Faculty Usage of Library Tools in a Learning Management System

Chris Leeder is a doctoral candidate in the School of Information, University of Michigan, e-mail: cleeder@ umich.edu; Steven Lonn is Assistant Director of the USE Lab and Library Learning Analytics Specialist, University of Michigan, e-mail: [email protected]. ©2014 Chris Leeder and Steven Lonn, AttributionNonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) CC BY-NC To better understand faculty attitudes and practices regarding usage of library-specific tools and roles in a university learning management system, log data for a period of three semesters was analyzed. Academic departments with highest rates of usage were identified, and faculty users and nonusers within those departments were surveyed regarding their perceptions of and experience with the library tools. Librarians who use the tools were also surveyed to compare their perceptions of faculty tool and role use. While faculty survey respondents showed high levels of positive perceptions of librarians, they also exhibited low awareness of the library tools and little understanding of their use. Recommendations for encouraging wider adoption and effective usage are discussed.