What do freshmen really know about research? Assess before you teach

The paper describes an effort to assess the information literacy skills of first year college students. An instrument was developed and information was gathered on students' experience and comfort in conducting library research as well as their perceived competence with specific information literacy skills. In addition, students completed a skills test to assess specific knowledge and skills relating to information literacy. Entering freshmen generally self-reported their skills to be less than “excellent.” This finding was supported by the results of the skills test. Strengths and weaknesses in information literacy skills are reported as well as implications for librarians who assess and teach these skills to students.     

Preparing information literate teachers: A metasynthesis

This metasynthesis of empirical and nonempirical literature analyzed 39 journal articles and book chapters that examined issues related to the preparation of information literate teachers in the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the U.K. All 39 items were published after March 1998 (when the Association of College and Research Libraries reported that teacher education programs had made no real progress in modifying course requirements and performance expectations to address information literacy concerns). The literature indicates that teacher education programs have made significant progress in addressing information literacy concerns during these last 10 years; however, much work remains to be done. Increased opportunities for collaboration between educators and librarians at the preschool–Grade 12 (P-12) and postsecondary levels are needed to prepare information literate teachers who can effectively teach information literacy skills and research strategies to their P-12 students.     

Teaching the teachers to teach information literacy: A literature review

As part of the ongoing debates over the best methods for teaching information literacy, some librarians have argued for a “teach the teachers” strategy. In this approach, librarians concentrate some of their instructional energies on teaching disciplinary faculty to teach information literacy. In this paper, multiple examples of “teach the teachers” efforts are reviewed, in order to provide insight into the impact that taking this approach might have on librarians, faculty, and students. Results indicate that the “teach the teachers” approach shows promise as one method by which librarians can support the integration of information literacy into the curriculum, but that more assessment is needed to determine the long-term impact of such initiatives on faculty teaching practices and students' information literacy development.     

The Literature on Academic Integrity and Graduate Students: Issues,Solutions, and the Case for a Librarian Role

SUMMARY

Graduate and professional school students face a variety of academic integrity issues and are sometimes academically dishonest. The author surveys the literature of the last decade on graduate student academic integrity, including plagiarism, cheating, falsification, and authorship conflicts, focusing on empirical studies in multiple disciplines, studies that portray issues arising in individual disciplines, and solutions suggested. The author proposes that librarians who serve, teach, and consult with graduate students should develop their instructional role in this area. By becoming aware of the chief academic integrity problems and the subject-discipline related concerns, they can better assist graduate students in the context of information literacy and collaborate with faculty on training and other solutions.     

Don't they teach that in high school? Examining the high school to college information literacy gap

College librarians express concern over incoming students' information literacy skills and lack of skills preparing them for college-level research. However, it is unclear whether information literacy skills are not being taught at the high school level, whether they are not being retained or transferred as students move on to college, or whether there is a disconnect between the skills taught in high school and those expected of incoming college students. This study explores these questions through a set of parallel surveys sent to a national sample of high school and college librarians. Findings suggest that high school and college librarians agree on the importance of most skills though they vary in their emphasis on their importance, and that information literacy skills are being taught in high school but do not seem to transfer to college. The paper concludes with suggestions for increased communication and collaboration to bridge the high school to college transition.     

Practices of Locating Health Information in an Electronic Environment: Reflections on Conducted Health Information Skills Training

ABSTRACT

Health information skills in an electronic environment are essential to health science librarians, who serve as educators both within and outside of their health training institutions. This reflective study was conducted to examine the application of online health information skills obtained from the training provided for librarians who are working in health settings. Health sciences librarians, as future information skills educators, therefore need to possess their own health information skill sets. Capacity building is vital in order to promote the development of health information skills for health sciences librarians who can then teach and advocate the concept of health information skills on the Internet within and outside of their places of work.     

Bridging the gap: Information literacy workshops for high school teachers

Funded in part by a Chancellor's Faculty Outreach Grant, a project team of University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) instruction librarians developed information literacy workshops for local high school teachers and librarians. They introduced teachers to information literacy standards, provided technology training, and presented strategies and activities for incorporating critical thinking into the research process. The project team also worked with teachers to create lesson plans that incorporated these methods into their own curriculum. By “training the trainers,” the ultimate goal was to enhance the research skills of students to help them perform better in high school and thereby preparing them for a successful transition to college.     

