Digital Commons Network^™

"Being Literate About Something": Discipline-Based Information Literacy In Higher Education, Jill E. Anderson Phd

University Library Faculty Publications

This report examines how academic librarians and theorists have discussed the issue of discipline-based information literacy instructional approaches since the publication of the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000. As Kate Manuel has recently noted, the Standards balance outcomes and indicators of universal or general information-literacy skills with more discipline-specific skills. Prior to the publication of the ACRL Standards, Stephen Plum argued that disciplinary standards can provide valuable frameworks for library instruction; more recent theorists have focused attention on general skills, some arguing that discipline-based skills are the province of subject faculty, others suggesting that discipline-based …

Rendering Information Literacy Relevant: A Case-Based Pedagogy, Andy Spackman, Leticia Camacho

Faculty Publications

The authors describe the use of case studies in a program of extracurricular library instruction and explain the benefits of case teaching in developing information literacy. The paper presents details of example cases and analyzes surveys to evaluate the impact of case teaching on student satisfaction.

It Takes A Village: Educating 21st Century Students For College Success, Ann Marie Smeraldi

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

12-13 Transition . . . 21st Century skills . . . PreK through 20 . . . These buzz words appear in email subject lines and on websites . . . they pop up in articles, but what does it all mean for school library media specialist and academic librarians? Come explore how library media specialists and academic librarians can forge new alliances and collaborate to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders. Participants will learn about one academic librarian’s experiences serving as a high school liaison and working with college freshmen.

The Next Page, Library And Information Technology

The Next Page

The Next Page is a semi-annual newsletter published by Bucknell University's Library and Information Technology department. The publication serves the community by providing software, project, and service updates. Regular features include a letter from the CIO, new staff updates, and interviews. This issue includes the following articles: "From the CIO," "Bucknell Collaboration Wins Award," "First Year Orientation," "myBucknell 2.0," "New Library and IT Staff," "Student Employee Profile."

Investigating Primary Source Literacy, Joanne Archer, Ann Hanlon, Jennie A. Levine

Library Faculty Research and Publications

Primary source research requires students to acquire specialized research skills. This paper presents results from a user study testing the effectiveness of a Web guide designed to convey the concepts behind “primary source literacy”. The study also evaluated students’ strengths and weaknesses when conducting primary source research.

Beautifying Data In The Real World, Andrew Lang, Jean-Claude Bradley, Rajarshi Guha, Pierre Lindenbaum, Cameron Neylon, Anthony J. Williams, Egon Willighagen

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

There are at least two problems with collecting "Beautiful Data" in the real world and presenting it to the interested public. The first is that the universe is inherently noisy. In most cases collecting the same piece of data twice will not give the same answer. This is because the collection process can never be made completely error-free. Fluctuations of temperature, pressure, humidity, power sources, water or reagent quality, precision of weighing, or human error will all conspire to obscure the “correct” answer. The art in experimental measurement lies in designing the data collection process so as to minimize the …

The Effect Of Early Adolescents’ Psychological Needs Satisfaction Upon Their Perceived Competence In Information Skills And Intrinsic Motivation For Research, Marilyn P. Arnone, Rebecca Reynolds, Todd Marshall

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The American Association of School Librarians’ Standards for the 21st Century Learner make clear that information skills alone are not sufficient for student success; students must also value those skills, use them in a productive and responsible manner, and have the motivational “dispositions in action” to support successful research and independent lifelong learning. Self-determination theory highlights perceived competence and autonomy as two basic psychological needs that support intrinsically-motivated behavior. This study investigates the extent to which context factors inherent to the school library influence students’ perceived competence in the domain of information skills (PCIS), and their intrinsic motivation for research …

Unconventional Avenues To Integrating Information Literacy Into The Curriculum, P. S. Mcmillen, Jennifer L. Fabbi

Library Faculty Presentations

Library instruction programs continue to seek meaningful ways to infuse information literacy into both general education and discipline-specific course sequences. At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), targeted conversations with College of Education faculty helped librarians identify a strategic and unique point of entry with a multicultural twist.

Save A Horse, Ride A New Train Of Thought: Using Threshold Concepts To Teach Information Literacy, Lori Townsend, Korey Brunetti, Amy R. Hofer

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation explores the idea that threshold concepts may hold potential for information literacy instruction. It says that threshold concepts can offer an exciting way to re-envision and re-energize IL instruction by providing a simple and useful framework for questioning what we focus on in our teaching and why.

12 - 13 Transition: Collaborations For Student Success, Ann Marie Smeraldi

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

Are high school students prepared academically for the challenge of college? Have they mastered essential information literacy skills that are the foundation of scholarly inquiry? This presentation explores the answers to these questions and offers suggestions on how educators at all levels can help students be college ready and not just college eligible.

