Information Literacy Commons^™

Searching Mindfully: Are Libraries Up To The Challenge Of Competing With Google Books?, Amrita Dhawan

Publications and Research

Traditional research tools used by libraries, such as encyclopedias and catalogs (OPACs) were created in an age of print and information scarcity. They have not kept up with changes in the information world which assume an abundance of online information in different formats and interdisciplinary topics which attempt to solve ‘real world’ messy problems and not traditional theoretical questions. The traditional tools rest on an unwieldy and somewhat outdated collaboration between OCLC, LOC, private aggregators, librarians and faculty. The search results they deliver offer excessive information with very little guidance on how to systematically sift through them. This makes the …

Google Vs. The Library: Student Preferences And Perceptions When Doing Research Using Google And A Federated Search Tool, Helen Georgas

Publications and Research

Federated searching was once touted as the library world’s answer to Google, but ten years since federated searching technology’s inception, how does it actually compare? This study focuses on undergraduate student preferences and perceptions when doing research using both Google and a federated search tool. Students were asked about their preferences using each search tool and the perceived relevance of the sources they found using each search tool. Students were also asked to self-assess their online searching skills. The findings show that students believe they possess strong searching skills, are able to find relevant sources using both search tools, but …

Critical Information Literacy And The Technology Of Control: The Case Of Armenia, John Carey, D. Aram Donabedian

Publications and Research

As direct providers of information literacy, librarians can help patrons analyze the social and economic forces involved in the creation and use of information. This chapter will discuss why critical information literacy and critical pedagogy are especially important in the Armenian context, with its unique historical, cultural, and geopolitical concerns. The authors will document how the Armenian government has used cutting-edge Internet controls to block online content or misdirect users. We will also examine how Armenians perceive the independence of their available media and explore current efforts by telecom, publishing, and governmental concerns to restrict Internet freedom. The authors suggest …

The Three-Credit Solution: Social Justice In An Information Literacy Course, Anne E. Leonard, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Professor Sheidlower's New Book, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

The book Humor and Information Literacy was co-authored by Scott Sheidlower and Joshua Vossler.

Curriculum-Integrated Information Literacy (Ciil) In A Nursing School: A Practical Model, Carlos Arguelles

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gap Through Collaboration:, Rebecca Arliss, Carlos Arguelles, Rodolfo Hernandez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mobile Information Literacy Let’S Use An App For That!, Stefanie Havelka, Alevtina Verbovetskaya

Publications and Research

Presentation at 3Ts 2012: Engaging Students with Transliteracy, Technology, and Teaching conference,

A Few Thoughts On Evidence In Social Work, Gary Holden, Ellen Tuchman, Kathleen Barker, Gary Rosenberg, May, Sofie Kuppens, Katie Watson

Publications and Research

Social work practitioners must act every working day in the face of uncertainty. This uncertainty arises in part because knowledge is often difficult to locate or sometimes lacking regarding: the systems context the population being served; the particular client system; the set of problems the client system is experiencing; as well as the various interventions that could be selected. It seems reasonable to explore ways to reduce the experience of uncertainty, and narrow, if not eliminate, the knowledge gaps that arise in such situations. The generic idea of evidence based practice has been advanced for some time as an approach …

Libraries And General Education: New Strategies To Enhance Freshman Orientation, Faculty Collaboration, And Curriculum Development, Carl R. Andrews

Publications and Research

My research will attempt to re-evaluate the academic library's role in supporting a general education program. The emphasis will focus on student centeredness, faculty collaboration, outreach and curriculum support. In the short time that I have worked in academic libraries I have learned that quality customer service and reference desk work is far from the list of priorities in some settings. Coming from the public library I found this to be unacceptable. We are service providers and the way in which we communicate with students and faculty is important. As professionals we should do more in the way of making …

Mobile Information Literacy Let's Use An App For That!, Stefanie Havelka, Alevtina Verbovetskaya

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

More Than Just A Drop In The Bucket: Black Instructional Librarians Teaching For Academic Success, Lisa A. Ellis

Publications and Research

As American society is changing due to new technologies and globalization, institutions of higher education have had to implement new teaching and learning practices to address student success, especially among Black students. Working collaboratively with college administrators and faculty, instructional librarians are in a unique position to participate in a variety of instructional programs to teach information, communication and technology (ICT) literacy. For Black Instructional Librarians working with underserved college students, many who are Black, they understand the importance in helping these students to develop a high level of ICT literacy skills, not only to attain academic success, but also …

Get In The Game: Developing An Information Literacy Classroom Game, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

