The sxu library and information literacy

• 1. The SXU Library and Information Literacy Professional Development Day 2008

2. Purpose of the Session

• Provide faculty with an overview of the information-literacy skills of SXU students

• Review common information-literacy problems

• Suggest improvements to assignments to raise information-literacy skills

3. What is Information Literacy?

• The ability to find, evaluate, and use information

• It is NOT computer literacy

• It is NOT media dependent

4. If SXU students were information literate they could

• Understand the scholarly, peer-reviewed process

• Find and use resourcesappropriatefor their classroom assignments

• Conduct all their academic research without using Google or Wikipedia

5. What is the current state of information literacy? 6. ICT

• ETS offered Information and Communication Technology exam beginning in 2005

• Library funded the exam the first two years

• Now called ISkills, and supported by SXU

7. Seven ICT Proficiencies

• Define:The ability to use ICT tools to identify and appropriately represent an information need.

• Access:The ability to collect and/or retrieve information.

• Manage:The ability to apply an existing organizational or classification scheme.

• Integrate:The ability to interpret and represent information.

• Evaluate:The ability to determine the degree to which information satisfies the needs of the task in ICT environments.

• Create:The ability to generate information by adapting, applying, designing or inventing information in ICT environments.

• Communicate:The ability to communicate information properly in its context of use for ICT environments.

8. What the ICT does

• Compares results from SXU students with those of peer nationwide

• Is not a computer-skills test

9. ICT Results

• SXU students performed well below the national average in three categories; just met average in the other categories

10. Observations from the Library

• Limited awareness of the scholarly, peer-review process

• Perceived research skills exceed actual capabilities

• Students, at all levels, have difficulties finding

• • books through the catalog

• • journals, whether in print or online

• • the appropriate database to use

11. Common Instructional Problems 12.

• We learned in an age of limited information

• Students have access to levels of information beyond anything we could dream of in graduate school

• SXU Library now has information resources impossible to obtain just a few years ago

13. Common Problems

• Library assignments often dont have a clear learning objective

• • • Students dont know why the assignment is made

• Assignments dont match the research skills of the students

• • • Assignments are often too esoteric or too complex, especially for freshmen and sophomores

14. Suggestions for Improving Information Literacy 15.

• Make sure your students understand why the scholarly, peer-review research process is important

• • (Library has a webpage on it)

• Make clear the learning objective

16. Updated Library Assignments

• Make sure your Library assignments are up-to-date

• Almost all information resources and interfaces have changed in just two years

17. Tell Students Where to Look for Their Information

• Specify what resource they should use

• • Which Library database

• • Use the catalog to locate books

• • UseRecent Additionslinks

18. Specify What You Want

• Publication type(book, journal, newspaper, trade publication, facebook, ERIC digest, action research report, video, etc.)

• Type of document(article, case study,editorial, product review, etc.)

• Age or publication dateof the document

19. Have Students Locate Journals

• Use theA-Z List of Journals(Serials Solutions) to find:

• • Whether the Library has a journal in electronic or print form, and dates of coverage

• • To find the journals in a subject area

20. Suggestions for Freshmen and Sophomores

• Focus onAcademic Search PremierorOpposing Viewpointsdatabases

• Use full-text only: Library has access to over 25,000 full-text journals

• No inter-library loans needed

• No scavenger hunts

21. Opposing Viewpoints

• Excellent tool for freshmen and sophomores researching popular topics

• Includes scholarly and popular press articles, statistics, multimedia, pro and con articles

22. Example of a More Advanced Project

• InCommunication & Mass Media Completefind:

• the effect of group decision making on employee productivity

• Two full-text articles each from academic journals, trade publications, and conference proceedings

• No older than February 2000

• Can be in either HTML or PDF

• Bibliography must be MLA

• Provide persistent link to each item

23. A Nursing Example

• UseCINAHLto find:

• Diabetes management plan for children 6-12 years old

• Double blind peer reviewed case study

• Published since January 2006

• HTML or PDF full text

• Provide persistent link or Document Object Identifier (DOI)

24. An Education Example

• UseERICandProfessional Development Collectionto find:

• A poll for school administrators and teachers to use to assess student experiences with cyberbullying

• Examples of school responses to incidents

• Peer Mediation model to resolve conflicts

25. A Business Example

• Use theMergent Onlinedatabase to find:

• four suppliers on four continents with a primary NAICS code of 336330

• 4 thquarter retained earnings from 2003-2006

• Standardize results in euros

• Scale in thousands of euros

• Export list to an excel spreadsheet

26. Library is Here to Help 27.

• Online, interactive tutorials for many of our resources are under development

• Librarians can review Library assignments with the faculty

• Lab instruction by librarians helpful when the assignment is beginning