Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Initial Development Of The Perception Of Information Literacy Scale (Pils), Matthew Doyle, Britt Foster, Mariya A. Yukhymenko-Lescroart

Communications in Information Literacy

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has provided academic librarians a guiding document to facilitate the development of information literacy skills in students. Despite widespread adoption of the Framework in academic libraries, a lack of valid and reliable Framework-based scales for assessing students’ knowledge practices and dispositions hinders further understanding of student information literacy. The current article describes the development and testing of the Perception of Information Literacy Scale (PILS). The participants in this study were 443 graduate students. The resulting scale is made up of 36 items that measure seven distinct constructs of information literacy. …

Illuminating Social Justice In The Framework: Transformative Methodology, Concept Mapping And Learning Outcomes Development For Critical Information Literacy, Nicole A. Branch

Communications in Information Literacy

The intentional omission of learning outcomes from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education has caused concern and criticism from some librarians; however, the call to action within the Framework to locally develop learning outcomes is an opportunity to illuminate the social justice, critical thinking, and higher order thinking elements of information literacy. This study applies the transformative research paradigm using the methodology of concept mapping to test the development of learning outcomes for one of the frames. Concept mapping is a mixed-methods approach and includes focus groups, hierarchical cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling. The methodology has been …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of A Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Course In Reducing Library Anxiety For Adult Learners, Roslyn Grandy

Communications in Information Literacy

This study examines levels of library anxiety in 30 adult learners before and after completing a two-credit information literacy course. A modified version of the Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale was administered at the beginning and end of the course to compare levels of library anxiety. An analysis of the data revealed that the course was moderately effective in reducing library anxiety in adult learners. Awareness of library resources, comfort with the search process, and comfort level with library technology significantly increased after course completion. No significant decreases in library anxiety were reported in the areas of comfort level with staff …

Through The Looking Glass: Viewing First-Year Composition Through The Lens Of Information Literacy, Alexandria Chisholm, Brett Spencer

Communications in Information Literacy

This paper presents a case study of how librarians can situate themselves as pedagogical partners by bringing their unique information literacy perspective and expertise to the programmatic assessment process. This report resulted from the Thun Library and the Penn State Berks Composition Program's collaboration to assess the institution’s first-year composition (FYC) course. From previous programmatic assessments of their students’ work, the faculty had a sense that students struggled with source use in their rhetoric but found it difficult to pinpoint students’ exact source issues. By adapting a rubric theoretically-grounded in the ACRL Framework to deconstruct the concept of source use …

Research Clinics: An Alternative Model For Large-Scale Information Literacy Instruction, Glenn Koelling, Lori Townsend

Communications in Information Literacy

This article describes the pilot year of a new model for information literacy instruction in first-year composition classes at the University of New Mexico. The flipped classroom model, the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, and challenges to library staffing sparked the implementation of research clinics, which are a blend of a flipped classroom and a research/reference consultation. These clinics are designed to meet students at their point of need for research projects and allow students to choose what sort of library help will be the most beneficial at that moment. At …

Review Of Disciplinary Applications Of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts, Carolyn Cunningham

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Libraries And Fake News: What’S The Problem? What’S The Plan?, Matthew C. Sullivan

Communications in Information Literacy

This article surveys the library and information science (LIS) response to the problems of fake news and misinformation from the 2016 U.S. presidential election to the end of 2018, focusing on how librarians and other information professionals in the United States have articulated the problems and the paths forward for combating them. Additionally, the article attempts to locate the LIS response in a larger interdisciplinary misinformation research program, provide commentary on the response in view of that research program, and lay out both a possible research agenda for the field and practical next steps for educators ahead of the 2020 …

Reddit As An Analogy For Scholarly Publishing And The Constructed, Contextual Nature Of Authority, Anna M. White

Communications in Information Literacy

This paper provides an overview of how the social news site Reddit can be used as an example of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education threshold concept “Authority is Constructed and Contextual.” It posits that the construction and context of authority in the sense of Wilson’s concept of cognitive authority is in the inherent structure of Reddit and that students can benefit from an example that easily links their personal and academic lives—a connection not always made when discussing authority in peer-reviewed publications or databases.

