Who Teaches What: Information Literacy in the Classroom Trudi E. Jacobson University at Albany tjacobson@uamail.albany.edu

Successful IL programs Librarians can rarely scale up an IL program for the entire student population Students need to have IL skills integrated into course material Faculty and librarians need to recognize shared responsibility

Information Literacy Curriculum Campus-wide Problem-, inquiry-, and resource- based Effective use of instructional pedagogies & technologies Integrated and articulated with a discipline’s learning outcomes Coherent, systematic approach (Rockman, p. 16)

Middle States Collaboration between professional library staff and faculty in teaching and fostering IL skills relevant to the curriculum Evidence of IL incorporated in the curriculum with syllabi…describing expectations for students’ demonstrations of IL skills Assessment of IL outcomes (Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education, 2002)

Areas for Learning Know (framing the research question) Access Evaluate Sources Evaluate Content Use Ethically/Legally (Developing Research and Communication Skills, p. 23)

Shared Responsibilities for Learning Know (faculty starts, librarian reinforces) Access (librarian leads, faculty supports) Evaluate Sources (librarian leads initially) Evaluate Content (faculty leads) Use (faculty leads) Ethically/Legally (joint, continuous) (Developing Research and Communication Skills, p. 23) What follows is generalized. Middle States also emphasizes learning goals at different levels, 1st year student to senior to graduate student. What follows is mostly focused on lower level undergraduates, though not necessarily first year students. The six areas of shared responsibility would include more sophisticated techniques and tools at higher levels.

Challenges What challenges do you expect to face in regard to a model emphasizing shared responsibility for information literacy instruction? Think (write) pair share After activity: As we go through all six areas for learning, think about how you might lead or play a role. Where might librarians not play a role at all?

Know (Framing the Research Question) What: Determines the nature and extent of information needed Who: Starts with the faculty member; reinforced by librarians

Know (Framing the Research Question): Implementation Importance of carefully developed, well explained assignments Exercises to identify gaps in knowledge Classroom assessment techniques Concept maps Usefulness of assignments in stages: thesis statement “Need to find information to support own ideas and opinions” (Developing Research… p. 11)

Access What: Efficiently and effectively accesses information sources Who: The librarian usually leads, with faculty support

Access: Implementation Traditional library instruction Combatting Google/Yahoo mentality Broaden horizons Improve web search skills Importance of concepts Support from faculty

Evaluate Sources What: Critically evaluates information sources Who: The librarian may lead initially; faculty make the ultimate determination from student’s work product or performance

Evaluating Sources: Implementation Assignment stage: bibliography Creative ways to teach the importance of source evaluation http://www.lib.vt.edu/research/evaluate/evalbiblio.html http://library.albany.edu/briggs/addiction.html Evaluation beyond web-based materials

Evaluate Content What: Critically evaluates information content; considers impact on students’ prior knowledge, value system, and future directions in life Who: Faculty leads in classroom; student may also consult librarians, external subject experts or peers

Evaluating Content: Implementation Development of authority in student researchers (MacAdam and Kemp) Assignment stage: draft of paper The art of annotation (lower level) Scholarly article comparison assignment (mid- to upper-level undergraduate) MacAdam and Kemp talk about the concept of bibliography: Students need to learn that knowledge usually doesn’t advance in quantam leaps, it advances by inches, Conept of bibliography another opportunity to instill intellectual courage and confidence, because when a student cites, she is saying I fit here, my work comes here Even if my idea only adds another quarter inch, it has a right to exist But I think this is important more for encouraging students to really use their minds, to assess the material they are reading and to dare to add that quarter inch, rather than feeling they cannot possibly know anything Scholarly Journal Article Critque: used in ISP 301, so mid- to upper-level students. Goal: further acquaint students with what a scholarly journal article is. Wanted students to be more aware of the process of looking articles up, analyzing how they are different from other sources. [Frustration on part of students: wanted to apply to a research paper.] Another motivation: to cut down on plagiarism. Students had to write a cohesive essay based on very directed questions, so couldn’t find this information elsewhere.

Use What: Uses information found to accomplish a specific purpose Who: Faculty leads; can be reinforced by librarians

Use: Implementation Assignment stage: final paper Assignment design Audience Purpose Alternative assignments Write objective newspaper article or an editorial Write historical journal entries or compile a short newspaper for a particular period Newspaper article, whether objective or persuasive, suggests an actual audience and purpose Newspaper idea (class assignment): society rag from Jane Austen’s time; Quaker abolitionist newspaper Students select a topic and locate background information, which they then relate to a local condition by conducting interviews and writing a brief report Develop a poster session modeled on those given at professional conferences Not always writing compile an anthology of key readings on a topic Students have to identify the best resources on a topic to buy with a certain amount of $

Ethically/Legally What: Understands the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the acquisition and use of information Who: Faculty and librarians jointly and continuously

Ethically/Legally: Implementation Student understanding of issues Use of relevant examples Discovery method

Supporting Faculty Efforts Course-related instruction Online presence in course bulletin boards Hand-outs/Web guides Develop assignments collaboratively Student tutorials, to provide basics http://library.albany.edu/usered/faculty/infolit.html Teaching Center workshops

What Else is Needed? Support of campus administration Support of library administration Campus conversations Institutional level Program level Course level

Solutions How might the challenges you identified earlier be addressed? Which challenges will be tougher to overcome?

Resources MacAdam, Barbara, and Barbara Kemp. (1989). Bibliographic Instruction and Critical Inquiry in the Undergraduate Curriculum. In Maureen Pastine & Bill Katz (Eds.), Integrating Library Use Skills into the General Education Curriculum (pp. 233-244). New York: Haworth. Middle States Commission on Higher Education. (2002). Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education. Philadelphia: the author. Middle States Commission on Higher Education. (2003). Developing Research & Communication Skills: Guidelines for Information Literacy in the Curriculum. Philadelphia: the author.

Resources continued Ratteray, Oswald M. T. (2002). Information Literacy in Self-Study and Accreditation. Journal of Academic Librarianship 28 (6): 368-375. Rockman, Ilene F. and Associates. (2004). Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher Education Curriculum. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Thompson, Gary B. (2002). Information Literacy Accreditation Mandates: What They Mean for Faculty and Librarians. Library Trends 51 (2): 218-241.