Citation Analysis as a Tool for Collection Development and Instruction

The authors analyzed bibliographies from three departments’ undergraduate senior theses, with the goal of improving both collection development and information literacy instruction. Though undergraduate students were not citing major journals or key authors, the study revealed popular research topics, which will inform collection development. The finding that the library owned 70% of the journal articles undergraduates cited suggests that they are more likely to cite what their own institution owns, and thus a strong collection can have a significant influence on undergraduate work. The data also prompted conversations with faculty about their expectations and current strategies for guiding undergraduate research, which will allow librarians to improve instruction.     

Mortal or Moodle? A Comparison of In-person vs. Online Information Literacy Instruction

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of online and in-person instructional methods for teaching research skills, as well as to determine student preferences for each method. Undergraduate students received librarian-led research skills instruction either through an online course management system or in person at the library. Students were surveyed about their experience and format preference, and their grades on a subsequent literature review assignment were collected. The online group’s scores were significantly (p?=?0.002) higher, and a majority of eligible participants stated a preference for the online format. Many of the students in both groups reported increased skills and confidence in conducting speech-language-hearing science research following the library instruction. The results of this study support the possibility that online instruction may be more effective than in-person for improving performance on a literature review assignment and is preferred by on-campus students for learning information literacy skills.     

The Impact of Information Literacy-Related Instruction in the Science Classroom: Clickers Versus Nonclickers

The goal of information literacy instruction is to enable students to develop skills that they can use for life to facilitate their empowerment through information. Instruction librarians, particularly those teaching Millenials whose need for “hands on” instruction has been widely emphasized, are constantly searching for methodologies that will provide appropriate levels of interactive instruction. Many methods for enhancing the relevance of library instruction have been discussed in the literature. This study, designed and developed by a collaborative team of librarians and science faculty, describes the effects of providing course-integrated, interactive (with clickers) information literacy instruction to undergraduates at a small private nonprofit university in the Southeast.     

Opinions and experiences of university faculty regarding library research instruction: Results of a web-based survey at the University of Southern Colorado

In March 2000, all 188 University of Southern Colorado (USC) nonlibrary faculty members were surveyed to determine their needs and opinions regarding library research instruction. Forty-four (23.40%) of the faculty responded to questions concerning their past experiences with library research instruction, the frequency with which they use various library and Internet resources, the types of library research instruction they currently use with their students, and their level of support for proposed new programs. Results showed an overwhelming interest on the part of respondents for an online library research skills tutorial. The survey also revealed the need for professional development opportunities for faculty. A higher proportion of respondents with 10 years or less of teaching experience than those with more than 10 years of experience indicated they had received formal library instruction from a librarian. However, no direct correlation could be shown between years of teaching experience and respondents' perceived value of library research instruction. Nor did a correlation exist to show that respondents with fewer years of teaching experience were more likely to ask a librarian to provide formal library instruction to their students. In fact, respondents with more than 20 years of teaching experience provided most types of library instruction more often than less experienced respondents. Overall, USC faculty rated their students' abilities to conduct library research very low. However, they had slightly more confidence in their students' abilities to find, evaluate, and use information they found on the Internet over information from traditional print sources.     

Integrating Assessment into Recurring Information Literacy Instruction

SUMMARY

Information literacy instruction is integrated into the distance education program in library and information science (LEEP) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This article describes the LEEP program and the library services provided to its students. Published research on LEEP and related topics in librarianship is reviewed. Student evaluations of library instructional sessions have been gathered since 2002, shared with teaching faculty and administrators, and used to improve and promote information literacy instruction within LEEP. In the fall of 2005, the instructional model for LEEP was adapted to the on-campus environment. Preliminary analysis of the on-campus student evaluations suggests that modifications are needed to deliver an equivalent learning experience to all LIS students at UIUC, whether on-campus or off.     

Library Value in the Classroom: Assessing Student Learning Outcomes from Instruction and Collections

What is the value of library services and resources in the college classroom? How do library instruction and collections contribute to academic teaching and learning outcomes? A chemistry instructor, instruction librarian, and technical services librarian collaborated to answer these questions by combining chemistry education and information literacy pedagogy to assess student learning. The authors developed curriculum units that teach information literacy skills and scientific literature research in a General Chemistry Laboratory course for Honors students. Their study extends beyond examining library instruction and collections assessment in isolation. Rather, their research protocol intends to contribute to student learning outcomes assessment research. The authors propose that an embedded, mixed-methodology, and longitudinal approach can be used to collect data and assess outcomes in terms that describe and measure the value of library services and resources.     

How Does a Pre-Assessment of Off-Campus Students’ Information Literacy Affect the Effectiveness of Library Instruction?

