Information Literacy Commons^™

From One-Shots To Gems: Building Scaffolded Microcredentials In Information Literacy, Layla Barati, Kevin Sebastian

Library Faculty Research

Discover how UNLV Libraries redesigned first-year information literacy instruction into the GEM Knowledge Series—scaffolded microcourses awarding stackable badges. Learn how this model moves beyond traditional one-off library lessons, embeds assessment, and empowers students to Gather, Evaluate, and Make knowledge across academic, professional, and civic contexts.

Beyond The Library: The Role Of Academic Libraries’ Chat Reference In Answering Campus Questions, Erin Owens, Vanessa Acre, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Robin Fowler, Silvia Sheffield

Library Faculty Research

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic drove most users online, chat was establishing itself as a core service for asking library-related questions of many types, from basic directional and reference to research queries of a more sophisticated nature. This investigation seeks to provide insight into how academic libraries are seen not only as a source of library assistance, but also as a means of filling an information gap on a wider subject: the university campus at large. The study’s methods involved analyzing chat transcripts from five large four-year public universities during a two-year period (2019- 2021), noting the frequency of campus-related …

Fostering Udl-Informed Library Instruction Practices Developed From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Niki Fullmer, Katie Strand

Library Faculty Research

Purpose: This case study explores how universal design for learning (UDL)-informed online instruction modules developed during COVID-19 can better support student information literacy outcomes. This study will also examine how hybrid learning lends itself to UDL and may resolve some of the issues within library instruction.

Design/methodology/approach: This case study explores how a team of librarians at Utah State University developed three UDL-informed modules to support library instruction and hybrid learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was sent to composition instructors to understand how they utilized the three new UDL-informed modules and if the modules helped …

Digital Partnerships: Nontraditional Learning Opportunities At The Freedman Center For Digital Scholarship, Amanda Koziura, R. Benjamin Gorham

Library Faculty Research

This book chapter details instructional partnerships between experts at the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship and faculty and students at Case Western Reserve University. Applications of digital scholarship methods in the classroom are discussed through case studies, which include assignments and activities incorporating GIS, Scalar, and photogrammetry. A literature review and mapping of digital scholarship concepts and methods to the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education are included.

Designing A Collaborative Learning Experience Around The Framework, Samantha Godbey, Xan Y. Goodman

Library Faculty Research

In late 2015, we presented a three-hour workshop on the nascent ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education at the European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) in Tallinn, Estonia,1 after which we were approached about preparing a more in-depth learning experience on the Framework for a group of international librarians. These librarians were part of the AMICAL Consortium, a consortium of twenty-nine liberal arts institutions in Europe, Asia, and Africa. At this point, we had already led several active learning–filled workshops on the Framework, including the one at ECIL. We were also working on a coedited book on the …

Should We Flip The Script?: A Literature Review Of Deficit-Based Perspectives On First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Information Literacy, Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol, Mark Lenker, Emily Cox, Elizabeth Kocevar-Weidinger

Library Faculty Research

This mixed method systematic review considers recent literature on the information literacy (IL) skills of first-year undergraduate students. The review uncovers the following themes: faculty and librarians perceive first-year students as lacking IL skills; students have varying perceptions of their IL skills; assessment studies yield conflicting findings on first-year students' IL; communication between high school and college librarians is challenging; and some IL researchers emphasise and leverage first-year students' prior knowledge and experience in IL instruction. These themes emerge from extensive searches in four research databases for scholarly and professional articles written in English within the past ten years. With …

Connecting The Institutional Repository To The Framework For Information Literacy, Andrea Wirth

Library Faculty Research

Scholarly communication and information literacy as foci of librarianship are readily integrated and the connection between the two is well established. Both consider research as a process that starts before and continues well past the point of publication or citation. They each incorporate critical thinking about information sources, authority, context, format, and more. This poster demonstrates how one common element of scholarly communication - the institutional repository - is a conduit to the concepts of the Framework for Information Literacy. Learners' contributions to the repository, assignment of keywords to their own works, discovery and evaluation of resources held in repositories, …

Integrating Information Literacy And Evidence-Based Medicine Content Within A New School Of Medicine Curriculum: Process And Outcome, Joanne M. Muellenbach, Kathryn M. Houk, Dana E. Thimons, Bredny Rodriguez

