Grace Librarian Learning

Having scaled back my research ambitions to make the project manageable in the timeframe I am now realising that there are exciting possibilities to scale back up again at the outcomes stage given that the action plans can continue growing past the project brief. My original project plan was build at the Inclusive Practice Intervention unit stage and was based on available evidence gathered from my own teaching observations and awarding gap analysis. This plan didn’t assume further inputs from ongoing research, and limited the scope of potential output to an expansion of the existing Fine Art Subject Guide bibliography, introducing more Social Justice themes. The project was positioned to guide and validate this change to the shared resource.

What is becoming clearer is that both unexpected survey questionnaire responses and learnings from other library activities can also be rolled into a refreshed and more expansive plan that goes beyond and parallel to the initial proposed outcome (which on reflection was quite narrow and pre-defined). My assumption had been that the bibliography was an essential resource that had fallen out of date and just needed to be refreshed, but some of the feedback shows that a proportion of students are not aware of it or don’t use it at all. This may stem from a reluctance among academics and librarians to recommend due to the outdated format and content. I’m now hoping to still update it but to also create some much more accessible and curated resource pages as start points for early researchers such as BA students tackling their first contextual assignments, or academic research for practice. This means I can leave an updated Bibliography in place for those who do like the more traditional extensive reading list approach.

One element of change in Camberwell library that has been very successful in engaging students has been the introduction of display tables at the front of the library. I have briefed these to the team as activist where they are awareness themed for example disability history month, trans visibility events, Black history month and this has been very welcome with displays needing to be constantly replenished due to books being borrowed from the tables (our best measure of success). I now realise we can carry this through to the library guides, by introducing new more visual curated pages with book cover carousels, a more activist approach, and titled ‘Starting Research’ to encourage earlier and less dense, overwhelming, research experiences.

This has brought me back to learnings in the first term about syncing provision with Learning Outcomes so that students can see the relevance of content delivered, and take more control of their own learning journey (Davies, 2012). I am wondering how I can use the library guide’s site-specific pages to tie in with units, where library sessions are now more embedded, and provide simple copy-and-paste content for courses to add to Moodle pages – whether whole-course or unit specific – to ensure relevant, accessible and introductory content is prioritised over exhaustive lists like the bibliography. This would mirror the work I did creating and delivering asynchronous video tutorials in bite-size-chunks in term 1 of PGCert, maximising the positive effect on both modes of delivery.

Davies, A. (2012) Learning outcomes and assessment criteria in art and design. What’s the recurring problem?. Networks (18). University of Brighton Faculty of Arts. Available at : http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/learning-outcomes-and-assessment-criteria-in-art-and-design.-whats-the-recurring-problem (accessed on 21/02/2024).

Appendix 1. Revised outcome project plan

Having initially designed my survey questionnaire mid term I revisited several times following discussions in group tutorials. An early realisation was that my first survey was draft was built to answer my own more operational questions and to validate and confirm my hypotheses and aim for the project. It didn’t reflect my full research question or leave enough room for unexpected findings. I redesigned a couple of times to allow for more variance in the answers without making the survey unwieldy, adding a sliding scale option and including more questions in the route for those who hadn’t used the bibliography.

I also took learnings from course colleagues’ introductory and consent questions, hoping that a more thoughtful and human introduction page would encourage students to give meaningful and frank responses. Having redesigned and tested the survey, including circulating a pilot version to my tutor group for testing and feedback, I circulated it by email to students after the main dissertation deadline and the first ISA/ EC deadline had passed. I included a QR code and a link for quick access to answer by phone which I anticipated might be the most accessible option with the lowest barrier to participation .

I quickly realised that so close to Christmas was both a little late to gather as many responses as I hoped – students who had finished a couple of weeks prior had potentially travelled for Christmas or were now fully immersed in practice based deadlines – and not the best way to request participation due to email fatigue. Initial responses to the email could be counted one hand, which was very disappointing given 400+ students in the cohort. The slow response may also reflect our slightly external position as a service department rather than being embedded on courses, there is no real motivation to open the email.

I ‘flyered’ the library space, again with a friendly note and QR codes but could see that not many of the cohort I was surveying were in the space due to their move on to the practice element of the unit. I then decided to put my learnings about a more human introduction in the survey into practice and took myself and my flyers to the studios, asking any students I encountered there to help me out with my own student work by completing my survey. This did improve the response rate significantly, although as I write I have still not had the 20+ (5% of the cohort) that I’m hoping for.

I have started to dip into the responses to get an initial shape of the feedback, with a view to taking a more iterative and open approach. Even though a survey questionnaire feels like a quantitative tool I feel there is a qualitative opportunity to listen to each response rather than to treat this as a counting and measuring exercise – looking for a cumulative set, or abundance, of new ideas rather than a winning single outcome.

