A Profile of Information Literacy
Programs in the First Year of College:
Initial Findings from a National
Survey
Debbie Malone, DeSales University
Cindy Kilgo & Jennifer Keup, University of South Carolina
Ryan Padgett, Northern Kentucky University
Colleen Boff, Bowling Green State University
Many years ago I once heard the former president of the
Urban League, Vernon Jordan, say in a speech in
Columbia, S.C. “if you ain’t in the room, you ain’t part of
the action”! Ladies and gentlemen, it is my thesis that
you aren’t as much in this larger room I am calling the
“first-year experience reform movement” as I think you
should be and this concerns me greatly.
John Gardner in a keynote address at the 2003 ACRL
National Conference in Charlotte
Results of that challenge
• Hardesty, L. (2007). The role of the library in the first
college year (Monograph No. 45). Columbia, SC:
University of South Carolina, National Resource Center
for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.
• Boff & Johnson. (2002). The library and first-year
experience courses. Reference Services Review, 30(4).
277-287.
“The more we teach information literacy the
more our faculty want us to teach it to first year
students because they see the positive impact it
has upon preparing students for advanced work-thus, the reason it has become the key learning
outcome for our FYE course”
Quote from survey participant
Literature Context
- Assessment
- Collaboration
- Pedagogy
Assessment
• Conducted mostly in English courses, first-year seminars, and
orientation programs
• Variety of instruments used:
– The Information Literacy Test
http://www.madisonassessment.com/assessment-testing/
information-literacy-test/
– The Library Anxiety Scale
– iSkills
– Institution specific pre/post tests
• Assessing/grading student bibliographies etc.
Collaborating with FYS
• Information literacy is not always a required
component
• Library tours
• Some librarians teach seminars
• Librarians participate in design of assignments
• Librarians may provide one or multiple instruction
sessions
• Often includes a combination of online modules and
face-to-face sessions
Librarians Collaborating with English
Composition Instructors
• Librarians act as consultants on assignment design
• Librarians team teach the course
• Librarians train teaching assistants
• Librarians grade assignments
• Librarians teach one-shot information literacy sessions
• Librarians teach multiple information literacy sessions in
each course section
• Librarians provide one-one-one research help
Collaboration beyond FYS & Eng. Comp
• Academic learning centers
• First year science laboratory courses
• Student Services
• First-Year Engineering courses
• Computer Science departments
• High risk student programs
• School librarians
A wide variety of Pedagogies are in use
•
•
•
•
•
•
Interactive Online tutorials
Problem based learning
Multiple active learning strategies
Librarians embedded in courses (online & f to f)
Clickers (audience response systems)
Gaming
National Survey of Information Literacy
Programs in the First Year
• Methodology for administration
– Administration: Sept. 14 – Nov. 4, 2011
– Invitation sent to 3,684 instructional librarians in 4
waves
• Instructional section of ACRL member database
– 510 responses (13.8% response rate)
• 91.2% of respondents (n = 465) reported
integrating information literacy in the first year
Survey Characteristics
Percentage of First-Year Students who
Participate in Some Form of Formalized IL
30
25
Percentage
20
15
10
5
0
Percent of FY Students
Required?
Is the information literacy course/module/
component required for all first-year students?
Yes – 47.5%
No – 50.5%
Don’t know – 2.0 %
Discrete Information Literacy Course, Module, or Component
One-on-one appointments with librarians outside of class
Within an English course
Orientation session
Tutorials
Within a first-year seminar
Course management systems
Drop-in workshops sponsored by the library
Videos
Within another type of first-year course
Workshops as part of other campus units
Learning Community
Within an independent information literacy course
Other
Podcasts
Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGS)
Number
352
336
314
278
276
209
176
152
138
108
92
87
52
20
19
Percentage
75.7
72.3
67.5
59.8
59.4
44.9
37.8
32.7
29.7
23.2
19.8
18.7
11.2
4.3
4.1
Primary Information Literacy Course, Module, or Component
Within an English course
Within a first-year seminar
Within another type of first-year course
Orientation session
Other
Within an independent information literacy course
Tutorials
Course management systems
Workshops as part of other campus units
Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGS)
Learning Community
Videos
Drop-in workshops sponsored by the library
One-on-one appointments with librarians outside of class
Podcasts
Number
143
136
52
41
24
16
13
6
6
2
2
2
1
1
0
Percentage
32.1
30.6
11.7
9.2
5.4
3.6
2.9
1.4
1.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.2
0.2
0.0
Instruction and Pedagogy
Primary Person(s) Responsible for Development of IL
Librarian(s) - 88.4%
Non-librarian faculty - 10.5%
Program/course coordinator - 9.2%
Other - 3.7%
Academic affairs professional - 1.9%
Graduate student - 0.9%
Student affairs professional - 0.0%
Undergraduate student - 0.0%
Primary Person(s) who Instructs/Delivers IL
Librarian(s) - 88.0%
Non-librarian faculty - 9.9%
Other - 5.6%
Graduate student - 4.1%
Program/course coordinator - 2.8%
Academic affairs professional - 1.1%
Undergraduate peer leaders - 0.4%
Student affairs professional - 0.2%
Undergraduate student - 0.2%
How the IL Component is Taught
60
50
Percentage
40
30
20
10
0
Face-to-face,
one-shot
session
Within a
formal
classroom
setting
Librarian Blended (part Series of facedesigned
classroom,
to-face
assignment part online)
sessions
Other
Online only
Information Literacy Course/Module/Component Taught
Blogs
Wikis
Primary Instructional Methods
Instructional Methods
Percentage
Active learning exercises
61.7
Lecture
45.2
Orientation session(s)
31.6
Library designed research assignment
28.6
Tutorials
18.3
Small group work
17.8
Course Content and Outcomes
Most Important Skills and Topics
Important Skills and Topics
Percentage
Article searching
55.7
Evaluating sources
44.3
Search strategies (Boolean operators, key words, etc.)