Library Faculty Research

This column describes a process for integrating information literacy (IL) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) content within a new school of medicine curriculum. The project was a collaborative effort among health sciences librarians, curriculum deans, directors, and faculty. The health sciences librarians became members of the curriculum committees, developed a successful proposal for IL and EBM content within the curriculum, and were invited to become course instructors for Analytics in Medicine. As course instructors, the librarians worked with the other faculty instructors to design and deliver active learning class sessions based on a flipped classroom approach using a proprietary Information Mastery …

Moving Public Health Learners To The Skeptical Edge With Information Creation As A Process, Xan Goodman

Library Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Collaborating With Teaching Faculty On Transparent Assignment Design, Melissa Bowles-Terry, John C. Watts, Pat Hawthorne, Patricia Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Research

In light of a campus-wide curricular change at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), the University Libraries created Faculty Institutes to build capacity for effective teaching and assessment practices campus-wide. The UNLV Libraries Faculty Institutes are multi-day workshops designed and delivered by librarians to help teaching faculty create courses and assignments that are research-rich and closely aligned with the newly launched General Education learning outcomes. This chapter provides the situational factors leading to the overhaul of General Education at UNLV and how librarians leveraged this opportunity to maximize their role as experts in information literacy and instructional design. This …

Mining For The Best Information Value With Geoscience Students, Susan Wainscott, Joshua W. Bonde

Library Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Samantha Godbey, Susan Wainscott, Xan Goodman

Library Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Action Research As Inquiry For Education Students, Samantha Godbey

Library Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Motivated Reasoning, Political Information, And Information Literacy Education, Mark N. Lenker

Library Faculty Research

Research in psychology and political science has identified motivated reasoning as a set of biases that inhibit one’s ability to process political information objectively. This research has important implications for the information literacy movement’s aims of fostering lifelong learning and informed citizenship. This essay argues that information literacy education should broaden its scope to include more than just knowledge of information and its sources; it should also include knowledge of how people interact with information, particularly the ways that motivated reasoning can influence citizens’ interactions with political information.

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

Library Faculty Research

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.

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

Library Faculty Research

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 …

Serving Those Who Serve: Outreach And Instruction For Student Cadets And Veterans, Nancy E. Fawley, Nikki Kyrsak

Library Faculty Research

Student cadets and veterans new to college have unique academic needs, and the abrupt switch from civilian to Corps life for new students at a military university can be challenging. Likewise, transitioning from military life to civilian life as a veteran student can be overwhelming. The libraries at Norwich University and The University of Alabama are supporting programs to assist new students in the transition from civilian to Corps life and from military to civilian life, respectively. While these students are at different stages of their military careers, cadets and veterans have common attributes that inform library support and instruction, …

At The Nexus Of Scholarly Communication And Information Literacy, Marianne A. Buehler, Anne E. Zald

Library Faculty Research

Introduction

Graduate students embarking upon a new phase in their educational careers may not realize the range of expectations, particularly the cocurricular or extracurricular expectation to participate in the scholarly communication process. Unforeseen faculty expectations may include a requirement to publish or copublish an article in order to pass a graduate course or to engage in grant-funded research that will result in conference presentations or publications. Learning about the publication process provides a key transitional experience between the independent intellectual endeavor of conducting research for course assignments and the social dynamics of being a professional researcher or scholar, interacting with …

The New Acrl Information Literacy Competency Standards: Revising Reception, Benjamin R. Harris

Library Faculty Research

The publication of educational standards inspires a variety of responses, from wholesale acceptance and deployment to criticism and blame. The author of this paper contends that the revision of the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education must be accompanied by a critical, conscious, and conscientious reception by librarians and information literacy advocates.

Collaboration As An Essential Tool In Information Literacy Education 9-16: Context, Qualities And Implications, Samantha Godbey

Library Faculty Research

The proliferation of electronic content and the development of new technologies are causing fundamental changes to the processes of reading and research, leaving many librarians curious and concerned about the future of the profession. In the midst of this transitional period, contemporary school librarians continue to face the challenges of limited funding and high expectations. Education and library funding continues to be cut, yet school librarians are tasked with coordinating efforts to educate children in information literacy so that they are educated consumers of information. Information literacy, the ability to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to …

Info Lit 2.0 Or Deja Vu?, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Research

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. Thirteen 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 …

Developing And Applying An Information Literacy Rubric To Student Annotated Bibliographies, Erin E. Rinto

Library Faculty Research

Objective – This study demonstrates one method of developing and applying rubrics to student writing in order to gather evidence of how students utilize information literacy skills in the context of an authentic assessment activity. The process of creating a rubric, training scorers to use the rubric, collecting annotated bibliographies, applying the rubric to student work, and the results of the rubric assessment are described. Implications for information literacy instruction are also discussed.

