Just Say No to Just Think Critically is an information literacy curriculum for college freshman taking a seminar-style, interdisciplinary course on drug policy. Included were lesson plans for two in-class instruction sessions, three breakout sessions with project groups, as well as a LibGuide and pre/post assessment. Grounded in critical instruction theory -- a lens especially suited to this complex topic -- the instruction goal was to frame information literacy as an empowering, lifelong mindset, not just a skillset for academic research. Concepts were applied in student projects at a harm reduction event, which also demonstrated peer-to-peer information sharing.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) offers free continuing education and training opportunities related to consumer health. Unfortunately, the demands of the modern work environment make it difficult for library staff to dedicate time to these opportunities. This has left many libraries unaware of, or untrained in, numerous free high quality health resources that can be passed on to the public. To address the problem of time, this project reconfigured the information session for the NIH Senior Health Website. The session was transformed into a “microlearning” module, with 6 short video tutorials that have small amounts of content.

The Derby Public Library is a suburb of Wichita, Kansas with a population of 23,000 with a growing interest in technology classes. There are few options nearby for computer literacy training, especially training that is free. Crystal Prieb worked with the library to figure out what classes their patrons were most interested in, then spent several months presenting those classes. Eight classes were offered in total with class sizes ranging from one to ten and topics including “Introduction to Microsoft Excel” and “Library Databases and Resources”.

Since launching in Fall 2015 as the University of Washington Libraries’ main discovery system, Ex Libris Primo has not been subjected to formal usability testing. Additionally, the UW Triennial Survey showed high dissatisfaction and negative feedback from students, faculty, and staff regarding the current library search experience. To improve their experience using the UW Libraries Search, we conducted user testing, analyzed the data, and provided design recommendations for implementation before the release of the newest iteration of Primo (Fall 2017). Our hope is for these recommendations to make a more user-friendly search system for UW library users.

Seattle Pacific University (SPU) requested a review of its declining reference services for the first time in eighteen years. To make recommendations for SPU’s references services, information was collected from three sources. First I reviewed several items: the library itself, current students at SPU, the needs of millennial students, and a literature review of reference service trends over the past ten years. Second, eleven local academic libraries were surveyed to learn how similar institutions are offering reference services. Third, reference service and database use at SPU’s library were reviewed. Based on this information, changes to reference services were proposed.

According to many studies, older patrons that struggle with technology will often turn to their library for support. Our sponsor noticed this trend at Kitsap Regional Library’s Sylvan Way Branch. However, two issues were apparent: first, there were inherent privacy concerns in helping patrons with their online needs and second, many patrons needed extensive help beyond the time that could reasonably be devoted to helping one patron. Through observation and research, our team created a series of handouts on a variety of targeted topics. Our work bridges the gap between protecting information privacy, education, and staff time constraints.

I teamed up with the UW Libraries Teaching and Learning Group International Student/ELL Subcommittee to continue an investigation done by a capstone group in 2016. While the previous year’s project focused on reaching out to international students about their concerns, I reached out to the librarians and library staff at UW to see how conscious they are of the needs of the international student population and how they address those challenges. Through the course of the project I also gathered more information about what programs our international students are coming from in order to better inform staff and future training.

Public funding has always been an important part of the definition of a public library. Public libraries have seen a decline in funding, relying on a mixture of external types of funding to keep services running. With state and local governments facing financial pressures, some public libraries have explored alternative ways to maximize funding, by forming independent library districts. This model gives districts flexibility in increasing property taxes or other taxes at the municipal level – the primary method of collecting funds. This project reviews any previous research or data to determine if this long-held assumption is correct.

The Total Resource Observation Utility Team (TROUT), created a data visualization using Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (WDFW) high-resolution land change data. The interactive visualization makes this important data understandable to the public, policymakers, and environmental scientists. TROUT has unlocked this public data and improved access by disseminating in a clear, concise, user-centered dashboard presenting actionable information. This visualization allows the user to see actual changes in the Puget Sound over time with data-rich GIS information describing the changes. TROUT’s use of open-source technologies and code documentation mean the dashboard can be replicated for displaying future public spatial datasets.

The Washington State Department of Ecology works to manage and conserve public resources and collects information about the effectiveness of its conservation programs. Our project will help in the Open Data Literacy initiatives of the Department of Ecology by transferring this information to the open data portal of Washington state (data.wa.gov) and designing user-friendly data visualizations. This project will create a positive social impact by presenting the existing waste management information through interactive and powerful visualizations to the public. It will also help the department and government officials in tracking of the progress of their conservation efforts more effectively.