Awareness surveys
                                                                                           vides an opportunity for librarians to      tive data, but analyzing qualitative data
                                           usually require two measurements:
                                                                                           reflect on a project after it concludes.    creates more work. Most qualitative
                                           recall, which is your patrons’ ability
                                                                                           Librarians develop a list of lessons        data comes from open-ended comment
                                           to remember your product or service
                                                                                           learned so mistakes are not repeated.       fields, and the data only becomes valu-
                                           without help, and recognition, which is
                                                                                           Reflections can also celebrate and          able once those comments are coded.
                                           your patrons’ ability to recognize your
                                                                                           highlight the successes of a project.       The data will not have any conclusive
                                           product or service among a list of
                                                                                                                                       meaning without coding.
                                           alternatives.                               3   Questionnaire: A set of printed or
                                                                                           written questions with a choice of
                                       3   Cross-Sectional Survey: Collects data                                                       Step 3a: If Using Qualitative Data,
                                                                                           answers, devised for the purposes of a
                                           to make inferences about a sample                                                           Don’t Forget to Code It
                                                                                           statistical study.
                                           population at a specific point in time.                                                     Qualitative data provides value for
                                           Additionally, it also collects data about   3   Satisfaction Survey: The most cur-          decision-making once the data is coded.
                                           a specific product, service, or decision.       rently used form of library survey,         Coding is a process that enables librar-
                                           A fresh sample of people are surveyed           it is designed to determine what the        ians to identify and define concepts
                                           each time the product, service, or              library is doing well in its users’ opin-   that categorize the data and facilitate
                                           decision is implemented or altered.             ions and identify areas that can be         analysis. For example, if temperature
                                           For example, changes in the research            improved.                                   control is a known concern in the
                                           training curriculum may be made                                                             library, and the survey does not address
Image © Istockphoto.com/metamorworks

                                           based on results collected after every      Step 3: Determine If Qualitative or             it specifically, feedback about tempera-
                                           research training session.                  Quantitative Data Is Needed to Make             ture control might be assigned a lower
                                                                                       Your Decision                                   numerical value than a previously
                                       3   Interview: Also called face-to-face         Most survey questions are designed so           unknown concern.
                                           surveys, these are used when a specific     that the answers can be easily quantified           Coding open-ended comments can
                                           target population has been identified       and descriptive statistical results can be      be revealing, but it is laborious and
                                           to best provide deeper and more qual-       presented. Quantitative data is defined         often uncovers statistically insignificant
                                           itative information.                        as information that can be measured             data points. There may not be enough

                                                                                                                                       MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 21
time to code the data properly to ana-      understand that either a positive or a           Library surveys not only enable us
  lyze the results, and there may not be      negative answer is equally acceptable.        to open up a dialogue with our patron
  enough library or institutional resources   Effective survey questions and answers        base, but they also enable us to facilitate
  to act on the analysis in a timely man-     should be randomized if there is a            a better user experience with other
  ner. As a result, librarians should limit   possibility of order bias. To get sensitive   stakeholders. Challenges, such as a
  the number of survey questions that         information, librarians should consider       lack of patron empathy, bias, and mis-
  include open-ended responses.               disguising the question, shifting focus       identifying the survey audience, must
      If the survey demands a significant     away from the respondent, softening the       be tackled when drafting and design-
  number of open-ended responses,             question, or collecting correlated data.      ing surveys. Using the processes and
  librarians must consider other data         For example, instead of asking patrons        methods outlined above, librarians can
  collection tools that are appropriate,      whether they want 24-hour access, you         create effective surveys from scratch or
  including focus groups and interviews.      could frame the question to collect data      redesign already existing questionnaires
                                              on what times patrons would most likely       that will result in outcome-driven deci-
  Step 3b: Quantitative Data Is Already       use or visit the library.                     sion-making at their law library.
  Coded—Proceed to Step 4
  Quantitative data is analyzed more          Challenge 3: Identify the Proper                 Teaching + Training
  readily, lending itself to speedier deci-   Audience                                         Marketing + Outreach
  sion-making. Remember that survey           A survey can be a powerful instrument
  research is not about the individual        for gathering information from large          AALL2go EXTRA
  response; it is about the aggregate.        populations, but it may have more value       Listen to the 2016 AALL Annual Meeting
      Using the temperature control           with questions written to address a spe-      program “How Are We Doing? Using
  example above, responses may be set         cific population or need. For example,        Outcomes Assessment to Improve
  to a Likert or rating scale. Each value     a survey that assesses how international       egal esearc nstr ction, at it l /
  in the Likert scale is associated with      students are using the library should         AM16Assessment.
  a number. This enables the library          only be sent to international students.
  to quickly assess the importance, for           After drafting a set of questions,

