Evidence Based Decisions for Information Literacy Programs Gabriela Sonntag Information Literacy Program Coordinator gsg@csusm.edu Hello, thanks – Presentation based on awareness from building process and need to justify 3 instruction labs. But more broadly also on need to justify library resources dedicated to instruction and accreditation/program review questions.

“… we have to wonder whether we will continue to win support for our initiatives in the current strained economy and networked environment of freely accessible web-based information without conducting meaningful and convincing outcomes assessments.” Troll, 2002 We have to wonder how long the library administration, our faculty collaborators, the staff, everyone will continue to support us with no evidence that what we are doing is important, meaningful and effective.

Documents for Assessment Characteristics of Best Practice (ACRL) Nine Principles of Best Practice (AAHE) ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education I turned to two documents for help. Many are familiar with the Best Practice….. For program evaluation, this document provides excellent suggestions. These include 1) a process for ongoing improvements is in place; 2) goals are being met, 3) program performance evaluation is integrated with other institutional and accreditation evaluations, and 4) both formative and summative, short term and long term methods of assessment are being used. But it does not give us any further guidance on the kind of data or outputs we need to gather. Even with a mission statement, goals and objectives, institutional support all in place, how do we measure our impact on student success? The second document from AAHE is the touchstone for any discussion of assessment. So I use it to outline ideas on ILP assessment that I will share with you today. Of course the Best practice suggestions are included in the AAHE 9 principles. Provide guidelines for an assessment plan.

Nine Principles Educational values Multidimensional, integrated and revealed in performance Clear explicitly stated purposes Outcomes and experiences Ongoing not episodic Involves educational community Illuminates what we care about Promotes change Makes us accountable READ - these are the core ideas of the 9 principles. As I went through these tried to match the statistics that we gather routinely and other ideas of evidence to see if any of them would be useful to show impact. This is where I will be asking for your feedback and comments at the end of my presentation.

Ask: “How (or what) is the library expected to contribute to the institution’s mission?” “What or How is the ILP expected to contribute to the institution’s mission?”

Evidence Satisfaction Use of materials Use of webguides Use of the spaces Number of courses Number of hours Growth of program Data points we already have: Student ratings of instruction ( YM project) data on number of classes over time data on which classes/ disciplines are taught over time Surveys that (may) include questions on instruction Curriculum matrix including IL Standards and courses where they are taught Data on use of course guides over time comparisons of practice today using past ILP reports.