I was initially surprised at responses from students stating they had not heard of the subject guide, but this now seems like a very freeing idea – the constraints on the current resource are so many that fewer the barriers to replacing it might be a benefit. If it is not even being widely used then perhaps it can be upgraded more as an in-depth librarians’ tool for mediated 1:1 tutorials and searches. A new more inclusive, more curated and most importantly more visually accessible student-facing guide could then be created for students in addition to this one, as a research start point that might gain more traction. This is a much more energising possibility and one that I think will gain support and buy-in across stakeholders.

I will wait for more responses (hopefully eventually the 20+ I am aiming for), but these initial few – 13 at time of writing – are already challenging my assumptions and limitations of what the changes might look like in action.

Appendix 1. Copy of the circulated survey

Appendix 2. Survey flyers circulated

Appendix 3. Survey email circulated

My initial expectation for the Action Research Project project was to organise a forum to engage directly with a group of students to gain direct input to the need for change in the Fine Art Subject Guide Bibliography. Similar projects at other institutions had run through consultation and collaboration with student leaders and Lenette (2024) reinforced this assumption. However due to the timing and timescale of the project, and based on my evolving understanding of extractivism, I realised that more iterative and distributed research methods are more appropriate in this instance: reducing the burden on both potential participants and myself in the busiest teaching term of the academic year. I elected instead to read materials reflecting on these wider pieces of research and to absorb the learnings into my plans where possible.

I had also initially assumed I should interview colleague stakeholders, whether other fine art librarians involved in refreshing the resource or academic members of staff responding to invitations to participate. Again partly due to the need to design the research to a manageable scale, partly to manage the expectation of time contributions from others at this point in the year, and partly based on the extensive writings available to consult on the subject of representation and inclusion in resources. I decided interviews are not necessary, and would be unlikely to add any more value than continuing to collaborate and progress the project as colleagues. Having adopted a CRT framework for the project I am reminded to foreground impact over intention; particularly as I had hoped to have actioned more change by this point, and so I want to avoid further delays in the absence of barriers to progress. There is no institutional or interpersonal need to justify these changes through the production of further discussion or evidence.

Part of the evidence base for proposing this research project is based on student research trends I have noticed in 1:1s supporting critical contextual projects. I had worried that I could not use the data available in my records of previous 1:1 tutorials without participant consent, however I am now planning to use secondary data from my sent emails following tutorials with all student details redacted for anonymity. Only a themeatic table of mentioned topics will be included in the research file. This will mean I have a basis of quantitative data that may show the student research needs unmet by the resource I plan to change. The project will proceed regardless of the output of this data, as the resource does not meet UAL’s anti-racism commitments, but quantifying the student need will be a helpful data point.

Having seen a colleague’s MA research survey questionnaire get an excellent response rate by being distributed through; QR code on library flyers, small posters in the loos near the library and emails to contacts, I have decided to take this same route of employing a short Qualtrics survey questionnaire. Group tutorial discussions helped to clarify my research question, and to make the question more explicit in the survey structure and questions. I have since refined the survey quite concisely to the research question and I have realised that limiting the scope of this element of research (and the project) does not limit the ongoing potential reach, whether driven by further research, discussions with colleagues and academic teams, or student requests and comments.

Representation and Social Justice in the Fine Art Subject Guide Bibliography

For the Action Research Project I plan to use an expanded CRT framework developed for the library and knowledge sector in ‘Knowledge justice: disrupting library and information studies through critical race theory’, by Leung and López-McKnight (2021) as a thematic framework to guide the outcome plans. I originally used this framework in my MSc Library Science dissertation in 2021 and have since been invited to ongoing talks about that research to NHS library and knowledge teams, developing interest in the framework for collections guidance.

There is a significant amount of discourse and writing about whiteness in librarianship (citations) focused ongoing low levels of diversity in library staffing (citations) and on the legacies of embedded white supremacism in underpinning structures such as classification schemes (cite) and subject headings (cite). The focus on both my own use of the CRT and the talks I have had with NHS teams has been on equipping librarians and library staff without personal lived experiences of being racially or ethnically minoritised, or with limited experiences of more expansive initiatives in decolonising information, with a checklist or series of start points for equity, diversity and inclusion work, particularly for structured approaches to collection management and development.

Here I will use the CRT framework to assess the outcomes and next steps emerging from this research project, to ensure I more fully explore the opportunity for change, and to challenge my initial interpretations of what is needed in a creative and educational context. My current experience of employing CRT to collections and resource work is STEM and healthcare focused. The framework of tenets will help me with the shift of focus from representation and equity from scientific accuracy for health justice, to visibility of representation for pedagogic and cultural inclusion.

In NHS contexts the social and non-biological basis of race, as evidenced by the Human Genome Project (cite), the opportunities for leveraging interest convergence in financially constrained and target driven environments, and understanding of counter-storytelling and voice in combatting hesitancies have been key areas of discussion and progress. A recent interview with Dr Malone Mukwende whose work underpinned my original research project reflects these areas of opportunity. I have been involved in several inclusion and diversity focused pieces of work since joining UAL but have not had an opportunity prior to this to attempt to translate the CRT framework in a creative and educational environment, and to assess which tenets prove appropriate here.