                                                                                                                                © 2020 BY JESSICA DE PERIO WITTMAN
  example, of whether to make a decision      librarians need to ask whether the
  about temperature control needs.            survey is relevant to at least 20 percent
                                              of the target population. If not, then
  Step 4: Tackle the Innate Challenges        the audience for the survey needs to be
  of Survey Design                            redefined, or the questions need to be        JESSICA DE PERIO WITTMAN
  Listed below are the most common            redrafted. Likewise, 100 percent of the       DIRECTOR OF THE LAW LIBRARY
  challenges in survey design.                questions should be easy to understand        ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW
                                                                                            University of Connecticut
                                              by the intended audience, and the             School of Law Library
  Challenge 1: Even Agents of Change          questions should be rigorously tested for     Hartford, CT
  Can Lack Patron Empathy                     clarity to eliminate library jargon. For      jessica.deperio@uconn.edu
  Empathy is defined as the ability to        example, “check out materials” may be
  understand and appreciate another

                                                                                                                               © 2020 BY KATIE BROWN
                                              used in lieu of “circulation.”
  person’s feelings and experiences.
  Librarians should question what infor-      Challenge 4: Build Those
  mation is lacking about the patron          Relationships
  experience. Unfortunately, obstacles        Library administration must identify
  to empathy exist, and often manifest        potential collaborators at all levels and     KATIE BROWN
  in statements such as, “This is the way                                                   ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR
                                              manage their expectations when receiv-        INFORMATION
  we do it.”; “We tried to change that,       ing unintended outcomes from these            RESOURCES
  and it didn’t work.”; “If people would      surveys. This is especially important         Charleston School of Law
  just…”; and “I know this is compli-                                                       Charleston, SC
                                              when library space is used for more than      kbrown@charlestonlaw.edu
  cated, but. …”                              just books and library staff. Libraries
                                              now have cafes or other eateries and
  Challenge 2: Everyone Has Bias              also hold multiple student-facing depart-
  Bias introduces ideas or opinions into      ments, such as Information Technology
  questions that will influence responses.    Services, Student Affairs, the Registrar,
  Librarians should ensure that question      Business Office, Financial Aid, etc. All
  order does not influence a certain type     parties must be willing to listen to and
  of response. Similarly, answer order        address unintended or unfavorable
  is important to ensure that patrons         outcomes in a timely manner.

22 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
CREATING SCREENCASTING
VIDEOS
THAT ENGAGE
VIEWERS

                                     T
               A how-to guide for                 oday, it is widely accepted that instructional videos provide
                                                  many benefits over live instruction, including allowing people
     incorporating screencasting
                                                  to learn at their own pace, on their own schedule, and from
         videos into your lessons.                wherever they choose. A common technique for producing
                BY ALISA HOLAHAN,                 instructional videos is screencasting, a process that allows
              JOE NOEL & LEI ZHANG                people to record what is happening on their computer screens
                                     and turn it into videos. Screencasting presents law librarians with a valu-
                                     able opportunity to provide direct instruction to users that they can access
                                     freely and flexibly. That said, many law librarians may find that developing
                                     a screencast series for the first time is a daunting task. We at the Tarlton
                                     Law Library should know: we recently completed our first screencasting

                                                                         MARCH/APRIL 2020 | AALL SPECTRUM 23
popping noise from pronouncing p’s
                                                                                                 and b’s.

