Home - ILAAP | Information Literacy Assessment & Advocacy Project

About this Project

In 2018, the Information Literacy Assessment Task Force took on the action item to pilot a information literacy survey instrument to complement existing initiatives underway by the Return on Investment (ROI) board committee. (This falls under the strategic plan goal of creating tools and documentation for assessing libraries to better understand our impact and our stakeholders.)

After a review of available tools, the task force decided to implement the Information Literacy Assessment & Advocacy Project (ILAAP), an assessment tool designed to investigate the information literacy skills of first and second-year post-secondary students. ILAAP was selected due to its free cost and customizable features.

The official PALNI pilot of this tool is over, but all PALNI libraries are free to use the tool and any of the recommendations below at any time.

Steps for using ILAPP

Here are the steps for using ILAAP.:

Decide how you’d like to use the survey. Do you want to try to survey an entire class year? Individual classes? Other groups?
Then, decide when you’d like to use the survey. You’ll need to register for a survey at least 24 hours in advance.
When you’re ready to request a survey, go to this link.
If you'd like, you can choose questions from our recommended list below.
For the name of your institution, please select your school name, sorted under US-IN-[name_of_school] (PALNI). Example: US-IN-Goshen (PALNI).
Once you’ve completed the questionnaire, a personalized survey invite will appear in your e-mail inbox within 24 hours after the test is administered. You can then embed the link in a LibGuide or create a tiny URL for easier student access. Alert students that the interface will say WASSAIL Reports.
You will receive a report with your results within one working day of when your testing period ends.

We recommend choosing from the below questions for your students. These questions have been selected from the longer list for PALNI schools to use. We suggest using no more than three demographic questions.

WASSAIL Number	Question
Questions suitable for a pre-test:
3089	Your year of study: □ 1st □ 2nd □ 3rd □ 4th □ Other
4305	I have attended a library instruction session previously. Yes, no, I am not sure
4297	Any questions or comments? Text box and "I have no questions or comments" opt out
Questions suitable for a post-test or at the end of a single session:
3089	Your year of study: □ 1st □ 2nd □ 3rd □ 4th □ Other
4305	I have attended a library instruction session previously. Yes, no, I am not sure
3094	What is the most useful thing you learned in today’s library instruction session? Text box and "I did not learn anything new in the session" opt out
3675	Based on the content covered in today’s session, what remains unclear for you? Text box and "Nothing remains unclear" option
4247	I feel more comfortable using the library because of the library instruction.* Agree - Disagree scale (with neutral option in middle)
4300	What would you like to know more about? Text box and "I can't think of anything I would like to know more about right now" opt out
4297	Any questions or comments? Text box and "I have no questions or comments" opt out

We recommend choosing from the below questions for your students. These questions have been selected from the longer list for PALNI schools to use.

Q #	Recommended Year	Category	ACRL Frame
3863	First	Format	Information Creation as a Process Scholarship as Conversation
3878	Second/Third	Subjects	Searching as Strategic Exploration
3966	Second	Subjects	Searching as Strategic Exploration
4229	First	Boolean	Searching as Strategic Exploration
3885	First	Keywords	Searching as Strategic Exploration
4056	First/Second	Keywords	Searching as Strategic Exploration
3891	First	Call Number	Searching as Strategic Exploration
4057	First	Call Number/Subject	Searching as Strategic Exploration
3971	First/Second	Keywords	Searching as Strategic Exploration
4301	First/Second	Citation, MLA	Scholarship as Conversation
3899	First/Second	Citation, Chicago	Scholarship as Conversation
3900	First/Second	Citation, ASA	Scholarship as Conversation
4302	First/Second	Citation, CSE	Scholarship as Conversation
4232	Second	Citation, APA	Scholarship as Conversation
4233	First/Second	Format	Authority is Constructed and Contextual
4060	First/Second	Format	Authority is Constructed and Contextual

Information Literacy Assessment Task Force

This guide was created by a task force of PALNI librarians.

Task Force Members:
Eric Bradley | Goshen College / PALNI
Jessica Mahoney | Franklin College
Ruth Szpunar | DePauw University / PALNI
Z. Sylvia Yang | DePauw University

ILAAP | Information Literacy Assessment & Advocacy Project: Home

About this Project

Steps for using ILAPP

Question Bank

Information Literacy Assessment Task Force

Example survey image