Information Literacy Commons^™

The Flipped Classroom As A Tool For Engaging Discipline Faculty In Collaboration—A Case Study In Library-Business Collaboration, Madeline Cohen

Publications and Research

This case study focuses on an innovative approach to the flipped classroom as a tool for productive library-discipline faculty collaboration on information literacy instruction. The argument is presented that the flipped classroom can be a pathway into the disciplines that can be used in overcoming the disadvantages of the one-shot, and other barriers to collaboration. The case-study will outline the reasons for a successful collaboration on integrating information literacy into this undergraduate business course, and for its extension to five additional business courses. Practical examples of learning outcomes, in-class activities, and assessment are provided.

Do We Speak The Same Language? A Study Of Faculty Perceptions Of Information Literacy, Jonathan Cope, Jesús E. Sanabria

Publications and Research

The authors analyze twenty in-depth interviews with faculty members about how they perceive information literacy (IL) to examine two key factors: how disciplinary background influences conceptions of IL among faculty members in academic departments and how the instructors’ perception of information literacy differs from that of professionals in library and information science. The investigators analyzed these interviews by utilizing a phenomenological method. The faculty members were interviewed at a four-year college, the College of Staten Island, and at a community college, the Bronx Community College, both part of the City University of New York.

Technology Telling Stories: Library Instruction Perspectives From An Information Literacy Librarian And An Archivist, Beth Fuchs, Jaime Marie Burton

Library Presentations

Connecting with today’s undergraduates requires more than just a demonstration of technology, tasks, and procedures – it also requires capturing their imaginations, emotions, and feelings. Telling stories with technology connects real world, tangible experiences with abstract ideas and research methods, therefore getting students to care about what they are researching and invest in not just the topic, but in cultivating their own habits of mind.

Potential Ramifications Of Common Core State Standards Adoption On Information Literacy, Jacob Paul Eubanks

Communications in Information Literacy

In the United States, the decline in jobs for high school educated workers and the proliferation of jobs for post-secondary educated workers is driving the development of the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards theoretically shift K-12 pedagogy towards ability development of critical and extended thinking skills, preparing high school graduates for college and career readiness. This literature review explores the reasoning behind the shift to the Common Core State Standards and asks questions regarding the potential ramifications their adoption might have on post-secondary information literacy instruction.

Same Song, Different Verse: Developing Research Skills With Low Stakes Assignments, Amy E. Stewart-Mailhiot

Communications in Information Literacy

The research component of college writing and composition courses is often only practiced as part of high stakes assignments. This paper proposes a collaborative approach to helping students develop foundational research skills that builds on the success of the low stakes writing movement. Using Elbow's 1997 article "High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing" as a framework, the low stakes research model centers around providing students multiple opportunities to practice research skills in a manner that alleviates library research anxiety and increases research quality. Key to the success of this model is a collaborative relationship between …

Using Exploratory Image Searching To Invite Inquiry Into The Student Research Experience, Beth Fuchs

Library Presentations

From the student perspective, progress in the research process is made by moving directly from choosing a topic to collecting sources. Developing a focus and identifying interesting questions are often seen as time-wasters and left out of the process entirely, particularly in the case of novice researchers, and yet, research tells us that these are the areas where students tend to struggle the most. How can we introduce students to the idea that before they can find answers, they need to ask questions? This session will introduce the idea of using image searching as a method for helping students who …

Building A Sustainable Life Science Information Literacy Program Using The Train-The-Trainer Model, Patricia J. Hartman, Renae Newhouse, Valerie E. Perry

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

The train-the-trainer model has great potential for expanding information literacy programs without placing undue burden on already overextended librarians; it is surprisingly underused in academic libraries. At the University of Kentucky, we employed this model to create a new information literacy program in an introductory biology lab. We trained biology teaching assistants (TAs), each of whom was responsible for teaching two lab sections, to teach scientific database searching and Endnote Online to undergraduates. Over the first two semesters, we taught or co-taught 78 sessions of BIO 155 (nearly 2,200 attendees), with the librarian only in attendance at TA training and …

Determining Return On Investment: The Importance And Development Of Statistics Collection For Information Literacy Training At Cput Libraries, Janine Lockhart, Deborah Becker

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

Academic libraries are increasingly required to prove their value as university management is demanding evidence of return on investment. The Information Literacy (IL) programme at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Libraries has undergone a process of development over many years from the initial random training sessions to the development and approval of a certified short course.

With these developments came the need for more relevant and detailed statistics. In a parallel process, the recording of the statistics for IL and other training done by library staff have therefore also evolved over the past few years.

This paper outlines the …

Long Term Evaluation Of Information Literacy Programme, Tina Hohmann

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

The Technische Universität München library was the first university library in Germany to be certified by TÜV with respect to its ISO 9001:2001 quality management. One of the main objectives of our quality management policy is to measure customer satisfaction not only in the short-term, but also over longer periods of time, in order to constantly develop and improve our services.