Celebrating Greatness, Christopher V. Hollister

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Sails, Take 2: An Exploration Of The “Build Your Own Test” Standardized Il Testing Option For Canadian Institutions, Rumi Y. Graham, Nicole Eva, Sandra Cowan

Communications in Information Literacy

Several standardized and validated information literacy (IL) tests have been developed for use in U.S. post-secondary contexts, but fewer choices exist for schools outside of the U.S. In an earlier study (Cowan, Graham, & Eva, 2016) the authors explored IL testing at a Canadian university using the international version of the SAILS Cohort test. This article describes a second study that used the Build Your Own Test (BYOT)—a customizable version of the SAILS Individual Scores test—to evaluate undergraduate students’ IL learning. Pros and cons of using the Cohort and BYOT versions of SAILS are discussed, with the aim of providing …

Book Review: Information Literacy In The Workplace, Lore Guilmartin

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Crossing The Studio Art Threshold: Information Literacy And Creative Populations, Sarah Carter, Heather Koopmans, Alice Whiteside

Communications in Information Literacy

Artists often require visual and inspirational information sources that range outside of library walls and websites, and develop their work within the complex social environment of the studio. Librarians historically engage with studio art and design students using multiple standards documents. This article offers an analytical literature review of the pedagogical approaches librarians have taken toward their work in the art and design studios, specifically identifying library practitioners who have adapted or critiqued standards documents in order to address the unique needs of creative populations. The Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education …

Review Of The New Instruction Librarian: A Workbook For Trainers And Learners, Grace Haynes

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Librarians As Campus Partners: Supporting Culturally Responsive And Inclusive Curriculum, Kimberly D. Pendell, Robert Schroeder

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Diversity and inclusion initiatives are expanding on campuses across the United States. These initiatives can take many forms, such as the hiring and retention of diverse faculty, student recruitment, and a thoughtful examination of pedagogy and course curriculum. As a librarian, you may be aware of these efforts, but perhaps not as directly involved as disciplinary faculty, particularly in regards to course curriculum development and redesign. How librarians can participate and support this work on our campuses is not always clear; however, we found fertile opportunities for librarian involvement and leadership.

The Intersection Of Information And Science Literacy, Kristin M. Klucevsek

Communications in Information Literacy

To achieve higher science literacy, both students and the public require discipline-specific information literacy in the sciences. Scientific information literacy is a core component of the scientific process. In addition to teaching how to find and evaluate resources, scientific information literacy should include teaching the process of scholarship as a conversation and publication in the sciences. Faculty and librarians can be challenged in their efforts to teach students because of limited access to published research. Stronger scientific information literacy and more access to scholarly research could improve science literacy as a whole.

International Students And The Ase Research Process: A Language Acquisition Approach To Research, Kimberly Willson‐St. Clair

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ASE research model, Analyze, Search, Evaluate, developed by Don Latham PhD and Melissa Gross PhD with IMLS funding for teaching community college students remedial information literacy and research skills works remarkably well with international students studying English. The ASE research model can be incorporated into LibGuides and used to structure library classroom instruction especially in regards to vocabulary building within the disciplines.

Teaching “Format As A Process” In An Era Of Web-Scale Discovery, Kevin Seeber

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose- Advancements in online discovery require academic librarians to develop new means of teaching and assessing information literacy, with an emphasis on having students employ critical thinking to evaluate sources.

Design/methodology/approach- This conceptual paper analyzes how the threshold concept “format as a process” could be incorporated into information literacy instruction sessions which address web-scale discovery services and other online search tools. General guidelines for applying this concept are included, along with potential classroom activities and assessments.

Findings- Format as a process provides a valuable framework for evaluating information, though librarians need to be mindful of how they present the concept …

Achievement Unlocked! A Digital Badge Primer & Workshop, Emily Ford

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Video of the workshop is available online at: http://vimeo.com/96035501

Digital badges--much like their analog predecessor the scouting badge-- can tell us a lot about a badge bearer’s accomplishments and skills. We all know that someone who has earned a First Aid badge is proficient in doctoring small wounds, and perhaps even providing CPR! Digital badges function the same way. They certify and communicate an individual’s knowledge, skills, and/or achievements.

Digital badges have been adopted by social media sites such as 4Square to recognize users’ achievements and are growing in popularity. They are being used by educational institutions as a way …

Production And Consumption: A Closer Look At Adult Digital Literacy Acquisition, Gloria Jacobs, Jill Castek, Drew Pizzolato, Stephen Reder, Kimberly D. Pendell

Presentations and Publications

In this column, the authors discuss emerging research in the field of adult digital literacy acquisition. The authors argue that the field of adult digital literacy acquisition has been under researched, especially in relation to multiliteracies and multimodal literacy practices. Data emerging from a large scale mixed methods study of adults engaged with Learner Web, a selfaccess online learning system, indicate that opportunities to engage in tutor-facilitated digital literacy acquisition, among populations that have been historically left out of the digital revolution, has the potential to change lives. Additionally, the research provides insights into the shifts learners undergo as they …

Library Service And The International Student, Laurie Bridges, Kimberly Willson-St. Clair, Uta Hussong-Christian

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

What do China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, and India have in common? They're the five leading countries of origin for international college and university students in Oregon. Currently there are over 10,000 international higher education students in the state and the number is expected to grow. In this session you will get an introduction to the academic culture of the five mentioned countries, discuss the rewards and challenges of working with international students, and see how OSU and PSU Libraries are connecting with these students.

