The Langara Library helps students master the life skills and competencies necessary to thrive in the 21st Century. The Library works with academic departments across campus to incorporate information literacy competencies into the curriculum, and supports student learning in the form of one-on-one research consultations, writing & subject tutoring, and other new and innovative modes of academic support.
| 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | ||||
| Online Tutorials | 516 | 591 | 636 | |||
| In-Person Workshops* | 499 | 118 | 203 | |||
| Total Classes | 1,017 | 709 | 839 | |||
| Participants (Students) | 22,273 | 14,071 | 16,465 | |||
| Tours | 8 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Tour Participants | 31 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | ||||
| Total Reference Questions** | 26,566 | 5,017 | 9,700 | |||
| Total Directional Questions | 27,361 | 5,389 | 11,652 | |||
| Total Questions | 53,927 | 10,406 | 21,352 | |||
* For 2020/21 and 2021/22, In-Person Workshops refer to all workshops delivered synchronously.
**Reference questions refer to all questions received that were not marked as Facilitative or Reference Referral.
The return to campus resulted in more interactions between students and library staff at both of our in-person service points (the Research Help Desk and the Check Out Desk). While the number of questions received is still significantly lower than pre-COVID levels, we expect the numbers to continue to increase as more classes and services transition back to in-person.
Like many service points on campus, the Writing and Tutoring Centre moved fully online at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While services remained online for the summer 2021 semester, the Centre shifted to a hybrid online/in-person model for the fall 2021 return to campus. Five student assistants were hired to direct students to the appropriate tutor and navigate the online tutoring platform. Overall, the introduction of check-in assistants has been a benefit to the Centre in supporting students and tutors, and in ensuring more accurate student visit statistics.
The Writing and Tutoring Centre conducted exit surveys during the fall semester. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. 88% of the 145 Writing Centre respondents rated their session as Excellent or Very Good.
Like the Writing Centre, subject tutoring transitioned to a hybrid online/in-person model with the fall 2021 return to campus. Subject tutoring numbers rebounded dramatically this year, driven by the popularity of the Math and Stats Activity Centre and Computer Science tutoring. During an exit survey conducted in fall 2021, 76% of Subject Tutor respondents rated their session as Good to Excellent.
Despite the physical return to campus in September, departments are still using the Library's three online information literacy tutorials more than ever. A record 636 tutorials were embedded into Brightspace courses this past year, a 7% increase from 2020/21.
2021/22 was a transitional year for the Library's instruction program. Librarians continued to deliver information literacy instruction online via Zoom while also transitioning back to the physical classroom in September 2021. This year was still much quieter than the years before the COVID-19 shutdown, but instruction requests are trending upward. Librarians delivered 74% more information literacy sessions compared to 2020/21.
Despite the turbulent year, the total number of library classes - synchronous online instruction, in-person instruction, and asynchronous library tutorials - has rebounded significantly. The Library delivered 9% more classes compared to 2020-21.
The heaviest users of library instruction during the past year were the English, Psychology, and Kinesiology departments.