Through the syllabus looking glass: Analyzing business syllabi

Header Photo by Felipe Furtado on Unsplash

Since joining the team at UNC Charlotte, I have been thinking about engagement a lot. How do I engage students beyond a consultation? How can I reach students who are reluctant to contact their subject librarian? And what about the students who don’t even know they have a subject liaison librarian? 

One of my first tasks here was to craft an introduction to faculty and staff for the programs that I cover. Within the College of Business (COB), I cover the undergraduate programs of accounting, business analytics, economics, finance, international business, management, management information systems, marketing, and operations supply chain, as well as different masters and doctorate level programs for COB and organizational science, an interdisciplinary program. Overall, I support about 4,400 students, based on Spring 2019 enrollment, which doesn’t account for a couple of first-year writing courses during the fall semester. 

This summer, I was able to collaborate with a marketing class for an undergraduate capstone project. In my first session with them, I talked about some of the makerspace and VR technology, as well as the recording studio available through the library. When I asked the class who had heard of those resources, over half (at least 20 students) were amazed and subsequently bombarded me with questions. The realization that senior marketing majors were not aware of resources that could have helped them with assignments and offered them opportunities to increase their experiential learning started turning my wheels again. 

Inspiration

Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash

After brainstorming some traditional and nontraditional ideas for engagement and outreach, I started to look at the syllabi that are publicly posted online. A short time later, I read an article that performed a formal syllabi analysis for business courses, and I decided to conduct a small scale version (which I plan to later turn into a comprehensive project, scanning multiple semesters). Published in the Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship, Looking for the library: Using an undergraduate business syllabi analysis to inform an instruction program  by Jennifer Wilhelm and Alyson Vaaler of Texas A&M University Libraries has been the perfect article to read while I’m exploring these ideas. 

“This study analyzed 260 syllabi representing a year of the undergraduate curriculum from a business school. The syllabi were examined based on the mentions of the library from across three categories: spaces, resources, and services, as well as possible opportunities for engagement that librarians could target for collaboration. In this study, the library was mentioned 79 times, mostly in relation to library resources. There were also 479 opportunities for engagement coded. This study found that the majority of undergraduate syllabi do not mention the library, but that there are considerable opportunities that librarians can target for future engagement.” -Abstract

*Databases had the most mentions and surprisingly, the lowest amount of mentions was for services (librarian consultations, reference assistance, and reference desk) with only 3 mentions out of 270 syllabi. This was especially “…disappointing, yet motivating…” for Wilhelm and Vaaler, because of all of the interactions they have with faculty. 

Opportunities for Engagement

Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash

Based on the practices used by Wilhelm and Vaaler here are a few observations I made when I scanned 6 syllabi, all from COB undergraduate courses taught in Spring 2019.

• The library was not mentioned in any significant way. The two instances that the library was mentioned, one was in relation to using the writing center which has a satellite office in the library and the second was in relation to borrowing technology and contacting IT for technology assistance. This is not surprising to me. Syllabi aren’t true reflections of courses anymore and  historically the library has been overlooked as a vital part of student success. 
• Some of the courses use “educational platforms” for their textbooks and assignments. I am tempted to believe that students will go to those platforms if they need help with an assignment (second to faculty). This is where they are completing the majority of their scholarly work and so, I could see that they would potentially contact their customer service or research assistance professionals. This isn’t unique to business courses and it is something that faculty feel can save students money on textbooks.

The authors outline several “opportunities for engagement” and weren’t discouraged by the results of their analysis. ‘Opportunities for engagement’ did not focus on mentions of the library specifically but outlined what assignments and projects the library could implement to be effective.  Here are some thoughts on what I would like to explore this academic year:

1. Focus on the assignments and projects that are assigned. Each of the COB syllabi involved assignments where library resources could help students. I wasn’t able to see much description of the assignments but I deduced that most of the assignments have a relevant library resource that could have been implored. 

Potential Action Item: Be proactive. Reach out to faculty and personalize an email to them about specifics in their syllabus. A lot of subject librarians will ask for the syllabus or specific assignment that they are contacted about, but what about the faculty that doesn’t utilize the library at all. This could especially be good for freshmen and sophomore intro courses that usually have more than one section and at least 50 students in each section. I would also make an effort to focus on new faculty as they might be open to trying new things.

*In Academia today, a syllabus might not be the complete picture of a course anymore. All of the syllabi mentioned that more course details would be given in the Learning Management System (LMS) and I know librarians take note of that fact. The syllabus is a place where faculty make agreements with their students (a few even had signature lines so that they could turn that in as their first assignment) and include the necessary university policies. As I structure my project for next year, I will be looking at different course resources and not just syllabi content. 

2. New ways to engage. In my introduction to faculty and staff, I made a quick flyer in Canva that I inserted into the email and attached as a pdf. I encouraged the recipients to print or share the image easily to students, post around the office, etc. I wanted to have a visual representation of the collaboration and support I can give. 

Potential Action Item: Use visual media. In addition to the introduction flyer, I also created an infographic of a course I supported last Spring that outlined what services and resources I provided. Further, I want to experiment with video tutorials/messages and embedding into our LMS. Finding a way for faculty to add me as a ‘Librarian’ role in the LMS, would give me some opportunities to connect with students (this was a goal I set in my presentation for my UNC Charlotte interview). At the very least, I have impressed some marketing faculty so far!  

3. Have a standard statement that faculty can add to their syllabus. This is actually an idea that a colleague here at UNC Charlotte suggested and may implement. After reading syllabi, there are so many policy statements that deal with accessibility, diversity, and assignments.

Potential Action Item: Create a short statement in that states: “Atkins library, has many services and librarians that are here to help. From laptop and calculator check out to our amazing Area 49 technology and innovation spaces. You even have a subject librarian, dedicated to demonstrating research skills and how to navigate the different databases. Through the library’s website, you can chat, reserve books and materials, and reserve study rooms in advance.” That is a quick review of my “library orientation” I have constructed to start my instruction sessions. This will hopefully make subject librarians more visible to students and faculty will consider the library a part of their courses, even in this very small way.

There are so many other ways that our research and instruction department tries to engage the campus community including an instruction newsletter, a specialized welcome to UNCC for new faculty, and attendance at staff/faculty meetings. I just want to develop some additional methods of engagement that are achievable and effective.

Discuss with me

I know that a lot of the ideas above are not novel but maybe there are some things you tried 5 years ago and you abandoned because they didn’t work out and were potentially time consuming. Maybe it’s time to pick those items back up, revise and go again. Personally, I am thinking about involving a student worker, either an education or business major to help with the larger project.

What tools or resources can you use to assist with engagement? What are some overlooked or alternative ways you engage your audience? How can librarians get others to market the library or talk about services in casual conversation?