Fake news alerts: Teaching news literacy skills in a meme world

ABSTRACT

Thirty years ago, fake news was resigned to tabloids at the grocery store. Now, fake news is often more convincing than real news. Many library users lack the appropriate skills to discern between what is real and what is not, and many more get their information from social media memes. When memes are more effective than actual news, what can librarians do to teach information literacy? Librarians can use memes to promote information literacy; they can even create their own!     

How high-school students find and evaluate scientific information: A basis for information literacy skills development

This study examined the relationship between curricula in secondary-level science classrooms, which support development of information literacy skills, and actual student skills. A vast body of research reflects deep concern with the level of information literacy skill development among secondary and post-secondary students. But even when educational curricula mandate skill development, many students are unable to demonstrate sophisticated information searching and critical evaluation skills. The findings of this study, which we based on analyzing information seeking tasks and conducting interviews with students in three biology classes in a large urban high school, demonstrated a similar lack of skills. Pressure on teachers to “teach to examinations”—that is, to focus on substantive content rather than on information literacy skills and information literacy skills deficits among teachers themselves—is a possible explanation for these results. The study is of particular interest to teachers of the curriculum applicable in the study context, but the broader implications of repeated indications of gaps in students' information literacy skills are a significant indicator that schools must assume a larger responsibility for information literacy instruction. Leaving skill development to the post-secondary environment will not ensure that citizens are sufficiently skilled to participate fully in 21st century life, in workplaces or in their personal life contexts.     

Step by Step through the Scholarly Conversation: A Collaborative Library/Writing Faculty Project to Embed Information Literacy and Promote Critical Thinking in First Year Composition at Oregon State University

ABSTRACT

At Oregon State University, writing instructors and librarians collaboratively teach research writing and information literacy in first year composition courses. A four-week unit focuses on the connections between critical thinking, writing and learning, and information literacy. This article describes the process of developing, implementing, and refining this collaborative curriculum. By using assignments and texts that model a recursive critical research and writing process for students, librarians and writing instructors help students think more deeply and critically about their topics.     

Library-Led Faculty Workshops: Helping Distance Educators Meet Information Literacy Goals in the Online Classroom

ABSTRACT

At University of Maryland University College (UMUC), librarians have designed and led a number of multiday, asynchronous online workshops for faculty. The workshops teach faculty how to meet information literacy goals in the virtual classroom. Through hands-on activities and discussion among their colleagues, participants in the faculty workshops learn about the university's information literacy standards, library resources and services, free Web tools, and how best to design class assignments involving library research. Library-led faculty workshops at UMUC have increased library visibility and furthered collaboration between faculty and librarians. This article discusses 5 workshops, detailing workshop content and logistics and demonstrating how librarians can help distance faculty further information literacy goals for students.     

Open Access for Scholars Left Behind: The Issue of Limited Access to Data and Scholarship

Abstract

This column discusses information literacy instruction through the lens of open access (OA) to better serve researchers who have limited access to scholarship due to cost. After providing a definition of OA, the benefit of OA is exemplified through both researchers who lose access to information, like students, and those who have little access to begin with, like researchers in disenfranchised locations. Information literacy instruction librarians who teach the use of OA resources increase awareness for global researchers, ensure alumni access to scholarship after loss of institutional affiliation, and increase scholarship published in OA mediums, supporting those without traditional access.     

Utilizing WebQuests for Information Literacy Instruction in Distance Education

ABSTRACT

The increasing use of problem-based learning in higher education affords librarians new avenues for promoting the development of information literacy skills among students. Information literacy instruction supports problem-based learning activities by providing students with skills to locate relevant resources for developing solutions to these exercises. The author created three WebQuests (together with tutorials) aimed at promoting faculty-librarian partnerships to deliver information literacy instruction through a problem-based learning approach in the context of course work in a distance learning environment. These problem-based learning WebQuests can be adapted to various disciplines as well as to traditional learning environments. Lastly, these WebQuests promote the development of information literacy skills in students as well as increase their exposure to problem-based learning. doi:10.1300/J106v14n03_03     

Thinking and Reading like a Scientist: Librarians as Facilitators of Primary Literature Literacy

Abstract

Students entering graduate degree programs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields or professional degree programs in the health sciences are expected to have adequate academic preparation in science process skills like the ability to read primary literature effectively. This column scrutinizes this assumption by examining how science is taught to undergraduates, finding that undergraduate STEM curricula rarely prepare students with the mastery of science process skills needed to succeed in graduate school. The column discusses some possible causes of this skill gap and suggests that academic and medical librarians are well-equipped to help students develop primary literature literacy skills. The column closes with a list of practical active reading strategies that librarians can share and model for students.     