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact that pre-tests have on the effectiveness of library instruction when students are given feedback on their pre-test performance. Librarians and academic faculty partnered to measure library instruction outcomes in two Master's degree classes. The Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA) was used as a pre-test (before instruction) and a post-test (after instruction) in Class 1 and as a post-test only in Class 2. Students who completed both tests performed significantly better on a post-test, earning higher scores on obtaining information and overall information literacy. They reported greater library/research experience and less reliance on browsing. Compared to students who did not take a pre-test, students who received pre-test-based feedback had higher scores on library/research experience and lower scores on reliance on browsing. To enhance the effectiveness of library instruction, students can be given pre-test-based feedback that compares their actual and perceived literacy and encourages the use of library databases.     

Critical Information Literacy Beyond the University: Lessons From Service in a Women's Health Interest Group

Library instruction methods most frequently focus on teaching students searching skills to navigate the maze of library databases to locate appropriate research materials. The current theory of critical information literacy instruction calls on librarians to spend more of their time in the classroom focused on understanding the social, political, and cultural construction of knowledge. In this article, the author provides a case study of the information environment in the National Women's Health Network, a women's health interest group, to help librarians facilitate nuanced discussions with students on the applicability of interest group literature inside and outside of the university classroom.     

Embracing the Spiral: An Action Research Assessment of a Library-Honors First Year Collaboration

Librarians often use assessment methodologies to evaluate the efficacy and impact of their information literacy instruction sessions and programs. In this article, researchers use an action research methodology to explore the effect of information literacy instruction on first-year honors student assignments. The researchers explain how they implemented multiple cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting in order to better understand student needs, increase the impact of library instruction, and communicate that impact to library and external stakeholders. Robust and cyclical assessment gave librarians and their strategic partners the opportunity to make iterative improvements to instruction, address issues of overconfidence in students, and make the case for additional information literacy instructional opportunities for honors students.     

Serving as an Educator: A Southern Case in Embedded Librarianship

This is a case study at Mississippi State University where a business librarian taught a one-credit financial literacy course for undergraduate freshmen during the 2010 Fall term. In this case, the librarian acted as a faculty teacher and an instructional librarian to teach the students financial literacy as well as information literacy. The course curriculum was embedded with a library orientation to introduce the library services. Pre- and post-course assessments were conducted to analyze the students’ learning level in financial knowledge and the level of familiarity with various library services.     

Online and Face-to-Face Library Instruction: Assessing the Impact on Upper-Level Sociology Undergraduates

Online information literacy instruction: Can it impact learning as effectively as face-to-face instruction? Using a quasi-experimental design, this study examined that in relation to upper-level sociology students; it also considered whether library instruction affected participants’ perceptions of learning formats’ (i.e., online or face-to-face) effectiveness and the academic library's place in their research. Using a pretest/posttest design, no significant learning difference was found between the two instructional delivery formats. However, data suggested that instruction did impact online participants’ perceptions of the academic library as a place for research. Implications of this research and future directions for inquiry are discussed.     

Voices and Choices: Critical Information/Media Literacy and Behrman’s Practices

ABSTRACT

Studies on information and media literacy focus on describing activities and frameworks individually, and most of the time, connect within the field of library science. However, other frameworks and practices can be used. This case study presents the application of Behrman’s Critical Literacy Practices to information and media literacy to engage students to think critically about information within their field of study. The purpose of this research is to model the information behavior of education students through the perspective of constructivist learning. The study used a qualitative method with six upper-level undergraduate education majors. Activities that comprise practices and theories in both education and library sciences are presented to form a continuous exposure to critical thinking. Factors that influenced how students perceived the validity of information came from personal, educational, and societal factors. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion about critical thinking skills in undergraduate students, presenting a model that describes how practices from other fields can be used and incorporated with information and media literacy.     

Collaborating in Research: Embedded Librarianship in the Learning Management System

Academic librarians engage students in the learning management system to provide information literacy instruction and answer individual reference questions related to scholarly research. When collaborating with faculty, embedded librarians deliver the library’s authoritative electronic resources to students working on research projects. Trends in academic publishing and technological innovations make possible online search for a generation reliant on mobile devices. Although students are able to access much digital content available through academic libraries and open access initiatives, they still appreciate guidance from embedded librarians who visit their learning management system courses to explain the complexities of scholarly research and suggest solutions.     

Integrating Information Literacy into the Graduate Liberal Arts Curriculum: A Faculty-Librarian Collaborative Course Model

SUMMARY

The article presents a faculty-librarian collaborative course model for information literacy instruction for liberal arts students. Information literacy was integrated seamlessly into a master's thesis seminar, and the faculty member and librarian worked together to teach students effective research skills while helping them make personal connections to their theses. The learning experience was transformational. As students engaged themselves with problems of the real world and shared their learning, their voices articulated insights about themselves and the world. The authors conclude that integrating information literacy into the curriculum and teaching students holistically is the key to successful student learning.     

