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March 12, 2024

The College Fluency Survey Is Open!

We are thrilled to announce that Ithaka S+R in partnership with the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) Library has launched our new, national College Fluency Survey. This survey is a part of a comprehensive, two-and-a-half-year initiative funded by IMLS aimed at understanding how institutions can better support a critical aspect of student success: college fluency—or the knowledge and abilities that enable students to effectively access, utilize, and advocate for needed college services and resources. Through this project we…
February 12, 2024

From Awareness to Action

Addressing Basic Needs Insecurity on Campus

The latest federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) highlights some of the critical challenges students face outside of the classroom when it comes to basic needs: roughly one in five undergraduate students (23 percent) and one in 10 graduate students (12 percent) are experiencing food insecurity, while 8 percent of undergraduate students and 5 percent of graduate students are experiencing homelessness. For millions of students, the struggle to…
February 7, 2024

The US Instructor Survey 2024 is Open

We are excited to announce that Ithaka S+R has launched the 2024 US Instructor Survey! For over 20 years, we have surveyed teaching and research faculty in the US, and as universities and colleges continue their commitment to teaching and learning, we have officially launched an instruction-focused edition of the survey to over 150,000 faculty members across the country. As higher education evolves, this new survey is designed to support a variety of stakeholders and decision makers by providing…
November 16, 2023

Supporting College Teaching

Providing excellent instruction is a key priority across colleges and universities in the United States, but the on-the-ground experiences and needs of college teachers are often taken for granted. When approached thoughtfully, evidence about how faculty teach can be used to make meaningful interventions into their day-to-day activities, which in turn benefits their students. Today, we’re publishing a new issue brief intended to serve as a resource for institutions working to improve their support for college instruction through cross-unit…
April 11, 2023

US Faculty Survey Updates

2021 Data Now Available and Looking Ahead to 2024

For over 20 years Ithaka S+R has tracked teaching and research trends through a national survey of faculty. Today we are excited to share several updates about the program. Working with our data Last year we published the findings from the US Faculty Survey and in parallel we have been working with the incredible staff at ICPSR to ensure that the associated data is made openly available at the highest level of quality for current and future use. The…
March 20, 2023

Supporting Public-Academic Library Partnerships

There are many intersections between public and community college libraries, both in the populations they serve and their functions within their local communities. However, there is little guidance on how to forge partnerships between these sectors to maximize resources and better serve students and the larger community. Today, I am delighted to announce the launch of a three-year research initiative funded by ECMC Foundation to help equip the library community to develop and maximize partnerships in order to better provide…
February 6, 2023

Exploring College Fluency at Community Colleges

Seeking Case Study Partners

What happens when a student asks a librarian for information related to registering for classes, signing up for financial aid, or accessing mental health counseling services? These are questions community college librarians routinely respond to, though they are not directly related to librarians’ typical functions of supporting coursework or research. How might a librarian better support such a student? Last year, Ithaka S+R and the Borough of Manhattan Community College Library embarked on a two and a half year long…
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January 11, 2023

The Library’s Role with Open Educational Resources

A Conversation with Librarians

Our latest US Faculty Survey examined faculty perspectives and attitudes about using and creating Open Educational Resources (OER). Not only were we able to track how these perspectives changed over time, but we were also able to understand how the pandemic affected OER consumption and creation. As expected, the adoption and creation of OER textbooks, course modules, and video lectures increased since the last national survey cycle, yet faculty indicated that they are less interested in creating and using…
December 13, 2022

Building a Thriving Student Support Ecosystem

An Action Plan for Community Colleges

Community colleges have developed a variety of services to support their students’ success, but too often these offerings are siloed in different campus units, minimizing their impact. Over the past four years, Ithaka S+R has conducted IMLS-funded research to surface the most effective collaborative strategies to break down those siloes. This action plan summarizes best practices for faculty, librarians, administrators, and others as they implement these services.
December 8, 2022

College Fluency Capacity Building

BMCC Library and Ithaka S+R Launch New Research Project

We’re excited to announce that the Borough of Manhattan Community College Library and Ithaka S+R are partnering on new IMLS-funded research exploring librarians’ role in college fluency. The College Fluency Capacity Building research project will equip library faculty and staff to address new and urgent challenges they are facing in their profession as they are called to meet the changing information needs of the students they serve.
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July 14, 2022