To this end, TUM library management have decided to conduct a long term evaluation of its information literacy (IL) programme. We regularly ask course participants for feedback immediately after the events and evaluate these yearly. Additionally, we have started …

Librarians Matter! Impact On First-Year Information Literacy Skills At 5 Colleges, M. Sara Lowe, Char Booth, Sean M. Stone, Natalie Tagge, Alexandra Chappell, Gale Burrow

Library Staff Publications and Research

This poster reports results of an assessment of student writing from the first-year seminar/experience programs at five separate undergraduate colleges. Papers (n=416) were coded by level of librarian involvement in the class, and then scored using an Information Literacy rubric. Results indicate that students in courses with higher librarian involvement demonstrate better IL skills (that are statistically significant) than those in courses with low involvement.

Engaging With Research And Resources In Music History Courses, Jennifer Oates

Publications and Research

With the ever-expanding sea of resources available to students today, it is now more important than ever to teach students how to navigate, assess, and interpret resources. Given the ease of access to information, students tend to seek out the path of least resistance, most often a Google search and/or Wikipedia. Their unfamiliarity with print resources, such as thematic catalogues, means they are missing out on significant music scholarship that is not available online or through Google. Today’s students have grown up searching the internet. The single-search approach of a web search leaves many students confused by terms like …

Using Rubrics For Information Literacy Skill Assessment: A Case Study For Business Education, Bobbi Makani, Ann Agee, Marilyn E. Easter, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu

Faculty and Staff Publications

Information literacy—the ability to find, evaluate and use information effectively—is an essential skill set. The authors examine how assignments such as case analyses and research reports help business students master these abilities and provide examples of how analytic rubrics with measurable outcomes are particularly suited to assessing these skills. Also demonstrated is how librarians enhance and support student learning of information literacy by teaching in-depth research skills. Working together, professors and librarians can give students a solid foundation in the information-handling skills they need to be effective and productive in the workplace today.

Five-Course Meal Infused With Information Skills And Resources, Kimberly J. Whalen, Suzanne E. Zentz

Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Information Literacy And Digital Literacy: Competing Or Complementary?, Rosanne Marie Cordell

Communications in Information Literacy

Digital Literacy is a more recent term than Information Literacy and is used for multiple categories of library users in multiple types of libraries. Determining the relationship between Information Literacy and Digital Literacy is essential before revision of the Information Literacy Standards can proceed.

Getting Started With Guide On The Side, Teresa Williams, Jessica Trinoskey, Lauren Magnuson

Scholarship and Professional Work

Teresa Williams' presentation at Presentation at Indiana Online Users Group (IOLUG) Fall Conference on 11/1/13 in Indianapolis, IN.

Creating A Campus-Wide Information Literacy Agenda, Patricia A. Iannuzzi, Chris Heavey

Library Faculty Presentations

Information literacy stands beside critical thinking and oral and written communication as fundamental proficiencies required for academic, professional, and personal success. These lifelong learning abilities overlap and intersect in many ways and far beyond library communities. Higher education associations, regional and disciplinary accreditation bodies, and even employers are demanding evidence that students graduate with these skills. Yet colleges and universities struggle with articulating the desired learning outcome in specific ways that align with assessment practices and the collection of evidence of student achievement. Engaging faculty in rethinking curriculum beyond their courses, and even beyond their major, to create a coherent …

Information Literacy For Evidence-Based Practice: Creating A Self-Paced Online Course, Julie Evener

Other Topics

Distance students are often at the disadvantage of not receiving the same interactive information literacy instruction as their on-campus counterparts. The University of St. Augustine library, which supports four completely online degree programs in addition to campus-based programs, created a one credit, self-paced, online course called Information Literacy for Evidence-Based Practice in order to better reach our distance students. Though evidence-based practice (EBP) is a popular concept, studies show that many practitioners are not actually doing it. One reason the practitioners themselves cite is lack of skill in searching the literature. The goal of the credit-course is to help our …

Libquest: A Problem Based Learning Approach To Information Literacy, Priyanka Sharma, Yuyun W. Ishak

Research Collection Library

Problem Based Learning (PBL) appears to be the way forward. Gen Z students seem to prefer discovery and a self-paced learning environment (often using a variety of gadgets) rather than a more structured instruction module in a classroom setting. Kenney (2008) found that PBL provides the theoretical framework for a learner centered, active instructional experience that relies on collaboration, critical thinking and hands-on interaction with resources. Pelikan (2004) developed and delivered course-related library instruction using PBL over a period of two years in Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology and concluded that PBL is a worth pursuing approach …

The American Association Of School Librarians (Aasl) Standards For The 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database, Christina Miller

Publications and Research

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database (AASL Database) is a free, Open Access, interactive tool recently (2011) developed by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the American Library Association, to assist librarians, teachers and other educators in implementing the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner (AASL Standards) and the Common Core State Standards. It is comprised of vetted, content-area lesson plans meant to provide excellent models to integrate AASL Standards across K-12 curricula; the platform also includes social networking features and a user portfolio. The AASL …

Improving And Assessing Information Literacy Skills Through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration, Meggan D. Smith, Amy B. Dailey

All Musselman Library Staff Works

This article addresses ways to assess the effectiveness of integrating information literacy into college courses by taking a close look at a partnership developed between Dr. Amy Dailey and the reference librarians at Gettysburg College.