                                                                                                 Script and Storyboard
                                                                                                 One of the most helpful tools in the
                                                                                                 video creation process is a script.
                                                                                                 Having a script facilitates a smooth,
ACCESSIBILITY
                                                                                                 professional presentation and allows

RESOURCES                                                                                        the narrator to focus on the nuances
                                                                                                 of presentation, such as pace and tone.
                                                                                                 Preparing a storyboard may also be
       ollo ing are five reso rces or more in dept reading on t e topic                          helpful. A storyboard is a sequence of
      ¡      san     ltme er and ei ang, n ancing nstr ction reating ig             alit         simple visual representations (e.g., draw-
           nteractive ideos, AALL Spectrum, ol , o     arc / pril                                ings or sketches) of the video’s content,
          bit.ly/MA17videos                                                                      accompanied by other useful informa-
      ¡    at     c roc s    ide to ver t ing,    creencasting in t e lassroom                   tion, such as the text or dialogue that
          bit.ly/MA20Guide                                                                       will accompany the video.
      ¡ TechSmith website, TechSmith Blog.
         bit.ly/MA20TechSmith                                                                    Length
                                                                                                 Videos should be short to maintain
      ¡      stin artin illiams, oo ing essons and egal esearc       reating and
           ntegrating nstr ctional ideos into egal esearc raining, AALL Spectrum,
                                                                                                 viewers’ attention, with longer presen-
           ol     , o      l                                                                     tations divided into segments. If videos
          bit.ly/J13Williams                                                                     are too long, you risk having the viewer
      ¡ World Wide Web Consortium, “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
                                                                                                 tune out, or worse, not bothering to
                  vervie                                                                         start the video in the first place. Tarlton
        bit.ly/MA20WCAG                                                                          librarians opted to break the content
                                                                                                 of a 30-minute in-person training into
                                                                                                 a series of modules, with each module
                                                                                                 running less than 10 minutes.

                                                                                                 Recording
      series. This article provides guidance to      has extensive editing features. Tarlton     Video and audio may be recorded
      law librarians interested in incorporat-       librarians plan to continue creating        separately or simultaneously. It can be
      ing the production of screencasts into         screencast videos, making the additional    helpful to record images and audio sep-
      their instructional activities.                cost worthwhile.                            arately and synch them during editing
                                                                                                 so you can focus on each aspect indi-
      Preparation                                    Equipment                                   vidually. While a soundproof recording
      The first step in creating screencasting       A library can create a polished and         space and room enhancements such
      videos is making preliminary decisions,        engaging video with only a modest           as acoustic foam are ideal, a quality
      including choosing the right software,         investment in recording equipment.          recording can be achieved in an imper-
      figuring out what equipment is nec-            One of the most important pieces of         fect environment by using a reliable
      essary, developing the content of the          equipment is a good quality micro-          microphone and recording when it is
      videos, and determining the length.            phone. Fortunately, an affordable           quiet. Perfecting an audio recording
                                                     USB desktop microphone can vastly           often requires multiple takes. Strive
      Software                                       improve a video’s audio quality over        for clear audio, with varied pitch and
      Numerous free and low-cost soft-               that of a computer’s microphone.            a steady, moderate speed. Recording
      ware options are available for cre-            Tarlton purchased the Blue Snowball         on-screen content also requires plan-
      ating screencast videos, including             iCE condenser microphone, a popular         ning and rehearsal—mastering the
      Screencast-O-Matic, TechSmith’s                USB desktop microphone available at a       choreography of your on-screen naviga-
      Snagit, and Apowersoft’s Screen                reasonable price, with a cardioid (heart-   tion and your text and voice instruction
      Recorder. There are also a number of           shaped) pickup pattern that works well      take time to perfect.
      more expensive tools, such as Adobe            for recording single-direction sound.
      Captivate, TechSmith’s Camtasia,               Other hardware to consider includes         Editing
      and Telestream’s ScreenFlow (Macs              headphones and a pop filter, which is       Editing will likely be the most time-
      only). At Tarlton, we use Camtasia,            a nylon or mesh filter that reduces the     consuming aspect of a screencast-
      which is straightforward to learn and          hissing noise associated with s’s and the   ing project. Typical editing activities

    24 AALL SPECTRUM | WWW.AALLNET.ORG
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