Library and Information Literacy

The Development Process Definition and Competencies Assessment Student Process Future Plans

Library and Information Literacy: The Development Process

Background and History | TALON (TAking Libraries ONline)

Background and History

In 1980, the first edition of the Library Skills Workbook, a printed instructional tool for using Simpson Library written by the Reference Librarians, was published. This workbook and its corresponding assignments was incorporated into the English 101 curriculum. The workbook went through several editions until 1998, when it was replaced by an online tutorial, entitled "Library Research Skills."

The original online tutorial was created by several students with programming skills who took content written by the librarians and developed a series of perl cgi scripts. After the students left MWC, ongoing maintenance and updating issues arose. The librarians weren't able to easily modify the content. There were significant problems with the submission process for the exercises and with archiving these. It was determined major changes needed to be made before the start of the 2000-2001 academic year.

TALON (TAking Libraries ONline)

In the summer of 2000, a new tutorial entitled TALON (TAking Libraries ONline), was created. This new tutorial was designed as a series of modules broken down into separate small pieces. It's coded in basic HTML, with some JavaScript. The modular design allows students to progress at their own pace, review small pieces as needed, and complete the modules in any order.

Several initial development criteria and considerations were set:

1. Use consistent navigational tools or symbols; provide a page explaining them (or minimally, use alt tags). Symbols we believe are self-explanatory may not be universally understood.
2. Primary point should be in full view.
3. Scrolling should be kept to a minimum.
4. Information should be presented in small digestible pieces, keeping in mind that users may not work through the material in the order we place it.
5. Should be very visual, but graphics should be simple and relevant or they become distracting.
6. Make it interactive whenever possible.
7. Avoid exclusive use of color for emphasis. All use of color, italics, etc. for emphasis should be considered carefully.
8. Include a section for tools that need to be acquired (software downloads, passwords, etc.) and make sure that instructions are simple. Provide a test page or exercise that allows users to determine compatibility prior to beginning the tutorial.
9. Copyright message should be clearly stated on all documents (although not necessary for copyright protection, it does provide an edge should legal steps need to be taken)
10. Review/test for ADA compliance.

Library and Information Literacy: Definition and Competencies

What is Information Literacy? | Professional Standards and Guidelines
The Proficiencies Specified at UMW | TALON Modules | Outcomes

What is Information Literacy?

Information Literacy is the ability by an individual "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information."

Professional Standards and Guidelines

The Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, a set of five standards and twenty-two performance indicators, was adopted by the board of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA) in January 2000. This document has been endorsed by the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), as well as several other education and accrediting organizations.

1. The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
2. The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
3. The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
4. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
5. The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.
   Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. 2000. http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html (10 May 2001)

An additional document, Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians, was approved by the ACRL board in 2001. This document was designed to be used in conjunction with the competency document.

The Proficiencies Specified at UMW

The Library and Information Literacy Learning Objectives are defined as the ability to:

1. use the Library's online catalog
2. locate background information on a topic
3. locate a journal article in the Simpson Library and on the World Wide Web
4. navigate within a hypertext environment
5. manage information on the World Wide Web; exhibit basic knowledge of how to use the browser to save, print, and use Web information
6. evaluate information needs: develop search strategies to retrieve appropriate resources
7. understand URLs
8. recognize characteristics of search engines, directories, and virtual libraries, and distinguish their differences
9. recognize the value-added properties of proprietary Web resources and how they differ from public domain resources
10. understand the logic behind such search features as Boolean operators and phrase searching and how to use them
11. understand the significance of citing and evaluating Internet resources and knowing how to locate information that addresses these topics
    Library and Information Literacy Learning Objectives. 1999. (10 May 2001)

TALON Modules

1. Simpson Library Virtual Tour (objective 2,3)
2. Topic Development and Source Selection (objective 2,6)
3. Finding Background Information (objective 1,2,6)
4. Performing Effective Searches in Electronic Databases (objective 1,4,5,10)
5. Using the Library Catalog (objective 1,3,6)
6. Finding Periodical Articles (objective 1,3,5,9,10)
7. Locating Information on the Internet and World Wide Web (objective 3,4,5,6,7, 8, 9,10,11)
8. Use of Information (objective 9,11)

Outcomes

Each module includes a set of expected outcomes.

Information Literacy Outcomes

Library and Information Literacy: Assessment

Library and Information Literacy: Student Process

Students must complete all components of the Information and Technology Proficiency by the middle of the Spring semester in order to register for classes in the following year.

Library and Information Literacy: Future Plans

Ongoing:

• Edit and streamline content; add more visual material
• Add interactive exercises and mini self-quizzes
• Revise the assessments
• Create additional (non-required) module areas to include subject-specific resources and methodology
• Monitor use patterns and assessment scores to guide future revision