34.4
Differences between scholarly and popular sources
31.2
Catalog searching
30.3
Topic exploration
15.9
Critical thinking
14.6
Citing sources
13.5
How do students demonstrate to their instructor
their knowledge of IL competencies?
60
56.6
50
40.4
Percentage
40
34.2
30
22.8
22.6
21.9
20
10
4.7
0
Research paper
Annotated
bibliography
Student
presentation
Pre-test/post-test
Demonstrate Knowledge of IL
Other
Quizzes
None
How do students demonstrate to their instructor
their knowledge of IL competencies?
60
56.6
50
40.4
Percentage
40
34.2
30
22.8
22.6
21.9
20
10
4.7
0
Research paper
Annotated
bibliography
Student
presentation
Pre-test/post-test
Demonstrate Knowledge of IL
Other
Quizzes
None
How do students demonstrate to their instructor
their knowledge of IL competencies - OTHER
-
Multiple responses across items
Faculty determine competencies
Worksheets and game
In class assignment
Reflective essay
Clicker quiz
Passing a tutorial
Website evaluation exercise
Primary Learning Outcomes
70
60
59.8
50.8
Percentages
50
40
31.6
30
29.2
26.5
20
15.3
14.0
7.1
10
0
Efficiently
access
information
Evaluate
Demonstrate
information and familiarity with
sources critically library services
and the layout
of the library
Differentiate Use information Use information Determine the We do not have
between
effectively to
ethically and
extent of the
established
scholarly,
accomplish a
legally
information
learning
popular,
specific purpose
need
outcomes in
primary, and
place
secondary
sources
Primary Learning Outcomes
How is the IL Evaluated and Assessed
Student evaluations of library session(s)
37.4
Observation of student behavior or track anecdotal observations
32.9
Librarian analysis of assignments and/or bibliographies
28.2
Librarian survey of participating faculty members at the end of the course
24.3
Pretest/posttest design
Quiz/test
Student reflection on his/her own learning
End of course evaluations
Rubric
Other
Student evaluations of instructor
No evaluation or assessment is conducted
Standardized test (such as SAILS or iSkills)
20.0
19.6
18.9
18.5
17.4
14.8
14.6
11.2
6.7
Implications
and
Discussion
If 91.2 % of our participants integrate
information literacy into some portion of their 1st
year curriculum, what are the other 7.7% (39
institutions) doing?
This merits further investigation.
Primary Information Literacy Course, Module, or Component
Within an English course
Within a first-year seminar
Within another type of first-year course
Orientation session
Other
Within an independent information literacy course
Tutorials
Course management systems
Workshops as part of other campus units
Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGS)
Learning Community
Videos
Drop-in workshops sponsored by the library
One-on-one appointments with librarians outside of class
Podcasts
Number
143
136
52
41
24
16
13
6
6
2
2
2
1
1
0
Percentage
32.1
30.6
11.7
9.2
5.4
3.6
2.9
1.4
1.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.2
0.2
0.0
Primary Instructional Methods
Instructional Methods
Percentage
Active learning exercises
61.7
Lecture
45.2
Orientation session(s)
31.6
Library designed research assignment
28.6
Tutorials
18.3
Small group work
17.8
Most Important Skills and Topics
Important Skills and Topics
Percentage
Article searching
55.7
Evaluating sources
44.3
Search strategies (Boolean operators, key words, etc.)
34.4
Differences between scholarly and popular sources
31.2
Catalog searching
30.3
Topic exploration
15.9
Critical thinking
14.6
Citing sources
13.5
Encouraging findings
• Librarians are planning (88%) and delivering
(88.4%) IL component
• Face to face delivery most often (55%)
• Active learning exercises are being used most
frequently (61.7%)
Encouraging findings cont.
• Evaluating sources is taught frequently (44.3%)
and is also a frequently stated learning
outcome (50.8%).
• Accessing and Evaluating most frequent
Learning Outcomes addressed
Findings that make us pause
• The IL component is required of all first-year
students at only 47.5% of the institutions
• Topic exploration (15.9%)
• Citing sources (13.5%)
Questions? Comments?
Primary presentation contact:
Debbie Malone
Library Director
DeSales University
[email protected]