Teaching Information Literacy With Authentic Problems: Creating And Using An Online Module, Heather Leary, Wendy Holliday, Anne R. Diekama

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

The American Library Association defines information literacy as a “set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.” Students in an academic setting need to learn how to learn about all kinds of information. Committed to finding innovative ways to teach students information literacy skills, Utah State University’s Library Instruction Program created a free online course to teach these skills. This presentation will explain the course, why and how it was created, the problem based approach using authentic scenarios, the value it adds to library instruction, and how it can be integrated into a curriculum.

Connections Newsletter Spring 2009

Connections Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Engaging That Other Audience: Encouraging Faculty Involvement In Information Literacy Using New Technology, Jennifer Kelley

Library Scholarship

Literature on the subject shows that information literacy programs truly thrive when they receive support and involvement from teaching faculty. While efforts to integrate information literacy instruction into the curriculum and collaborating with faculty are not new, many of the opportunities and tools for doing so are.

Whether you have full-support from all faculty (lucky you!) or varying levels of involvement from isolated departments or instructors here and there, we all have access to the tools we need to spark interest, take conversations to the next level, engage individuals, and create collaborative environments for designing information literacy sessions and programs.

Information Literacy And Blind And Visually Impaired Students, Rebecca Schiff

Publications and Research

In the summer of 2007, as part of the City University of New York PeopleTech Summer Institute held at Baruch College, the author taught a class in information literacy to a group of blind and visually impaired students, using assistive technology to access the resources of the college library. Despite considerable preparation and experience, teaching the class presented unexpected difficulties, detailed in this paper. Rapid advances in information literacy technology present unusual challenges for the average student—challenges that are magnified when the intermediate assistive technology is itself not easy to master. The author explores the pertinent literature.

Buy Low, Sell High, Get In Now: Low-Stakes/Low-Investment Information Literacy Initiatives Pay Off Big, David Wilson, Jeremy Donald, Steven Hoover

Library Faculty Presentations

Become familiar with the concept of low stakes/low investment information literacy initiatives in order to communicate their potential value to faculty members, other librarians, and administrators. Recognize how collaboration between your library and other entities on campus can reinforce information literacy initiatives in order to draw upon the strengths and shared values of existing programs. Learn about successful initiatives in order to generate ideas that would be useful for your institution.

Information Literacy Debated At University Of Malaya, Charlotte Gill, Rajendra Munoo

Research Collection Library

The International Conference on Libraries, Information and Society, ICoLIS 2008, 17-20 November, Kuala Lumpur, celebrating Information Literacy (IL) and now in its second year, is an annual event organised by the Library and Information Science Unit, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya and the University of Malaya Library. The theme for ICoLIS 2008 was Towards an Information Literate Society.

Pedagogical Design For An Online Information Literacy Course: College Students' Learning Experience With Multi-Modal Objects, Hsin-Liang Chen, James Patrick Williams

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

This project is an exploratory study on the use of multi-modal objects in an online information literacy course. This paper reports on the second phase of the project, which focused on students’ learning experience within five course modules employing different multi-modal media objects for instruction. Seven online surveys were conducted at the beginning of the course, immediately after each of the webcast discussion sessions accompanying each course module, and at the end of the course. The findings show significant relationships among computer skills, online teaching materials, use of communication tools, learning experience, and satisfaction with the course

Towards Virtual Information Literacy: Academic Librarian Integration Into Teacher Education Distance Learning Programs, Brenna Helmstutler

University Library Faculty Presentations

Having convenient, instant access to electronic library resources in academia is excellent as research can be conducted literally anywhere and at any time; however, a level of user self-direction is required for optimal results, creating the need for librarian interaction to guide the user towards acquiring this self-direction most effectively. As more institutions add online degree programs, it is essential that librarians are integrated within so that participating students have access to the same (or at least, equivalent) library resources and services as those who are on campus, and also develop sound research skills for information literacy acquisition. Although librarians …

Information Literacy And Research-Intensive Graduate Students: Enhancing The Role Of Research Librarians, Marni R. Harrington

Western Libraries Publications

This article investigates how psychology graduate students find information for coursework and research, who teaches them how to find it, and whether differences emerge over the course of their graduate careers. Findings indicate that these graduate students are comfortable using campus libraries, prefer electronic resources, ask supervisors when they need assistance locating information, and have some interest in furthering their information literacy knowledge. Finally, the master’s students use different information management skills than do the PhD students, as evidenced by the use of bibliographic management software. Suggestions for furthering the role of research librarians focus on being more proactive, rather …

Business Source Premier: Company Research, Jan Whitfield

BI Class Material

No abstract provided.