Tracking the Research, Teaching, and Publishing Practices of Faculty Members Nationally

US Faculty Survey

We are excited to announce the publication of the US Faculty Survey 2021. Through this national survey, we have been able to track the changing research, teaching, and publishing practices of faculty members within higher education triennially since early digital transformation at the turn of the century. Against the backdrop of the global pandemic and its numerous impacts on many different facets of higher education, this eighth cycle of the survey illuminates how earlier research and instructional trends…
May 19, 2022

Assessing the Role of the Community College Library

Innovation, Collaboration, and Taking a Holistic Approach

For the last three years, Ithaka S+R has been examining how academic and student support services at community colleges are organized, funded, and staffed in order to provide insight into how these services can most effectively advance student success. Through this IMLS-funded research initiative, known as Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems (CCASSE), we have fielded two surveys, one of academic and student affairs leaders and one of library directors, as well as conducted interviews with…
March 11, 2022

Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration

Announcing Three Upcoming Virtual Convenings

In 2019, Ithaka S+R began a three-year IMLS-funded research initiative to help community colleges and their academic libraries more effectively support their students. The initiative, known as Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystems (CCASSE), involved two surveys, one of academic and student affairs leaders and one of library directors, to identify trends shaping student support and perspectives on the impact of COVID-19, as well as a series…
January 13, 2022

15 Best Practices for Basic Needs Data Collection and Management in Higher Education 

Over the past two years, we have been examining how community colleges define and measure student success. Through an extensive landscape review, interviews with institutional research and effectiveness officers, and a national survey of community college provosts, it has become clear that student success is often tied to whether students’ basic needs are being met sufficiently. But collecting data on basic needs—such as…
September 13, 2021

What Does It Mean to Be Successful as a Student During a Pandemic?

Centering Student Experiences

Ithaka S+R has long explored how students define their own success and how academic and student support services can most effectively advance that success—and our work on these issues has only ramped up during the pandemic. When it became clear that the pandemic was here to stay, students had to face dramatic shifts to their learning, a staggering amount of communication and newly-implemented policies from their institutions, and new expectations on what it means to be a…
September 9, 2021

How Can the Library Best Support Student and Institutional Success?

Perspectives from a National Survey of Community College Library Directors

For the past three years, Ithaka S+R has explored how student-facing service departments—including academic libraries—are organized, funded, and staffed at community and technical colleges across the country. As part of this ongoing IMLS-funded Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystem (CCASSE) research initiative, we surveyed community college library directors this past February. Today, I’m pleased to announce the publication of our findings from that national study. In Library Strategy and Collaboration Across the College Ecosystem…
August 26, 2021

Staying Connected Through the Power of Technology

Centering Student Experiences

At the onset of the pandemic, higher education institutions across the country rushed to bolster digital infrastructure, to maintain both instructional continuity as well as academic and financial advising, so that students could stay enrolled and graduate. Many institutions also rapidly developed new services to accommodate student technology needs through device loaning programs and Wi-Fi partnerships, typically led by the library as gleaned through a series of roundtables conducted with library directors earlier this spring. While the initial investments…
August 16, 2021

Building Community During the Pandemic and Beyond

Centering Student Experiences

The Community College Academic and Student Support Ecosystem initiative began in 2019 as part of the Ithaka S+R research portfolio focused on understanding, measuring, and increasing student success at community colleges through a variety of departments and service providers. We have had the great fortune to work with a group of outstanding student advisors from across the country who contribute unique and vital perspectives as we shape recommendations…
August 2, 2021

Leading Community College Libraries During the Pandemic

Library Directors Share Their Experiences 

Community colleges and their students have faced enormous challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-year colleges serve especially diverse student populations, including a high percentage of students of color, first-generation students, working students, and student parents, many of whom have been disproportionately impacted by the social, economic, and public health effects of the pandemic. Community colleges have made considerable efforts to meet student needs, despite having fewer resources than most four-year colleges and universities…
July 14, 2021

Why Survey Testing is Essential

Preparing to Field the US Faculty Survey 2021

Ithaka S+R is gearing up for our eighth launch of the US Faculty Survey this fall. This national survey has yielded longitudinal data on scholarly research and teaching behaviors across a variety of institutional and disciplinary contexts on a triennial basis since 2000. To maximize the value of this initiative for higher education leaders, scholarly societies, academic libraries, and publishers who have come to rely on these data, especially in light of the…