Information Literacy Commons^™

Ethnography In Action: Active Learning In Academic Library Outreach To Middle School Students, Samantha Godbey, Nancy Fawley, Xan Goodman, Susan Wainscott

Nancy Fawley

This article describes an outreach activity developed and coordinated by academic librarians as part of a state program for low-income middle school students. Rather than offering a traditional library tour, the library organizers wanted to provide the middle school students with a meaningful experience that would encourage active participation, critical thinking, and alleviate library anxiety. As a spin on the traditional tour, students applied an ethnographic approach to learning about the library. The authors describe the development and implementation of the activity and provide recommendations for other librarians involved in outreach to K-12 students.

Leveraging Resources Across Units And Universities To Address Academic Literacies And Research Skills In Ontario Graduate Students, Melanie Mills, Elan Paulson

Western Libraries Presentations

Student2Scholar (S2S) is a fully online and open course that aims to teach academic literacies and research skills to social science graduate students. Set to launch in December 2015, S2S was conceived of and created by a diverse and distributed team of academic librarians, university staff, and graduate students from three Ontario Universities: Western, the University of Toronto, and Queen’s. Members of the project team brought with them varying degrees of experience and expertise across a range of disciplinary and teaching and learning backgrounds, including: adult education, information literacy, and online learning (to name only a few).

S2S serves as …

Dataq: A Collaborative Platform For Answering Research Data Questions In Libraries, Yasmeen Shorish, Sarah Pickle, Christie A. Wiley, Megan Bresnahan, Andrew M. Johnson

Libraries

DataQ is an IMLS­-funded project led by the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, GWLA, and GPN to develop an online knowledge-­base of research data questions and answers curated for and by the library community. Publicly submitted questions to DataQ are reviewed by an Editorial Team of experts from 15 institutions across the United States. The site also includes links to resources, best practices, and practical approaches to working with researchers to address specific research data issues. This update from members of the Editorial Team will discuss outcomes and future directions following the first year of the DataQ project.

We’Ll Show You Ours If You Show Us Yours! Favorite Technologies To Support Information Literacy, Beth Kraemer, Beth Fuchs

Library Presentations

A recent user survey revealed that our students want more online tools to help them find and use library resources successfully. The challenge is finding and developing instruction-related technologies that are not only well-suited for local needs but also engaging and useful for students. We’ll show some of our recent developments, and then, it’s your turn! Come ready to contribute your ideas (or get a head start here: http://bit.ly/Beth2015), and leave with new online tools to explore.

Research Consultations And Co-Location Adds Value To The Reference & Information Services And Instruction Continuum: Towards To Holistic Learning Experience At The Singapore Management University Library, Rajendra Munoo

Research Collection Library

Research Librarians at the Li Ka Shing Library perform multifunctional roles in the areas of collection, information, learning, research and outreach. In this presentation, participants will learn more about the information and learning roles where the former includes the provision of reference and information services and the latter involves the design, development and delivery of instruction and information literacy programmes as part of their student and faculty engagement strategy. They will also learn more about the library’s grounded service offering through a learning roadmap for every student which encompasses the following components: Matriculation [Orientation] > In Class Instruction [Information Literacy] > Research …

Supporting Research Through Information Literacy Programmes: Smu Libraries' Learning Journeys, Yuyun W. Ishak

Research Collection Library

Singapore Management University (SMU) has been building its research programmes towards high-impact and larger scale research. The number of postgraduate students has grown from 615 students in 2010 to 1,260 students in January 2015. The growing population of postgraduates, especially those with research requirements, has posed both opportunities and challenges to library’s resources, facilities and services.

Library is committed to provide resources and services that support research. This includes developing and implementing Information Literacy (IL) programmes that are relevant to researchers and postgraduates. The IL programmes were structured and offered within an Information Literacy Framework that SMU Libraries have been …

From Co-Location To Collaboration: Working Together To Improve Student Learning, Susan Montgomery, Suzanne D. Robertshaw

Faculty Publications

An academic librarian and the coordinator of a campus tutoring and writing center recently relocated to the library researched their value to second-year students. Differences in the amount and type of available data called for conducting in-depth interviews with students about their research and writing processes. The researchers also reviewed relevant material regarding similar collaborative efforts at other college and universities. The gaps revealed in the environmental scan along with the best practices of librarian/writing center collaboration helped determine future steps needed for both units to move from mere co-location to working in true collaboration.

Adult Learners In The Library–Are They Being Served?, Makiba Foster, Kristine Helbling

University Libraries Publications

Like many academic librarians, after completing the marathon of the traditional school year, we often use the summer semester to reflect, revise, and plan for the upcoming fall. In the summer of 2012, during a casual conversation in which we shared stories about rewarding reference interactions, we stumbled upon an “aha moment,” discovering an opportunity to connect targeted library outreach with an underserved user group. During this exchange, we realized how much we both enjoy working with adult learners and how they always seem genuinely interested in gaining skills to make themselves better library users, and therefore better students. This …

Facilitating Peer Learning In The Library: Crafting The Perfect Batch Of Undergraduate Peer Research Mentors, Clinton K. Baugess, Mallory R. Jallas

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Librarians at a college library developed a Peer Research Mentor (PRM) program for undergraduate students in order to facilitate peer learning and expand the library's formal instruction program beyond the traditional reach of the library and librarians. The presenters will discuss recruiting the initial cohort of eight PRMs, strengthening PRMs' research skills through an intensive training curriculum, and an overview of the various instructional outreach projects that have been designed and implemented by PRMs for other students. The presentation will discuss program assessment methods, share findings from the current cohort, and outline plans for the program's development.

