Information Literacy Commons^™

The Lms And The Library, Robin Camille Davis

Publications and Research

In this column, I give a brief overview of five ways that libraries can be incorporated into a learning management system (LMS), ordered from easiest to most difficult to scale, or in other words, least to most personal:

• Insert the library in the LMS template
• Offer embeddable LibGuides to faculty
• Create a collection of graded modules for faculty use
• Create an online library mini-course
• Embed a librarian in a course

Next Level Learning: Using Pedagogically-Designed Research Guides In Information Literacy Instruction, Susan T. Wengler

Publications and Research

A pilot study is currently underway at Queensborough Community College which explores the impact of a pedagogically-designed research guide (PDRG) on information literacy student learning outcomes. In contrast to pathfinder guides, the PDRG seeks to engage and support students through all steps of the research assignment. Each guide tab corresponds to a stage in Kuhlthau’s Model of the Information Search Process and includes both a micro-lecture and a quiz. The poster will discuss the creation and Spring 2018 launch of the PDRG. Poster visual aids will incorporate graphic presentation of the micro-lectures and quizzes, as well as preliminary quiz results. …

Branding Matters: Reimagine Your Library Services, Susan T. Wengler

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Teaching Occupational Outlook Handbook For Students In Career Development: A Lesson Plan, Junli Diao

Open Educational Resources

This lesson plan is designed for a 60-minute information literacy class to teach students who are taking SD110 (Student Development 110) at York College, City University of New York. The goal of this class is to facilitate SD110 students to effectively engage themselves in finding and evaluating information regarding career and vocational development.

Interactive Whiteboards In Library Instruction: Facilitating Student Engagement And Active Learning, Maureen Richards, Marta Bladek, Karen Okamoto

Publications and Research

Determined to keep up with the ever-changing instructional trends, academic libraries have been quick to adopt emerging teaching and learning technologies. Recent literature features many examples of technologies that have found a place in libraries’ instructional programs: learning management systems, clickers, online tutorials, reference chats, and mobile devices, to mention the most popular ones. Curiously enough, despite their popularity in business and K-12 contexts, interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are rarely discussed in the context of academic libraries’ efforts to embrace innovative teaching methods. This article addresses this omission. Present-day IWBs have evolved to include features that accommodate a variety of teaching …

Learning Places At The Intersection Of Information Literacy And Place-Based Learning, Anne E. Leonard

Publications and Research

This information literacy lesson enhances assignments in a range of social science disciplines, including geography, sociology, anthropology, and political science. It was designed with undergraduate social sciences and interdisciplinary courses in mind. Interdisciplinary courses that engage with one or more social science disciplines should be included. Graduate students in urban planning, architecture, social work, and public affairs will benefit from this module as well.

Student Responses To An Animated Character In Information Literacy Instruction, Jennifer Poggiali

Publications and Research

Purpose: This paper reports on a grant-funded project to create a hand-drawn, custom-made animated character named Jasmyn. Drawing on animation theory, the paper uses qualitative research to investigate student responses to the medium of animation, the character’s design, and three presentation strategies.

Design/methodology/approach: The researchers held three student focus groups to investigate the following research questions: 1. Will students endorse animation as a medium for library instructional videos on the grounds of its entertaining, subversive, or playful qualities? 2. Is Jasmyn designed and8 written in a way that engages students and compels them to respond to her as a character? …

Two Revised Cases Designed For Case-Based-Learning In Bio 201, Lib_Pub, Junli Diao

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Lib 3040 (Information And Society), Kimmy Szeto

Open Educational Resources

LIB 3040 Information and Society. 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: ENG 2100. This course examines the nature, production, value and uses of information in historical perspective; the latest development in information technology; the ways information is produced and disseminated and how they affect business, politics, media, science, arts and culture; the growth of the “information society;” and major information policy issues. (Cross-listed with COM 3040 and PAF 3040)

Fair Use As Creative Muse: An Ongoing Case Study, Malin Abrahamsson, Stephanie Margolin

Publications and Research

In this chapter, the authors describe various copyright-related lessons that they've presented to faculty and students at their institution.

Evaluating Reliability In Resources [Library], Christopher Mchale

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in CJF 101 Criminal Justice who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Integrative and Global Learning core competencies.

This session seeks to introduce students to critical evaluation as the important skill that involves questioning different elements of an information resource to determine its authority on the topic it addresses. Students will practice this process by engaging in a discussion about the reliability of a specific resource. They will be encouraged to contribute to an in depth evaluation of a resource as a group.