Mixing And Matching: Assessing Information Literacy, Carol Mcculley

Faculty & Staff Publications

Authentic assessment of student learning outcomes is much in demand. This paper reviews a variety of assessment methods that measure cognitive, behavioral, and affective levels of learning that can be used to design library class instruction and assessments to improve student learning and teaching of information literacy concepts. The intentional use of these methods to assess undergraduate student learning in many disciplines through working collaboratively with faculty and integrating the assessments in a learner-centered environment is discussed.

The Irish Working Group On Information Literacy (Wgil), Part Ii: Report Of Cross-Sector Activity 2006–2008 And Recommendations For Action, Philip Russell, Terry O'Brien

Articles

In 2006, the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) Working Group on Information Literacy (WGIL) was established with an agreed role to ‘recommend strategies for the development of information skills education at both theoretical and practical level in the library and information services sector in Ireland’. A two-year review of current information literacy activity in the Republic of Ireland by WGIL culminated in the completion of a cross-sectoral report which provides a snapshot of information literacy in a number of library and information services sectors in Ireland (academic and special libraries sector, schools, public, health, government and related libraries sector). To …

Encountering Values: A Revision Of Information Literacy?, Benjamin R. Harris

Library Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Buy Low, Sell High, Get In Now: Low‐Stakes/Low‐Investment Information Literacy Initiatives Pay Off Big, Steven Hoover, Jeremy W. Donald, David Wilson

Library Faculty Research

Become familiar with the concept of low stakes/low investment information literacy initiatives in order to communicate their potential value to faculty members, other librarians, and administrators. Recognize how collaboration between your library and other entities on campus can reinforce information literacy initiatives in order to draw upon the strengths and shared values of existing programs. Learn about successful initiatives in order to generate ideas that would be useful for your institution.

Writing Information Literacy Assessment Plans: A Guide To Best Practice, Megan Oakleaf

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Academic librarians throughout higher education add value to the teaching and learning missions of their institutions though information literacy instruction. To demonstrate the full impact of librarians on students in higher education, librarians need comprehensive information literacy assessment plans, composed of instructional program-level and outcome-level components, that summarize the purpose of information literacy assessment, emphasize the theoretical basis of their assessment efforts, articulate specific information literacy goals and outcomes, describe the major assessment methods and tools used to capture evidence of student learning, report assessment results, and highlight improvements made as a consequence of learning assessment.

The Relationship Between Service Learning And Research, Jennifer E. Nutefall

Staff publications, research, and presentations

In Fall 2006, a faculty member in George Washington University's University Writing 20 (UW20) program began incorporating service learning into her theme-based first-year writing course. Along with her librarian partner, they linked two research assignments to the service work of the students. An end-of-semester survey was administrated over three semesters with one question asking if the student's research process was affected by their service experience. In reviewing and analyzing student comments, four themes emerged: increased motivation, use of numerical data and primary sources, increased knowledge in approaching and limiting topics, and the potential for bias.

Use Of Multi-Modal Media And Tools In An Online Information Literacy Course: College Students' Attitudes And Perceptions, Hsin-Liang Chen, James Patrick Williams

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

This project studies the use of multi-modal media objects in an online information literacy class. One hundred sixty-two undergraduate students answered seven surveys. Significant relationships are found among computer skills, teaching materials, communication tools and learning experience. Multi-modal media objects and communication tools are needed to strengthen course interactions and student engagement.

Know Your Source : Assessing Credibility Online, Suzanne R. Graham

Presentations

Credibility is the amount of trust that a resource, an argument, a piece of advice or a Web page engenders. It is the composite of the quality of research or observation and the reasoning or interpretation of the writer or speaker. The system that I will share incorporates and distills these criteria and helps to frame the critical thought process when encountering a new site without any obvious redeeming credentials. Since this is tax time of year, this system is named the I.R.S. audit: Identification, Reputation, and Sources.

Cultivating The Librarian Within: Effectively Lntegrating Library Lnstruction Into Freshman Composition, Jesse Ulmer, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Publications

It has become common practice for library instruction to be included in lower-level college composition courses. Students are typically required to visit the library once or twice a semester to receive instruction on how to find books and journal articles for an upcoming writing assignment that incorporates formal research. But does this current model of instruction truly address course outcomes that seek to produce students who are information literate, critical thinkers and life-long learners? Faculty who teach such courses are often reluctant to surrender precious class time to a librarian, but this paper argues that the merging of bibliographic instruction …

Using Blackboard To Create Library Research Skills Assessment, Maura A. Smale, Mariana Regalado

Publications and Research

Like other college and university departments, academic libraries are increasingly expected to assess their services and facilities. This article describes an initial step in the development of a comprehensive assessment program for library instruction in the Brooklyn College Library. A pre- and post-quiz were developed based on the curriculum for a required library session in an introductory English composition course. The quizzes were designed to establish a baseline for student knowledge of information literacy as well as measure the effect of library instruction on student learning. We also sought to evaluate the suitability of the Blackboard learning management system for …