Student perceptions of information literacy skills and curriculum before and after completing a research assignment

Library instruction often involves one-shot sessions where librarians interact with students for a short period of time and are then left wondering what the students thought of the session and if students perceive the session as helpful for their course work. Using two surveys to gather data, this study compared student perceptions of a redesigned library curriculum and of their own information literacy skills immediately after attending a library workshop and six weeks later after completing a research paper. The findings indicate that the library workshop is meeting student needs and has a lasting effect. Additionally, the researchers found that students were better able to articulate gaps in their own knowledge after having the opportunity to apply their skills to a research assignment. The researchers recommend that librarians using surveys to inform one-shot curricular changes gather data after students have applied the skills and knowledge gained in the instruction session.     

Attaining information literacy: An investigation of the relationship between skill level,self-estimates of skill,and library anxiety

Competency theory predicts a miscalibration between students' self-assessments of their information literacy skills and their actual skill level. This study investigates whether such a disparity is evident among incoming freshmen who test as non-proficient on a standardized test of information literacy. In addition, this study analyzes Information Literacy Test scores and library anxiety test scores to provide preliminary data on whether library anxiety is related to information literacy skill attainment. Findings reveal that the relationship between information literacy skills and self-assessments predicted by competency theory are evident in the domain of information literacy. This study did not find an association between information literacy skill scores and total library anxiety scores. However, a significant negative correlation between information literacy scores and the subscale “knowledge of the library” indicates that as information literacy scores rise, anxiety scores related to a lack of knowledge of the library fall. The findings suggest that traditional information literacy instruction may not be effective with non-proficient students, who are unlikely to see themselves as needing or benefiting from such instruction.     

Mapping curriculum learning outcomes to ACRL's Framework threshold concepts: A syllabus study

The aim of this study was to align information literacy instruction with curriculum learning outcomes as defined by teaching faculty in their syllabi. Using a syllabus study, a cross-disciplinary collection of 180 course syllabi were reviewed for learning outcomes, assignments with research components, and references to library resources and services. Key faculty-defined learning outcomes were mapped to the Association for College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education threshold concepts. Based on learning theory, introducing information literacy concepts is most effective when done at the time of need, guaranteeing that students utilize the skills immediately, and are more likely to retain the knowledge and skills learned. The author proposes a tiered approach to information literacy instruction, with novice skills introduced in lower-level courses and expert skills for upper-level and graduate courses to meet learning outcomes. Suggestions of how each of the threshold concepts can be applied to develop instructional activities to achieve learning outcomes are presented.     

Information Literacy and Global Readiness: Library Involvement Can Make a World of Difference

The need for information literacy continues to increase as colleges and universities begin to globalize their curricula and include global readiness in institutional missions. This article reports pretest and posttest data collected during a librarian–faculty collaboration to determine the effect of information literacy instruction on students participating in an anthropology class focused on global understanding. The results suggest emphasis on teaching specific skills can produce an increase in students’ information literacy levels. Also, emerging global curricula may provide an avenue for librarians to pursue the promotion of information literacy. Changes in students’ information literacy skills, successful teaching strategies, and their connection to global readiness are discussed.     

FROM THE EDITOR

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey of faculty perceptions of the role of the library in online distance education. The study is second in a series of related studies exploring The Pennsylvania State University's library services to patrons at a distance. In 2004, faculty of the World Campus (Penn State's online distance education program) were surveyed on their perceptions of e-learners' research needs. The faculty responded to questions on how their students access research information for their courses, whether they require their students to use the library as part of their courses, and their expectations of the library as an academic support service. The survey revealed that 60% of the responding faculty supply all of the required research information to students in their courses, and 62% do not require students to use the library as part of their course(s). The study concludes that online, distance-education faculty members have minimal to moderate expectations of the library in supporting their teaching and their students' research needs. Moreover, the study shows a significant lack of faculty awareness of existing library services and resources available to the e-learning community.     

Patently Obvious: The place for patents in information literacy in the sciences

Patents are an underutilized source of scientific information, particularly in the life and health sciences. Patents and patent applications usually contain the first disclosure of new technologies and processes and serve to link theory with practice, providing ‘real world’ examples of the application of scientific research. Increasingly, scientific discoveries are reported first in the patent literature, rather than in academic journals. To ensure that science students have the skills that match the information resources they will use as professionals, patent searching must become part of their information literacy instruction. This article will discuss how valuable the patent literature can be to students, and how to incorporate patent searching into library instruction. By way of illustration, a case study will document how students in one class, Biochemistry 561, were introduced to patents.