Much current research in the field of games-based learning demonstrates that games can be successfully incorporated into educational contexts to increase student engage-ment, motivation, and learning. Academic librarians are also using games as an innova-tive instructional strategy to strengthen students’ research skills and their understanding of information literacy concepts. This article discusses the development and implemen-tation of Quality Counts, a classroom information literacy game designed to teach un-dergraduate students how to evaluate Internet sources. After a brief overview of the game’s development and rules, the article describes the process of playing Quality Counts in several classes and presents the results …

Visualizing History: Using Museum Skills To Teach Information Literacy To Undergraduates, Sandra Roff

Publications and Research

Baruch College began an information studies minor that reinforces the principles of information literacy. However, it did not employ the visual to teach information literacy skills. To fill this gap, a new course, using the process of researching and preparing an exhibit script to teach undergraduates information literacy skills, was developed. In this course students have the opportunity to become creative, while at the same time learning the organizational and research skills needed to compose exhibit proposals, write labels and press releases and finally to produce exhibit script.

Pirates And Librarians: Big Media, Technology And The Role Of Liberal Education, D. Aram Donabedian, John Carey

Publications and Research

The widespread appearance of computers in libraries during the early 1990s elicited a debate among those who welcomed new technologies and those who perceived such changes as a threat to the traditional role of academic libraries and the values of liberal education. At the same time, increasing consolidation of major media channels—including sources of scholarly communication—has allowed a small number of corporations to control distribution and access to the materials libraries offer, through tools such as licensing fees, copyright restrictions, and digital rights management. In response to these barriers, librarians and educators have embraced open access publishing and Creative Commons …

Critical Collaborations: An Information Literacy Across The Curriculum Project, Sheila Beck, Devin Mckay

Publications and Research

The article focuses on a collaborative project aimed at investigating the effect of integrating four classroom assignments from different disciplines with critical thinking skills. Entitled "Collaboration and Information: Critical Thinking Skills Across Curriculum," the different goals of the project include having the students understand what information is, the type of information needed and its appropriateness, and the application of research skills using critical thinking. In this study, it has been demonstrated that the greater the breadth and depth of responses to the scenario, the greater the research process skills.

Information Is Social: Information Literacy In Context, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

This paper aims to discuss traditional conceptions of information literacy as created within an academic context to address information needs within this context. It seeks to present alternative realities of information use outside the academic sector, and to suggest that information literacy instruction within academia does not go far enough in preparing students for the information society beyond university. The aim is then to follow this by discussion of appropriate information literacy models to prepare young people for information use in a variety of workplace environments.

Learning Through Quests And Contests: Games In Information Literacy Instruction, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

Games-based learning is an innovative pedagogical strategy employed at all levels of education, and much research in education, psychology, and other disciplines supports its effectiveness in engaging and motivating students, as well as increasing student learning. Many libraries have incorporated games into their collections and program-ming. College and university libraries have begun to use games for information literacy and library instruction. Academic librarians use commercially-produced games, create their own games, and employ game principles and mechanics to enhance their tradi-tional instructional offerings. While there may be impediments to implementing games-based learning for information literacy, the promising benefits of this approach …

Other People’S Money: Adapting Entrepreneurial Techniques To Build Capital In Challenging Economic Times, Robert Farrell

Publications and Research

Drawing on the “predator” model of entrepreneurship put forward by Villette and Vuillermot in their 2009 book “From Predators to Icons,” this article argues that challenging economic times reveal that self-funded, collaborative information literacy models have in many cases unsustainably overstretched staff and budgets. In such circumstances, it is necessary for librarians to shift to an entrepreneurial approach that seeks profitable opportunities funded by parties other than the library in order to build capital for current and future instructional services. Following Villette and Vuillermot, the article seeks to refute a cultural myth that sees the entrepreneur as someone who is …

Student Preferences In Library Website Vocabulary, Mark Aaron Polger

Publications and Research

This study explores student preferences to library website vocabulary and compares the data with what librarians report on their library's website. Two questionnaires were distributed in the fall of 2009 to students (N=300) and librarians (N=527). Students were asked to identify the terms they prefer from a larger list of library website vocabulary. Librarians were asked to report the terms that were used on their library's website. Twenty-seven terms were selected for both the student and librarian questionnaires. The 27 terms were culled from library literature, library instruction classes, and reference desk interactions. Of the 300 students, 54% were freshmen, …

Open Access And Liberal Education: A Look At Armenia, Azerbaijan And Georgia, D. Aram Donabedian, John Carey