The CRT tenets, as listed by Leung & López-McKnight, and used both for may past research and in discussions with the NHS knowledge teams are as follows:

•            Race as a social construct

•            Racism is normal

•            Experiences and knowledge of racially and ethnically minoritised people

•            Intersectionality

•            Interdisciplinary

•            Critique of dominant ideologies

•            Interest convergence

•            Focus on historical contexts

•            Counterstorytelling and voice

•            Whiteness as property

References

How does the lack of contemporary and representative research themes in reading list resources such as the Fine Art Subject Guide Bibliography affect student engagement with library research and librarian support?

This week I have been getting to grips with planning my reading for the Action Research Project. I need to develop a better foundational understanding of the methods appropriate to Action Research in the UAL context. This post is a placeholder detailing reading I will mostly undertake in mid to late November, prior to circulating my survey in early December.

I plan to review relevant literature around increasing diverse representation and inclusivity in library resource recommendations and reading lists with a focus on race; such as Bhambra et al. ‘Decolonising the university’ (2018), Whittaker and Broadhead ‘Disaggregating the Black student experience’ (2022) and Belluigi ‘Why decolonising “knowledge” matters’ (2023). I will give some consideration to learnings on student-led representation rather than running a full participatory project, such as outlined by Lenette (2024), in recognition of the scale and timescale for the unit. I will be reviewing reflective writing where available following similar projects tackled in other institutions, particularly those that were student-led or participatory (Goldsmiths and UCL both ran quite high profile reading list decolonisation projects), in addition to researching and where appropriate embedding ongoing initiatives at UAL.

My planned readings to support understanding of the research and project focus in a creative and educational context will include ‘Black British intellectuals and education: multiculturalism’s hidden history’, Warmington (2014), ‘The failure of whiteness in art education: A personal narrative informed by Critical Race Theory’, Spillane (2015), and ‘Whiteness and art education’ Acuff (2019).

I plan to refer to McNiff (2022) to ensure I am reflecting an ‘action research’ approach to the project. I will also support my choice and application of time-limited research methods by drawing in some value from earlier more participatory projects, further considering the potential for more participatory future development of this initial piece of work; readings to include ‘Enhancing social justice and socially just pedagogy in higher education through participatory action research’ Aktaş (2021), and ‘Students as co-researchers: participatory methods for decolonising research in teaching and learning in higher education’ Timmis et al. (2024).

I will refresh and deepen my understanding of using my proposed methods well through an iterative journey; readings to include ‘Research methods : a practical guide for the social sciences’ Matthews and Ross (2010), and Sage qualitative research methods (2010). I intend to research for better understanding of extractivism, as I am concerned not to burden and ‘other’ already minoritised students – sources to include; ‘Condition or process? researching race in education’ Dixon et al. (2020), ‘From object to objectified: The ongoing precarity of Black bodies in institutional spaces’ Jones (2024) and ‘International Students’ Feeling of Shame in the Higher Education: An Intersectional Analysis of Their Racialised, Gendered and Classed Experiences in the UK Universities’ Hu (2024). Similarly, I would like to increase my understanding of citational justice (Kwon, 2022) in the context of academia, recognising that, while this is not a stated objective of the exercise, I hope that the revised resource will be of use to staff too.

To support some of my interpretations of EDI work in librarianship I will cite resources encountered in my MSc librarianship research, in addition to the foundational Critical Race Theory text from that project ‘Knowledge justice: disrupting library and information studies through critical race theory’, Leung and López-McKnight (2021).

How does the lack of contemporary and representative research themes in reading list resources affect student engagement with library research and librarian support?

I am planning to continue with the project I identified and proposed in term 2 – to make the Fine Art Subject Guide Bibliography a more inclusive resource. The resource is currently quite outdated and doesn’t support Social Justice context for research. It doesn’t reflect commitments made by UAL libraries in the 2021 Anti-Racist action plan. The bibliography should be the first point of reference particularly for BA Fine Art students embarking on contextual or essay type modules and dissertation research, however its current content doesn’t reflect the student body, institutional expectations of social engagement, or current trends in research interests as noted in 1:1 research support tutorials. I will need to work with colleagues at other sites, academic teams and secure some student input to manage this change well. I will use this research project opportunity to try to understand the degree to which the current listing might cause some students to disengage with library research support, whether use of the materials, the space or the available sessions and tutorials.

My main research method, in addition to some secondary data analysis of keywords in past emails sent following research support tutorials will be a survey by questionnaire of Year 3 Fine Art students at Camberwell post submission of Unit 9 Element 2 (dissertation level project) for which this Bibliography is a key resource.

My Ethical Research Plan, Consent Form, Participant Information Sheet, and draft proposed survey questions are attached to this post.