Final Report: Transfer Student/Commuter Student Library Needs Project & Student Engagement Programs Evaluation Project

Abstract

In October 2019, an assessment project team (Alexander Deeke, Mary Rolfes, Marivi Sifuentes, and Karen A. Reiman-Sendi) began work on two separate but related assessment projects for the University of Michigan Library's Learning & Teaching division (L&T), as a result of a successful Library Student Engagement project proposal. Our projects were identified to fill knowledge gaps of interest to the Learning Programs & Initiatives (LPI) team's outreach staff, and to provide actionable data to stakeholders. With feedback and suggestions from the stakeholders, the assessment project team wanted to:

- Expand our knowledge about transfer student library needs for the purpose of library programming and future facility improvement initiatives

- Evaluate the impact and outcomes of two student engagement programs, specifically the Library Student Mini Grants and the Library Engagement Fellows programs, while piloting assessment methodologies for future program evaluations

The task plan for these projects spanned many months, and was created to maximize engagement with target populations, e.g. surveying transfer students immediately after their first semester on campus, or launching Mini Grant and Engagement Fellows surveys as students were finishing their projects or work experiences during the winter semester. The final report documents the project methodologies and findings, as well as provides the assessment questions and protocols.