RiSE Library Summary Report, 2008-2011

The RiSE library (Resources in Special Education) is a special education resource lending library for California parents, educators or anyone interested in special education. The resource library contains thousands of items such as books, audiotapes, manuals, articles and videos on a variety of topics related to disabilities and education. The library is located at Parents Helping Parents (PHP), a Family Empowerment Center located in Santa Clara, California. PHP maintains a parallel library, and together the PHP and RiSE libraries offer over 8,000 books and videos.

• There is much greater circulation from the PHP Library than the RiSE Library, which declined from 2009-10 (617 materials) to 2010-11 (518 materials).
• Other library services have shown declines as well, mostly noticeably E-packets which are overviews designed to orient parents who are new to special education.

The RiSE Library has a statewide focus, mailing materials to parents and professionals who make inquiries over the phone or online (both the RiSE and PHP libraries are supported by online card catalogs). The RiSE Library maintains its statewide profile through an ongoing mass e-mail campaign, though RiSE Library staff have expressed skepticism about its effectiveness, as they rarely get responses to those e-mails.

The PHP Library does not have the budget to mail materials to patrons, and staff often suggest materials from the RiSE Library in response to such requests.

However, a majority of RiSE Library materails are mailed to patrons in relatively close physical proximity to the library itself, where it is located in San Jose. Over 50% of materials were mailed to patrons in Santa Clara County, and several more were sent to neighboring Alameda (53 materials) and San Mateo (41) counties. In much of the Northeast and East of California, there were no RiSE patrons whatsoever.

Patron Surveys

The RiSE Library also conducted a small survey of its patrons, including a survey form with each material mailed out. 57 surveys were collected in the first half of 2011, a period during which the RiSE Library had a circulation of 232 materials. Because patrons can check out up to 5 materials at one time, this may represent a large or small response rate, though it is difficult to know without a detailed examination of library records for comparison.

• Overall, the materials and resources provided by the RiSE Library were highly rated by patrons, with an average of 4.2.
• However, patrons appear to have found these materials slightly less helpful, despite the high rating, with a rating of 3.8.
• Patrons were even less likely to respond that they actually implemented the strategies that they got from RiSE Library materials, with 3.6.

• Additionally, a number of respondents to the question of implementation marked "NA." While this was the only one of these three questions to offer an "N/A" response, it raises a question about who is accessing these resources and why.

While the RiSE Library appears to be providing quality resources, the 3.8 and 3.6 responses to the other questions were lower, and raise a question about why these materials aren't being used; is it possible they aren't finding their target audience?

RiSE Library patrons were broadly representative of various roles in special education in California.

“Other” includes, in part, Professional Development Consultants, Autism Inclusion Specialists, and IHE faculty working on teacher training programs.

While only 4 of 57 (7%) patron surveys were completed by parents, RiSE Library staff estimates parents are closer to one-third of library patrons.

Most notably, over half of RiSE Library patrons who responded to the survey did not select any of the suggested Core Message Areas supported by CalSTAT and the SPDG, instead writing in another special education topic area.

Of those patrons who did select one of the suggested Core Messages, nearly half were LRE. Behavioral Supports was another area that seemed to attract interest.

RiSE Library staff describes the most-requested topics as being IEP-related and regarding Transition.

There was a great deal of consistency in these write-in responses. Typically, written responses tend to show a lot more variability (and there was some here), but the consistency of responses suggest responding patrons were working from a messaging framework similar to the Core Message Areas.

Comments

Improving the RiSE Library

CalSTAT staff have contacted RiSE Library staff for an informal conversation about the services offered by the RiSE Library, how the RiSE Library fits into the larger framework of services provided by Parents Helping Parents, and what might be done to improve the RiSE Library. RiSE Library staff made the following three suggestions:

• Offer more materials online (such as Webinars, recent articles, video libraries, etc).
• Improve Web site navigation (topics pages, interlinked content).
• Archive materials prior to 2000 to make the current library collection more relevant, up-to-date, and easier to search through.

Remaining areas for improvement that present themselves may depend on the objectives of the RiSE Library.

• For example, it appears that the RiSE Library is a valuable resource in Santa Clara County, but is not serving the larger state in a substantial way. Should efforts be made to increase the library's statewide circulation, or is it better to preserve the synergy the RiSE Library has established with the PHP Library?
• A related question involves marketing the RiSE Library's resources. Finding a more effective strategy could reverse the trend of declining circulation, as well as either target or expand the geographic distribution of RiSE Library materials.

This document was developed for CalSTAT by the SPDG Evaluation Team of Cheryl “Li” Walter, PhD, and Alan Wood.