Publications and Research

In the post-Soviet era, libraries in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have faced increasing budgetary challenges. In response to socioeconomic restructuring and the introduction of private enterprise, libraries have been forced to seek alternatives to commercial publishing and licensing models. This paper will assess the status of the open access movement and of Internet filtering controls in the countries of the South Caucasus. It will also argue that developing open models for scholarly communications is crucial to the strengthening of liberal education and civic participation in these aspiring democracies. Libraries, in their role as providers of and advocates for shared information, …

Critical Teaching In The Library, Alycia Sellie

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Management Of Online Tutorials: A Model For A Step-By-Step Approach, Kanu A. Nagra, Dorothea J. Coiffe

Publications and Research

Online tutorials have great potential to reach a large population and to accommodate multiple learning styles anytime and anywhere. This paper describes the management of online tutorials and related concepts in detail. The review of literature method is used to study the variables. The variables under study include the mission, objectives, funding, manpower, in-house creation, outsourcing, incorporation in curriculum, content, type, technology, metadata, discovery services, script design, standards, assessment, professional training, marketing techniques and future goals for creation and management of online tutorials in libraries. A practical model based on literature study and the authors' experience with online tutorials is …

Using Podcasts For Assessing Information Research, Lauren Yannotta, Brian Lym, Shiao-Chuan Kung

Publications and Research

This paper reports on the use of podcast audio recordings to assess learning in a hybrid information research course. Evidence of learning that appeared in the audio recordings and how the project affected student learning were investigated. Findings suggest that student-created podcasts can be beneficial in that instructors can see what students learned from the podcast content; students can see evidence of own learning by looking at before and after podcasts; and that students see methods used by other students and reflect on own methods/knowledge.

Information Literacy And Social Power, Jonathan Cope

Publications and Research

An examination of information literacy literature using the perspective of social power research.

Evaluating Information: Introduction To College Research For A Developmental Writing Course, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

The ability to evaluate information successfully in all formats is highly relevant to students both in their coursework and their everyday lives. This lesson plan aims to encourage students to think critically about this important component of information literacy, and provides a foundation for beginning college students to build upon as they progress through college and on to their careers.

Introductory Research For Inner-City Advanced Placement High School Students, Keith Muchowski

Publications and Research

Instruction module:

Circumstances of the Instruction: This module is based on a collaborative effort between a college librarian working with two 11 111 grade Advanced Placement (AP) History and English teachers. Students are enrolled in both the English and History classes, making collaboration and curriculum coordination easier. An instructional librarian working in concert with classroom faculty is beneficial to students because many teachers are not fully aware of recent trends such as information storage and retrieval systems and Web-based search tools. Students taking this module are intelligent, score well on standardized aptitude tests, and receive better than average grades. Still, …

Ubiquitous Research: Integrating Library Resources Into Online Courses., Kate Lyons, Elisabeth Tappeiner

Publications and Research

Online learning is transforming the way colleges and universities offer credit bearing courses. Now students are able to finish some or all of a degree online, with courses and programs from the hard sciences to the humanities. Nevertheless, a college education is comprised of a variety of educational and social activities that extend beyond a discrete class. Classroom learning is enriched and supported by services across campus, from the writing center to tutoring services, to the library.

This article discusses the experience of librarians working in a small, urban community college in integrating library collections, reference services, and information literacy …

Academic Library Services For Users With Developmental Disabilities: Partnership Of Access And Syracuse University Libraries, Adina Mulliken, Ann Atkins

Publications and Research

Syracuse University Library and Access partnered to provide library orientations to six Syracuse University students who have developmental disabilities. Access is a service that supports college course attendance for students who have developmental or cognitive disabilities. Students with developmental disabilities are being included in college life more and more. As this occurs, academic libraries will be providing more services to this population. We hope Syracuse University’s experience will be useful for other libraries to build on as they develop services. Additionally, we discuss opportunities to improve services for all students by focusing on students with developmental disabilities.

Using Blackboard To Create Library Research Skills Assessment, Maura A. Smale, Mariana Regalado

Publications and Research

Like other college and university departments, academic libraries are increasingly expected to assess their services and facilities. This article describes an initial step in the development of a comprehensive assessment program for library instruction in the Brooklyn College Library. A pre- and post-quiz were developed based on the curriculum for a required library session in an introductory English composition course. The quizzes were designed to establish a baseline for student knowledge of information literacy as well as measure the effect of library instruction on student learning. We also sought to evaluate the suitability of the Blackboard learning management system for …