FHSLA 2024 Annual Meeting: Thursday, March 28

Executive Planning Committee Meeting

Open to Executive Committee Members Only

Location: Disney Dining Room

CE:  Using Statistics to Improve Library Science Research and Services

Class Description:  Making considered decisions on future library policy demands an astute administrator with a solid grounding in library management.  While many decisions can be made using common sense, the ability to correctly interpret administrative data can enhance your service delivery and the satisfaction of your patrons.  Statistical analysis of your data may just be your savior. 

Many librarians are familiar with survey research methods that produce descriptive information in the form of frequency counts.  Simple frequency counts just scratch the surface and may miss fascinating relationships among measures buried in your hard-won survey and administrative data.  Worse than missing an important finding is when an administrator or researcher believe they see a relationship in their data when there in fact there is none and create library policy or report findings on erroneous interpretations.  Used correctly, statistics can improve the reliability of your administrative decisions and help grow your reputation as an empirical evidence-based researcher in library science.

What attendees will learn:  Attendees will learn about survey instrument types and designs, 4 types of data (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio),  and basic analytical tools used for each type of data. They will also learn to calculate basic summary statistics to provide an overview of the data's central tendencies and variability using measures of central tendency, measures of variability, and simple t-tests. Using both principal components analysis and factor analysis, attendees will learn about correlational analysis, that is, how to determine relationships between variables (whether and how changes in one variable are associated with changes in another). A real-world example will be presented and attendees will be invited to join in paper and pencil exercises.

Presenter:  William Kearns, PhD is a meritoriously retired Associate Professor whose faculty appointment is in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida in Tampa.  He holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology and has taught research methods for the University of South Florida and Rollins College. In his 29 years as university faculty, he has collaborated or been a P.I. on federal grants totaling in excess of $10M. He has worked with a variety of datasets, ranging from relatively small library survey datasets (hundreds of data points) to very large datasets with millions of data points, and is expert in correlational analyses (see his CV).

Location: Disney Dining Room

Presenter:  William Kearns, PhD

FHSLA Strategic Exploration Session and Ice Breaker

Join us for a dynamic and interactive workshop session designed to break the ice and set the stage for collaborative exploration of our organization's future. Participants will have the opportunity to share their perspectives on key aspects, contributing to a collective understanding of strategic priorities, goals, and potential challenges in academic and hospital librarianship.  Through this combination of icebreaker activities and polls, participants will not only build relationships but also actively contribute to shaping the future direction of FHSLA.

Presenter: Jorge Perez

Presenter: Angie Novak

Welcome Reception

Hors d'oeuvres and two drinks tickets for Beer and wine