This session will give students the …

Exploring Careers And Industry Problems [Library], Galina Letnikova

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in ECF 090- Engineering and Computer Science who attend a 1-hour library session. This session will give students the chance to develop integrative learning skills by connecting their prospective field with academic research.

LaGuardia’s Core Competencies and Communication Abilities

Main Course Learning Objectives:

• Students will be introduced to the concept of library academic resources
• Students will learn the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of information

Cultural Competency In Health Sciences [Library], Silvia L. Lin Hanick

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in HSF 090- Health Sciences who attend a 1-hour library session. The focus of this session and assignment is “research as inquiry.”

Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field. Students will practice this iterative process by experimenting with the trial and error necessary in the research process as they repeat and refine their searches. They will be encouraged to explore the way cultural competence changes depending on their field or topic focus.

This session will …

Profiling The Global Impact Of A Company [Library], Steven Ovadia

Open Educational Resources

This assignment, as part of a 1-hour library session, was developed for students in BTF 101- Business. The Inquiry and Problem, Integrative Learning, and Global Learning core competencies inform the content of the session. Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops. Business research frequently relies on using often-expensive information products to gain or protect some sort of market advantage or position. This lesson will introduce students to the idea that information is a valuable and essential tool for …

Concept Mapping For Focused Paper Topics [Library], Ian Mcdermott

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in SYF 101 Psychology who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Inquiry and Problem Solving core competency in terms of exposing students to “Searching as Strategic Exploration” and the Integrative Learning core competency in terms of analyzing “Scholarship as a Conversation.”

In the first of two parts, this session will focus on building subject knowledge and finding background information in encyclopedias. Students will learn how encyclopedias can offer different perspectives on the same topic; they will also create an APA citation for an encyclopedia entry. In order to gain …

Library Science Strategies For Liberal Arts: Math And Science [Library], Christopher Mchale

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in LMF 101- Math and Science who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Inquiry and Problem Solving and Integrative core competencies in terms of exposing students to “Searching as Strategic Exploration.”

Strategy and exploration are the keys to effective research. Students often mistake academic research as similar to “Googling.” This session will stress the importance of mastering the research process in an academic context. It will encourage students to become familiar with the diverse tools and resources provided by the library.

This session will give students a quick outline …

Library Science Strategies For Natural Sciences [Library], Christopher Mchale

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in NSF 100 Natural Sciences who attend a 1-hour library session. This session is aligned with the Inquiry and Problem Solving and Integrative core competencies in terms of exposing students to “Searching as Strategic Exploration.”

Strategy and exploration are the keys to effective research. Students often mistake academic research as similar to “Googling.” This session will stress the importance of mastering the research process in an academic context. It will encourage students to become familiar with the diverse tools and resources provided by the library.

This session will give students a quick outline of …

The Value Of Libraries And Identifying Information Needs [Library], Silvia L. Lin Hanick

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was developed for students in LIF 101 – Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities who attend a 1-hour library session. The focus of this session and assignment is “information.”

Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. This session will help students engage with these values, positioning the library as a welcoming and accessible space, librarians as guides and translators of modern information landscapes, and library resources as a way to participate in disciplinary conversations and …

Parallels Of Unintentional Plagiarism And Predatory Publishing: Understanding Root Causes And Solutions, Monica Berger

Publications and Research

Plagiarism and predatory publishing share common attributes. Although students do not publish in predatory journals, both plagiarism and predatory publishing fall under the umbrella of academic integrity and scholarly ethics. Academic misconduct has many faces, ranging from student cheating on exams to purchasing a doctoral thesis and claiming it as one’s own work. Some forms of academic misconduct, such as the examples above are always intentional. However, many manifestations of academic misconduct are less clearly intentional. Students often plagiarize unintentionally because they lack writing skills including paraphrasing and citing. Faculty sometimes publish with predatory journals when they lack scholarly publishing …

Connecting Wikipedia And The Archive: Building A Public History Of Hiv/Aids In New York City., Ann Matsuuchi

Publications and Research

This is an overview of a project that was started in 2015 that was collaboratively designed by archivists and historians with the La Guardia & Wagner Archives and LaGuardia Community College’s faculty/librarians. It involves students in the production of a needed public history of the outbreak and impact of HIV/AIDS in New York City via writing and researching contributions to Wikipedia.