Data Information Literacy And Undergraduates: A Critical Competency, Yasmeen Shorish

Yasmeen Shorish

As a primer on data information literacy (DIL), this column will cover the background of the field and why it is relevant to college and university libraries serving undergraduate populations. This article includes how data information literacy relates to information literacy, competencies associated with DIL, the relevance of DIL to undergraduates, DIL in library instruction, and the reasons for library engagement with DIL. Examining DIL within the larger framework of information literacy can help outreach and instruction librarians engage with a format that may be unfamiliar to them but whose underlying foundation is well-established.

Data Information Literacy And Undergraduates: A Critical Competency, Yasmeen Shorish

Libraries

As a primer on data information literacy (DIL), this column will cover the background of the field and why it is relevant to college and university libraries serving undergraduate populations. This article includes how data information literacy relates to information literacy, competencies associated with DIL, the relevance of DIL to undergraduates, DIL in library instruction, and the reasons for library engagement with DIL. Examining DIL within the larger framework of information literacy can help outreach and instruction librarians engage with a format that may be unfamiliar to them but whose underlying foundation is well-established.

Teaching Information Literacy To Undergraduate Students: Reflecting On The Past, Present And Future Of Library Instruction, Scott Juskiewicz, Conor Cote

Library

The need to teach information literacy skills to undergraduate students is often framed as a 21^st century concern, but debate over the value and practice of teaching this set of skills can be found as far back as the early 1900’s. This article reviews the history of information literacy instruction in academic libraries from its origins to the present, examines the current state of information literacy instruction in academic libraries, and explores possible future directions that this instruction may take. Looking to the past, present and future shows that while library instruction has evolved, many central concerns remain unanswered.

Libraries & Student Success, Melissa Bowles-Terry

Library Faculty Presentations

What makes a difference in student success? The framing questions for this presentation are:

1. What makes students stay in college and finish a degree? What prevents them from finishing?

2. What can librarians and faculty do to increase students' chances of succeeding at learning and at earning a degree?

This presentation will address high impact practices identified by George Kuh and adopted by the AAC&U, and give some examples of how libraries can support those high impact practices. It will also address student engagement, as measured by tools like the National Survey of Student Engagement or NSSE, and how libraries can …

Situating Information Literacy In The Disciplines: A Practical And Systematic Approach For Academic Librarians, Robert Farrell, William Badke

Publications and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to consider the current barriers to situating in the disciplines and to offer a possible strategy for so doing.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews current challenges facing librarians who seek to situate information literacy in the disciplines and offers and practical model for those wishing to do so. Phenomenographic evidence from disciplinary faculty focus groups is presented in the context of the model put forward.

Findings – Disciplinary faculty do not have generic conceptions of information literacy but rather understand information-related behaviors as part of embodied disciplinary practice.

Practical implications – Librarians …

Archival Literacy Competencies For Undergraduate History Majors, Sharon A. Weiner, Sammie L. Morris, Lawrence J. Mykytiuk

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Undergraduate history majors need to know how to conduct archival research. This paper describes the second phase of a project to identify “archival literacy” competencies. Faculty, archivists, and librarians from baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral/research institutions commented on a draft list. This resulted in competencies in six major categories: accurately conceive of primary sources; locate primary sources; use a research question, evidence, and argumentation to advance a thesis; obtain guidance from archivists; demonstrate acculturation to archives; and follow publication protocols. Collaborations of archivists, faculty, and librarians can integrate the competencies throughout undergraduate history curricula in their institutions.

Library Instruction And Themed Composition Courses: An Investigation Of Factors That Impact Student Learning, Erin E. Rinto, Elisa I. Cogbill-Seiders

Library Faculty Publications

Many academic libraries partner with English composition in order to teach first year students skills related to academic research and writing. Due to the partnership between information literacy and first-year writing programs, it is important to evaluate how these programs can best support one another. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of two factors on student information literacy skill development: library instruction and section theme—defined here as class sections of the English 102 (ENG 102) program developed around a central topic selected by the instructor. A random sample of annotated bibliographies from 95 sections of ENG …

Ethnography In Action: Active Learning In Academic Library Outreach To Middle School Students, Samantha Godbey, Nancy Fawley, Xan Goodman, Susan Wainscott

Library Faculty Publications

This article describes an outreach activity developed and coordinated by academic librarians as part of a state program for low-income middle school students. Rather than offering a traditional library tour, the library organizers wanted to provide the middle school students with a meaningful experience that would encourage active participation, critical thinking, and alleviate library anxiety. As a spin on the traditional tour, students applied an ethnographic approach to learning about the library. The authors describe the development and implementation of the activity and provide recommendations for other librarians involved in outreach to K-12 students.