Methods – The focus of this study was the English 102 (ENG 102) course, a required research-based writing course that partners the instructors with the university librarians …

Information Literacy Opportunities Within The Discovery Tool Environment, Nancy E. Fawley, Nikki Krysak

Library Faculty Research

Discovery tools such as Primo, EBSCO Discovery Service, Summon, and WorldCat Local aim to make scholarly research more intuitive for students in part because of their single interface for searching across multiple platforms, including the library, fee-based databases, and unique digital collections. Discovery tools are in sync with the way many undergraduates look for information because they offer a more “Google-like” experience in contrast with previous methods of research that required first knowing which database to use, then searching each one differently according to its specifications. However, broad searches across multiple formats with different systems of controlled vocabulary force instructors …

An Information Literacy Summer Assignment: Digital Learning Materials For The First Year Experience, Jeremy W. Donald

Library Faculty Research

Trinity University enrolls approximately 2400 undergraduate students, with an entering first-year class of ~600. As part of a campus-wide summer reading assignment, librarians and technologists were tasked with creating an online information literacy assignment, in which students were to complete an annotated bibliography related to the summer reading selection. The end result—an interactive website--combined instructional design, assessment, and usability design, and student work on the assignment was (optionally) incorporated into First Year Seminars.

Addressing Academic Integrity: Perspectives From Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Research

Understanding the cultural aspects that affect a student’s ability to appropriately use resources is important in developing outreach and instruction in multicultural settings. Differences in educational philosophies, students’ previous scholastic training and cultural differences in individual motivation are all factors that may affect a freshman’s ability to understand an American university’s idea of academic integrity and can inadvertently cause problems where independent work and critical thinking are required. At Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU Qatar), a branch campus of the American university in the Middle East, a special class on academic integrity and ethical behavior was integrated into the …

Libraries Atwitter: Trends In Academic Library Tweeting, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Sam A. Leif, Susie Skarl

Library Faculty Research

Purpose – This paper aims to present an overview of how libraries are using Twitter in an academic setting.

Design/methodology/approach – This study analyzed the current state of 296 Twitter accounts from a random sample of academic libraries. A total of 19 different criteria were explored, with an emphasis on the following three categories: layout and design, content and number of tweets, and account followers.

Findings – Only 34 per cent of libraries in the study had a Twitter account and characteristics varied widely among libraries, however it is evident that it is possible to successfully communicate with patrons via …

Notes From The Field: 10 Short Lessons On One-Shot Instruction, Megan Oakleaf, Steven Hoover, Beth S. Woodard, Jennifer Corbin, Randy Hensley, Diana K. Wakimoto, Christopher V, Hollister, Debra Gilchrist, Michelle Millet, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Research

Librarians teach. It might not be what we planned to do when we entered the profession, or it may have been our secret hope all along. Either way, we teach. We teach users of all types, including students, faculty, and our co-workers. We teach in multiple venues including classrooms, reference desks, face-to-face, and online. While the variety of teaching audiences and environments are endless, one teaching scenario remains quintessential: the one-shot library instruction session. No one knows better than librarians the limitations of this format, yet it remains central to our teaching efforts.

Why Not Just Google It? An Assessment Of Information Literacy Skills In A Biomedical Science Curriculum, Karl Kingsley, Gillian M. Galbraith, M. Herring, Eva Stowers, Tanis Stewart, Karla V. Kingsley

Library Faculty Research

Background: Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education.

Methods: The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine …

Why Would They Try? Motivation And Motivating In Low-Stakes Information Skills Testing, Jeanne M. Brown, Carrie A. Gaxiola

Library Faculty Research

In 2008 the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) University Libraries piloted the Educational Testing Service’s standardised test of information, communication, and technology (ICT) skills (iSkills) in spring and autumn 2008. In the course of administering the test we explored motivational strategies, a critical component in low-stakes, low-personal-consequences testing. Motivational strategies included providing feedback on test performance, highlighting the value of the test for the individual student, and appealing to the student’s willingness to improve the overall performance of the institution. We addressed ways to motivate students in order to enhance their level of participation in and performance …

Cooking Up Concept Maps, Abigail Hawkins, Jennifer L. Fabbi, P. S. Mcmillen

Library Faculty Research

Concept maps allow students to visually work through an idea for potentially useful search terms.

A common roadblock students experience in the research process is identifying central concepts in their research questions and devising useful ways to reframe search terms. Concept mapping is one instructional strategy that can be used to help students better identify the central concepts in their research questions and expand on other ways these concepts are articulated in the literature.