Information John Jay College Kathy Killoran, Information Literacy Librarian Tim Stevens, Chair, English Department March 19, 2004

Information Literacy defined: American Library Association: Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. Middle States Commission on Higher Education: Information literacy is an intellectual framework for identifying, finding, understanding, evaluating and using information. Faculty may think of as the Research Process.

InformationLiteracy Technology Critical Thinking Synthesis Problem Solving Communication Information Literacy Goes far beyond library introduction and basic search skills

ACRL Standards Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (on web) Association of College & Research Libraries 6 broad standards 3-7 performance indicators for each standard 2-7 identified outcomes for each performance indicator Middle States embraces these standards

ACRL IL Standards & Responsibility Determine the nature & extent of info needed (Faculty, reinforced by Librarians) Effectively accesses info sources (Librarians) Critically evaluates info sources (Librarian & Faculty) Critically evaluates info content (Faculty) Use info to accomplish a purpose (Faculty) Use info legally, ethically (Faculty primarily, Librarians reinforce) ACRL IL competencies, Middle States responsibilities

Information Literacy Movement in CUNY Middle States Developing Research & Communication Skills (2003) University Faculty Senate Committee Computer & information technology literacy Competencies for students & faculty, 2001 Council of Chief Librarians White Paper, 2001 Prof. Lucinda Zoe, Hostos, Chancellor’s Office - VP Mirrer Mandate to each campus’ Provost, 2002 Gen ED Project

What Middles States Wants Institutional IL plan detailing ….. Strategy for how information literacy will be integrated into the curriculum Especially into the general education requirements Demonstrable competencies – building in complexity (learning goals & objectives) Outcomes assessment throughout At the program-level Especially important in the senior year

Information Literacy Standards Association of College & Research Libraries Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (available on Web) Middle states embraces these competencies!!

Middle States identifies 2 models of IL plans Separate or Compartmentalized Model Stand-alone course Unlikely that a single course can satisfy all of an institution’s IL goals Skills should be addressed & reinforced at various levels of sophistication throughout 4 yrs Integrated or Distributed Model Various courses address a core set of IL skills May be blended into lower & upper-level courses. Places IL into the context of the disciplines

Different IL models used in CUNY Credit bearing course – so far not required course – Queens (1 credit), LaGuardia (3 credits), Baruch (8 – 3 credit courses) Workshop approach – series of 5 workshops - 2 information literacy workshops required before a course-integrated library instruction course taught – Hostos IL integrated into curriculum – new Lehman model – IL is targeted at certain courses: ENG sequence LEH 300-level core courses Faculty in other disciplines encouraged to re-engineer their courses to emphasize information literacy.

IL Plan - Institution specific Multiple strategies can and probably should be employed! Many campuses are using pilot programs to try out their IL strategies

Challenges in Designing IL Program Large # of students at CUNY institutions Creating strategies that will be scalable to reach all students Administrative support – philosophically and monetarily, faculty development, ongoing! Library cannot do it alone – College-wide issue Fostering change Faculty buy in – willingness to change what they do to incorporate some of these concepts, etc.

John Jay’s Evolution - small inroads Taskforce on Information Literacy formed (2002) – response to VP Mirrer, Associate Provost, Faculty & Librarians IL Librarian position – funded by student technology fee IL Librarian – member of College Curriculum Committee Additional support by Provost (team teaching) for courses incorporating critical thinking, intensive writing, & information literacy New course proposal form – question on what information literacy skills will be learned/practiced in the course.

John Jay IL Draft Plan Add instructional material to library’s Web page – have section for curricula aids, tutorials, handouts,etc. Survey ENG 101 students – self assessment Develop module on evaluating information for SPE 113 classes Pilot project – 2 sections, using online tutorials, Blackboard Revise ENG sequence to be information literacy-rich Students will practice research skills throughout these courses. Employ active learning techniques

English 101 Student Survey Surveyed about 1,700 students Received over 1,000 responses Interim results – 625 responses First place students look for info Internet Search Engine 64% Ask instructor11% Textbook7% Library catalog6% Ask a librarian5% How to narrow a Web search Add another appropriate search term36% Enclose search phrase in quotes5% Inappropriate response53%

Writing Ability Rate writing ability Not confident6% Somewhat confident68% Very confident26% Writing – Essays Not confident5% Somewhat confident54% Very confident42% Writing – Research Paper Not confident7% Somewhat confident59% Very confident35%

Citing Sources When and How to Cite (same results) Not confident18% Somewhat confident64% Very confident18% How many papers that included a bibliography in last year? None10% 113% 2-340% 4 or more37% Amount of pages in longest paper 1-2 pages5% 3-5 pages46% 6-10 pages32% over 10 pages16%

Role librarians can play in an integrated model IL plan development Curriculum development Faculty development Workshop teacher/facilitator Partner/Team teachers Develop support materials for faculty Design/Develop online tutorials Design/Develop exercises & assignments

Assessment Standardized instruments being developed Project SAILS – Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills – beta-test Kent State – Lehman will use Allow for comparisons with “like” institutions Also looking to develop discipline specific assessments, Information Competency Assessment Project -Bay Area (Ca) CCs Tied into the ACRL standards Assessment at varying times of the undergraduate experience! – Freshman level & upper level

Other assessment strategies Research journals Annotated bibliographies Quality of sources in bibliographies of papers, etc. IL questions and tasks incorporated into course exams Exercises reinforcing learned experiences Student receives a grade on the expected IL outcomes, incorporated into course grade Rubrics Many more I’m sure ……

Questions?

Traditional model – Library Instruction Course Integrated – some courses targeted One class session Wide variation in student abilities Too much material No common skill set No time for active learning exercises Usually geared for a specific assignment Librarian taught – varying quality Conflict in goals between instructor and librarian Not all students reached, some reached multiple times

Information literacy Not really a new concept Stronger need for this in today’s society Information overload / information anxiety / information smog Students today tech savvy read less (print/pleasure) write less (pen and paper) communicate more/differently We do a lot of IL already – not measured as such