Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Novel Assessment Tool For Quantitative Evaluation Of Science Literature Search Performance: Application To First-Year And Senior Undergraduate Biology Majors, Jason M. Blank, Karen Mcgaughey, Elena Keeling, Kristen L. Thorp, Conor C. Shannon, Jeanine Marie Scaramozzino

Library Scholarship

Expertise in searching and evaluating scientific literature is a requisite skill of trained scientists and science students, yet information literacy instruction varies greatly among institutions and programs. To ensure that science students acquire information literacy skills, robust methods of assessment are needed. Here, we describe a novel tool for longitudinal, crossover assessment of literature-searching skills in science students and apply it to a cross-sectional assessment of literature-searching performance in 145 first-year and 43 senior biology majors. Subjects were given an open-ended prompt requiring them to find multiple sources of information addressing a particular scientific topic. A blinded scorer used a …

Is Your Future Employer Homophobic Or Racist? Career Readiness Through Corporate Culture Research Workshops For Eop And Glbtqiia Students, Mark Bieraugel

Library Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Default Art Of Classifying The Occult, Brett B. Bodemer

Library Scholarship

Even as the world of information moves increasingly away from print, academic librarians and patrons spend significant time in neighborhoods of books organized by Library of Congress Classification. Close attention to specific neighborhoods and historical inquiry into their organization opens windows into past and present constructions of knowledge. This essay examines one such neighborhood – the latter ranges of BF, and particularly its tail end, Occult Sciences. It explores the creation of this neighborhood in a deliberately recursive fashion, and the journey to determine how such content came to be collocated by the Library of Congress leads through other classification …

Building An Assessment-Focused Information Literacy Program For Agriculture And Related Disciplines: A Collaborative Approach, Katherine O'Clair

Library Scholarship

Students pursuing degrees in STEM fields, including agriculture and related sciences, need to develop discipline-specific information skills in order to be successful in their educational pursuits and to meet tomorrow’s challenges in their future work as agriculture professionals. Oftentimes, information literacy programs are situated in general education or liberal arts courses, leaving the discipline-specific courses to incorporate information literacy only when and where possible. As STEM librarians, we know this is not sufficient, but the challenge of building a STEM-specific information literacy program can be overwhelming, especially when instructors have little time to incorporate any additional content into their already-packed …

A Condensed History: Exploring The History Of Swanton Pacific Ranch And Environs, Jeanine Marie Scaramozzino

Library Scholarship

Swanton Pacific Ranch is an educational and research facility owned by the Cal Poly Corporation and managed by the Cal Poly State University (Cal Poly) College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. The rancho’s original inhabitants included Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, as well as various European immigrants and their descendants; currently, the staff, faculty, and students of Cal Poly occupy the land. Each of these groups used the land’s rich environment for a variety of purposes from subsistence to financial and intellectual pursuits. Over time, researchers and local historians have discussed specific aspects of the Swanton Pacific Ranch and its …

Visual Literacy For Libraries: A Practical, Standards-Based Guide, Nicole E. Brown, Kaila Bussert, Denise Hattwig, Ann Medaille

Library Scholarship

When we step back and think about how to situate visual literacy into a library context, the word critical keeps coming up: critical thinking, critical viewing, critical using, critical making, and the list goes on. To understand our approach, start with your own practice, add images, and see where it takes you.

Do you encourage students to think critically as they research?

How can you extend this experience to images?

Do you embrace critical information literacy?

Can you bring visual content to enrich that experience?

Do you teach students to critically evaluate sources?

How can you expand that practice to …