Digital Badges In Libraries: Skills-Based Instruction, Code-Shifting, And Collaboration, Emily Ford, Nicholas Schiller, Dawn Richardson

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Digital badges present librarians with new ways of engaging with patrons including recognizing patron achievement and improved communication. This session will provide an overview of digital badges--including an explanation of underlying pedagogical aims--and will address badging as “code-shifting” or using different communication methods for different audiences. Finally, it will present a major collaboration between Portland State University Library and disciplinary faculty to integrate badges in undergraduate courses, providing librarian and disciplinary faculty perspectives.

In our presentation for Online Northwest we hoped to provide a basic overview of digital badges, discuss theoretical underpinnings of badges that lead to using badges for …

Info Lit 2.0 Or Deja Vu?, Patricia Anne Iannuzzi

Communications in Information Literacy

In 1999, ACRL convened a national task force to draft Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. ACRL has recently launched a revision to those standards. The original standards were influential because they helped advance a national need in higher education at the time: a shift to outcomes based learning. Fourteen years later, information literacy stands alongside oral and written communication, critical thinking and ethical reasoning as learning outcomes broadly acknowledged as needing to be integrated, with disciplinary content, into the curriculum. This author believes that, in contrast to the first process, the current recommendations for revision are focused on …

Refreshing Information Literacy: Learning From Recent British Information Literacy Models, Justine Martin

Communications in Information Literacy

Models play an important role in helping practitioners implement and promote information literacy. Over time models can lose relevance with the advances in technology, society, and learning theory. Practitioners and scholars often call for adaptations or transformations of these frameworks to articulate the learning needs in information literacy development. This study analyzes four recently published models from the United Kingdom. The initial findings were presented in a report for an ACRL taskforce reviewing the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. This article presents complementary, yet distinct findings from the same dataset that focus on reoccurring themes for information literacy …

A Threshold Concepts Approach To The Standards Revision, Amy R. Hofer, Korey Brunetti, Lori Townsend

Communications in Information Literacy

This article describes how threshold concepts can inform the revision of ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

Promising Practices In Instruction Of Discovery Tools, Stefanie Buck, Christina Steffy

Communications in Information Literacy

Libraries are continually changing to meet the needs of users; this includes implementing discovery tools, also referred to as web-scale discovery tools, to make searching library resources easier. Because these tools are so new, it is difficult to establish definitive best practices for teaching these tools; however, promising practices are emerging. A promising practice is "a program, activity, or strategy" that shows early promise for being effective in the long term and generalizable across institutions (Dare Mighty Things, n.d.). The researchers used three methods to develop a list of promising practices for teaching discovery tools— a review of the current …

Returning To Learn: Research And The Prodigal Student, Emily Ford, Meredith G. Farkas, Molly Blalock-Koral

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Returning students - those with a significant lapse in time during their formal education - make up a large and growing percentage of the student population at Portland State University (PSU). Over 40% of PSU undergraduates are over 26 years of age and 21% of graduate students over 39. Given returning students’ experiences in the work force, motivations for learning, and the lapse of time since conducting academic research, returning students may approach research differently than traditional students. Despite the size of this student population at PSU and the growth of the returning student demographic in higher education, very little …

Assessing Through Reflection: Valuing Our Wisdom And Trusting Our Gut, Robert Schroeder

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reflection on teaching and learning of information literacy

Building And Sustaining A Culture Of Assessment: Best Practices For Change Leadership, Meredith G. Farkas

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea of using Kotter's eight-step model for change leadership to create a culture of assessment that is embedded in the organizational culture of an academic library. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper that examines the potential application of a business change model to an academic library change context. Each step of Kotter's model is described within the context of building a culture of assessment, supported by examples and suggestions from the literature of libraries, higher education, organizational behavior and change leadership. Findings – While building a culture of …

Web Conferencing Software, Meredith G. Farkas

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Web conferencing software -- also known as webinar, videoconferencing, online meeting, and virtual classroom software -- is a web-­based technology that allows groups to synchronously communicate online. Most web conferencing software offers collaboration through text, voice and video chat, screen-­sharing, collaborative whiteboards, and file-­sharing. Tips and Trends, written by Instructional Technologies Committee members, introduces and discusses new, emerging, or even familiar technology which can be applied in the library instruction setting.

Troublesome Concepts And Information Literacy: Investigating Threshold Concepts For Il Instruction, Amy R. Hofer, Lori Townsend, Korey Brunetti

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Librarians regularly encounter students who struggle to understand and apply information literacy concepts. A qualitative survey administered to information literacy practitioners asked about troublesome content and analyzed results using the threshold concepts pedagogical framework first described by Jan Meyer and Ray Land. A threshold concept transforms the learner’s view of content and helps integrate previously learned material; threshold concepts are portals that, once traversed, bring insight into how to think and act like a practitioner within a discipline. This project uses the data collected to propose seven threshold concepts for information literacy.