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.     

Using Creativity

Summary

The purpose of this article is to provide readers with creative methods for procuring funding for building an electronic information literacy instruction classroom. Using the Library Instruction Program at Niagara County Community College as a case study, the authors explain how grant funding was obtained to create a 24-computer lab classroom to teach students how to search for information effectively. A complete explanation of instruction provided to grant participants is also included. This article is particularly useful for librarians working with limited resources and for instruction librarians responsible for teaching students how to search for information in electronic form effectively.     

Real or fake? Resources for teaching college students how to identify fake news

Abstract

Fake news has captured the world’s attention. Educational survey research has highlighted the difficulties students and adults have in determining how to identify valid sources. Psychology can help us to understand why it is difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. The authors describe how to identify fake news from digital sources and ways faculty and librarians can teach information literacy skills using the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework, websites, LibGuides, worksheets, and other resources shared in the extensive appendix.     

Instructional Interventions Across the Inquiry Process

ABSTRACT

Information literacy aims to develop in students the necessary skills, knowledge, and dispositions to use information to solve problems, make decisions, and generate new knowledge. The literature is replete with examples of guiding students in accessing and evaluating information sources. Less prevalent is processing information—the heart of the inquiry. Analysis, inference, and synthesis are critical thinking skills that take information literacy beyond a bibliographic task. In this liberal arts college setting, librarians team with consultants in quantitative reasoning, writing, and presentation technologies to deliver an information literacy program that supports not only the search, but also the analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and presentation of findings and insights.     

We Won't Be Fooled Again: Teaching Critical Thinking via Evaluation of Hoax and Historical Revisionist Websites in a Library Credit Course

ABSTRACT

At Central Michigan University, librarians teach multiple sections of an eight-week, one-credit research skills class to hundreds of undergraduate students each semester. While the main focus of the course is to teach students how to find, use, and properly cite library resources, librarians also address critical thinking skills by designing lessons to teach World Wide Web organization and how to analyze the information found via search engines. Showing student's obvious hoax sites about “tree octopi” and “male pregnancy” introduces the concepts of critical thinking and Website analysis. Most students quickly refute the information on such sites. However, students have a more difficult time assessing social, historical, or political revisionist Web sites' validity. Contrasting those claims with evidence accepted by international courts, historians, and scientists is useful in pointing out the flaws of seemingly well documented but one-sided revisionist sites. There are dangers in exposing students to these groups via their Websites. Yet, it is important to do so in order to convey the importance of critical analysis of information. The authors discuss students' pre- and post-test (CMU's online assessment tool, the “research readiness self-assessment” [RRSA]) scores to determine whether critical thinking skills have improved.     

Secondary teachers and information literacy (IL): Teacher understanding and perceptions of IL in the classroom

Secondary teachers have the opportunity and the curriculum mandates to teach information literacy skills, yet students enter post-secondary studies with low information literacy proficiency. In many cases, teachers present the only opportunity for students to develop information literacy proficiency. With semi-structured interviews, this study explored eight secondary teachers' perceptions of information literacy and their experiences with IL as educational professionals. Confusion around the phrase information literacy was a dominant theme as participants were unfamiliar with the term and were inconsistent in defining the scope of what it might mean. Although there are references to information literacy skills in the core curriculum and support documents, participants varied in their instruction and understanding of this skill set. Participants unanimously agreed that information literacy skills, as explained using the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education (ACRL, 2000), were important for their students. However, the extent of IL skills required varied by student. Pursuing post-secondary studies warranted advanced IL, and these students were more likely to be taught higher-level skills. IL skill development was also assumed to be the responsibility of the student, and passive acquisition was anticipated. Assumptions regarding student need and ability informed instruction. These results suggest that the current curricular mandates are insufficient to ensure IL is incorporated into instruction and that teachers are ill-prepared to instruct IL effectively.