Assessing, Analyzing, and Adapting: Improving a Graduate Student Instruction Program Through Needs Assessment

Abstract

This article highlights an assessment of library instruction needs among graduate students in the social sciences. The article addresses the development and implementation of the assessment and the application of assessment results to an established set of library instruction workshops. The article provides a detailed summary of assessment findings and a discussion of how the findings were successfully used to create a user-centered instruction program. The findings were used to make significant changes in workshop content, as well as refinements in the overall number and format of workshops offered, schedule of workshops, and marketing of the instruction program.

KEYWORDS:

• library instruction
• graduate students
• assessment
• interdisciplinary research
• social sciences
• user needs

Acknowledgments

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. government, the National Intelligence University, or the Department of Defense.

© Beth Roszkowski and Gretchen Reynolds