Anarchy And Hope, Patrick K. Morgan

Faculty Presentations

Among the tensions inherent in teaching information literacy within the context of another instructor's classroom is that of balance. Teaching librarians are frequently forced to choose between focusing on practical, contextually-dependent skills of limited value to students (such as database navigation) and on more conceptual, portable themes. This paper presents an argument for granting pride of place to the latter, and provides one experiment as an initial foray into how this might be accomplished.

Increasing Our Reach While Preserving Quality: Creating And Using Information Literacy Assessments And Rubrics For Non-Librarians, Angela Rice, Rory Patterson, Jeremy Roden

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Information Literacy And Epistemological Inquiry, Patrick K. Morgan

Faculty Presentations

Information literacy is frequently invoked as leitmotiv in college-level library instruction, a fact which by no means implies a unanimous sense of its “meaning” among teaching librarians. Even a cursory perusal of the library literature demonstrates the importance of the concept, both as an educational paradigm and theoretic stimulus. Notably, despite rising acknowledgment that information literacy grows ever more vital for today’s students, little consideration of its place and purpose within other fields is found in academic publications outside information science. Likewise, information literacy instruction, while acknowledged in core curricula, is frequently marginalized in practice: cramped sessions within other …

Still Desperately Seeking Citations: Undergraduate Research In The Age Of Web-Scale Discovery., Lisa Rose-Wiles, Melissa M. Hofmann

Praxis Publications

Web-scale discovery services promise fast, easy searching from a single Google-like box, pleasing users and making library resources more discoverable. Some librarians embrace the concept of giving users what they have come to expect from Google, while others are concerned that this will “dumb down” searching and undermine information literacy. In this paper we explore the potential impact of web-scale discovery tools on information literacy, focusing particularly on undergraduate research skills. We review the existing literature and present findings and experiences from two mid-sized academic libraries that have adopted EBSCO Discovery Service as their library home page portal.

The Truth Is Out: How Students Really Search, Marta Deyrup, Beth Bloom

Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Library Instruction On Undergraduate Student Success In A Documents-Based Research Course: The Benefits Of Librarian, Archivist, And Faculty Collaboration, Paul Victor Jr., Justin Otto, Charles Mutschler

Collaborative Librarianship

This article discusses a successful collaboration between multiple subject specialist librarians, the University Archivist and a faculty member teaching an undergraduate course in documents-based social science research. This collaborative partnership allowed for each subject specialist to expose students to specific information literacy skills they needed to be successful in their class. The authors used pre- and postassessments to gauge student comfort level in conducting library research, as well as a rubric to assess the annotated bibliography of a student’s final research paper. The data from these assessment tools are analyzed and the results discussed. The data indicates that students benefited …

Engaging The Homeless Through Technology And Information Literacy, Fannie Cox

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The University of Louisville (U of L) Libraries' outreach mission is to encourage the development of information literacy (IL) and critical thinking in individuals. In March 2010, a community engagement partnership began between Ekstrom Library and the Wayside Christian Mission for the libraries to provide a basic computer skills class to its clients (referred to as students), many of whom had never used a computer. Now in its fourth iteration, the class named Wayside 100 provides students an opportunity to develop skills that may assist them with increasing their educational level, succeeding in college, as well as overcoming homelessness.

The Postmodern Shift In Library Instruction, Terry Dwain Robertson

Faculty Publications

Fifty years ago, prior to the digital revolution, library instruction consisted of a knowledgeable librarian guiding students through the various classes of documents, with examples of recognized authorities. Each bibliographic tool was handcrafted by competent individuals, published by reputable publishers, and recommended by disciplinary practitioners. While working through these various tools was time consuming, and getting access to materials not held locally often proved slow, the student researcher could reasonably assume the sincerity and integrity of the sources. With the digital revolution, much has changed. Now, instead of bibliographic instruction, librarians engage in “information literacy”(IL) training. Rather than point students …

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

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Information Literacy In The Workplace: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu

Faculty and Staff Publications

This cross-cultural study has two main purposes: to investigate how information literacy is perceived in the workplace and to discover how employees obtain information to carry out their jobs in an effective and timely fashion. This project applies a mix of research methods, including site visits, interviews, and a survey. More than 120 participants from forty companies were involved in this study. They were from a wide variety of industries in Taiwan and Silicon Valley, in Northern California, where many companies base offices or operations from around the world. Major obstacles in conducting cross-continent research are cost, time demands, scheduling, …