The Mystery Of The Schubert Song: The Linked Data Promise, Kimmy Szeto

Publications and Research

Linked open data promises global interconnectedness of a vast amount of data. Web technologies promise to lower the barriers to accessing information and to enable knowledge production of massive scale. But can the web of data answer a music reference question? Starting with a seemingly impossible search for a Schubert song, this article describes how linked data technologies could overcome some limitations of catalog searching. However, technical and conceptual challenges are intertwined in the library community’s effort to publish linked data. Through an analysis of contrasting data models, this article offers a linked data reading of medium of performance and …

In Bed With The Library: A Critical Exploration Of Embedded Librarianship At The City University Of New York, Nora Almeida, Julia Pollack

Publications and Research

This project considers the efficacy and scalability of embedded librarianship initiatives within the City University of New York (CUNY) library system and presents findings of an original research study conducted in 2015. Through an analysis of recent LIS literature on embedment, response data from a survey of librarians, and a selection of library position descriptions, this article examines the implications of embedment practices for librarians and libraries. By shedding light on the extent and context of embedment, the platforms used in virtual embedment scenarios, and obstacles that librarians presently face, this study aims to pinpoint strategies for embedded librarianship initiatives …

Remotivating The Black Vote: The Effect Of Low-Quality Information On Black Voters In The 2016 Presidential Election And How Librarians Can Intervene, Andrew P. Jackson, Denyvetta Davis, James Kelly Alston

Publications and Research

In a phenomenon that was surprising to many, given the racially charged nature of the 2016 presidential election, black voter turnout was significantly lower than the previous two elections. Donald Trump’s victory is attributable to many factors, one of which was the lower participation of black voters in several swing states. To a lesser extent, black support for third-party candidates also aided Trump’s victory. The lower black turnout itself is attributable to several factors, but one factor specifically in the LIS realm was the prevalence of low-quality information and rhetoric and a susceptibility that some black voters had to this …

Understanding The Whole Student: Cuny Undergraduates’ Lived Experiences, Maura A. Smale, Mariana Regalado

Publications and Research

This paper presents a broad overview of research into how CUNY undergraduates fit their academic work into their lives, focusing on study locations, the technology they use, and how they do research in their courses.

Understanding The Whole Student: Cuny Undergraduates’ Lived Experiences, Mariana Regalado, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

This presentation is a broad overview of research into how CUNY undergraduates fit their academic work into their lives, focusing on study locations, the technology they use, and how they engage in the research process.

Faculty Perception Of Information Literacy At Queensborough Community College, Leslie Ward, Miseon Kim

Publications and Research

This study examines how faculty perceived information literacy classes provided by Queensborough Community College. A survey was distributed in the spring of 2017 via faculty e-mail. The survey focused on the faculty’s department affiliation, usage of information literacy (IL) instruction, and how they value the IL instruction. The results revealed that the highest proportion of faculty members who brought their students to the library and found it the most useful were the English and the Speech department, while faculty in the STEM fields were least likely to utilize the library instruction because they found it was irrelevant to their courses.

Spyfall: Information Games And Scholarly Conversation, Nancy M. Foasberg

Publications and Research

Social deduction games like Spyfall can be used to model the rhetorical concept of the Burkean parlor for students.

Teaching Citation Rhetorically: Reading, Not Just Writing, Nancy M. Foasberg

Publications and Research

Citation practices are often taught as a list of rules, rather than a rhetorical practice necessary to the scholarly conversation. This presentation recommends some pedagogical strategies that encourage students to read citations and consider them as messages, rather than a set of rules to follow.

Reference Mode Preferences Of Community College (Two-Year) And Four-Year College Students: A Comparison Study, John Carey, Ajatshatru Pathak

Publications and Research

Objective – The purpose of this study was to examine the reference service mode preferences of community college (two-year) and four-year college students. Methods – The researchers administered a paper-based, face-to-face questionnaire at two institutions within the City University of New York system: Hunter College, a senior college, and Queensborough Community College, a two-year institution. During the summer of 2015, the researchers surveyed 79 participants, asking them to identify their most and least preferred mediums for accessing library reference services. Results – Nearly 75% of respondents expressed a preference for face-to-face reference, while only about 18% preferred remote reference services …

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Predatory Publishing But Were Afraid To Ask, Monica Berger

Publications and Research

Librarians have a key role to play in educating users about predatory publishing. Predatory publishing can be described as low quality, amateurish, and often unethical academic publishing that is usually Open Access (OA). Understanding predatory publishing helps authors to make more informed decisions about where to publish. In the process of educating our users, librarians can set the ground for important conversations that encourage critical thinking about the scholarly communications process. Predatory publishing stems from broader problems including overemphasis on publication quantity, an OA models based on traditional, for-profit publishing, and resource disparities in the Global South. When users take …