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DRAFT Terms of Reference: Digital Scholarship Needs Assessment Working Group

Published onOct 15, 2019
DRAFT Terms of Reference: Digital Scholarship Needs Assessment Working Group
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Note: This is a draft document that has not been approved by York University Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Steering Committee. Suggestions are welcome!

Version 0.6 - Oct. 15, 2019

Background

The second goal listed in the Terms of Reference for the Digital Scholarship Steering Committee is:

“Build upon and update the earlier iteration of the DSC framework by engaging in an evidence-based, needs based campus-wide consultation to inform framework development for the DSC.”

In the August, 2019 meeting of the committee it was determined that working groups be created for the responsibility of planning and carrying out this needs assessment.

Literature from existing needs assessment reports and project case studies suggests that a needs assessment comprise several activities:

  1. An internal survey of library staff about their work related to digital scholarship

  2. An internal (York) environmental scan of existing digital scholarship services, centres, and research labs

  3. A survey of York graduate students about their research and use of digital tools and methods

  4. An external scan of digital scholarship centres and practices at other post-secondary institutions

  5. A survey of York faculty about their research and use of digital tools and methods

An initial data collection for North American digital scholarship centres was performed between August 20 and 27, with results collected in a Google Sheet.

Purpose

Small task groups must be created to plan and execute data collection and analysis for each fact of the overall needs assessment.

Goals

Complete data collection and analysis for each of the five needs assessment “facets” described above, including collection and timelines, methodology, sampling techniques, survey or interview instruments, raw data, and key findings based on qualitative or quantitative techniques.

This goal is in service of Phase One, Goal One of the DSSC Terms of Reference

Deliverables

Facet

Methodology

Sampling

Data Collection

Data analysis & reporting

Current status (October 2019)

YUL staff

Semi-structured interviews[1]

Disciplinary clusters, student-facing staff

X

X

Proposal written; interview questions drafted

YU DS activities

Website review, Academic calendar, Student groups

N/A

X

X

YU Grad students

Semi-structured interviews

Snowball from SSHRC award recipients and Y File stories/archives 

X

X

Proposal written; interview questions drafted

Other Digital Scholarship Centres

Website review based on Google searches

n/a

n/a

X

First-pass data collection in this Google Sheet

YU Faculty / Researchers

Semi-structured interviews

Snowball from SSHRC award recipients and referrals from liaison librarians

X

X

Proposal written; interview questions drafted

Accountability

Accountability for the completion of the needs assessment work lies with the Digital Scholarship Steering Committee. The working group is responsible for the completion of work, and it is expected that tasks will be further subdivided betwixt small teams of researchers.

Timeline and Activities: September 2019 through April 2020

All work to be completed by April 2020. Suggested deliverable dates:

  • Individual plans/timelines finalized by October 15, 2019

  • Instruments and sampling methods finalized by November 15, 2019

  • Data collection completed by January 31, 2020

  • Analysis and reporting completed by April 15, 2020

Membership

For agility, it may be best for the working group to be a small cluster of groups (teams) numbering two or three team members each, so that each may focus on a single facet of data collection. All teams should ensure that the overall work is linked by a central coordinator.

  • Digital Scholarship Librarian (Kris Joseph, working group coordinator)

  • YUL staff survey team

  • York DS activity survey team

  • York grad student interview team

  • York faculty interview team

Team Members’ Responsibilities

Members will:

  • Understand the over-arching goals of the Digital Scholarship Steering Committee and their connection to the larger initiative

  • Be fully-trained on methods used for data collection and analysis for their sub-group, including a review of the existing literature scan results

  • Dedicate time required to complete needs assessment work on schedule

  • Make themselves available to participate in data collection activities (i.e. conducting interviews) for other sub-groups if demand warrants

  • Contribute collected data and anlaysis work to a central document collection in a secure online location, aware that this data may be shared openly with the larger YUL community

  • Communicate regularly with the working group coordinator, including updates on progress and challenges encountered.

  • Report progress to respective departments and related groups

Coordinator Responsibilities

The Coordinator will ensure:

  • All members’ diverse experiences, perspectives, and existing commitments are treated respectfully;

  • All team progress is reported, with challenges

  • Keep the Digital Scholarship Steering Committee apprised of working group activity

  • Serve as a single point of contact for anyone interested in the work or output of the working group

  • Ensure deadlines are met or adapted as required by unforeseen challenges

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are as identified by the larger Digital Scholarship Steering Committee. For the purposes of data collection, stakeholders will include the populations that are participating in the needs assessment process, and needs assessment results will be shared with those communities for their interest or benefit.

Communication

  • Team members are expected to communicate often and are invited to be candid

  • The coordinator and teams will use email and online collaboration tools (e.g. Slack) to check in and report on work status

Frequency of Meetings

Teams are expected to contribute to overall reports, with in-person meetings scheduled only when larger concerns or questions warrant discussion. At most, these meetings will be scheduled once per month.

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