What are we doing well?
Librarians and faculty are actively working together to advance information literacy competencies. Faculty were generally quite satisfied with the performance of librarians in this area and consider instruction as impactful.
What can we improve on?
Although a fair percentage of faculty requested some form of library instruction, nearly a third did not. The level of engagement in the process and IL instruction varied among faculty. Not all had moved beyond conversation and cooperation to true collaboration.
Should PALNI gather further information to determine factors contributing to this?
Should we map sessions to majors or courses?
What further data would be helpful?
Should librarians do more to reach out to faculty prior to instruction? What do we do now?
Did it impact academic performance? Better writing, citing, critical analysis and synthesis? How can or do librarians get this information?
What surprises us?
The high percentage of faculty involved with and supportive of library instruction.
Key Findings
Literature Review
Clifton, S., & Jo, P. (2016). A journey worth taking: Exploring a hybrid embedded library instruction model through three distinct cases. Medical
Reference Services Quarterly, 35(3), 305-318. doi:10.1080/02763869.2016.1189784
Cowan, S., & Eva, N. (2016). Changing our aim: Infiltrating faculty with information literacy. Comminfolit, 10(2), 163-163.
doi:10.15760/comminfolit.2016.10.2.31
Hackman, D., Francis, M., Johnson, E., Nickum, A., & Thormodson, K. (2017). Creating a role for embedded librarians within an active learning
environment. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 36(4), 334-347. doi:10.1080/02763869.2017.1369280
Kinsley, K., Brooke Hill, L., & Maier-Katkin, D. (2014). A research and class model for future library instruction in higher education. New Library
World, 115(9/10), 482-495. doi:10.1108/NLW-05-2014-0057
McGowan, B., Gonzalez, M., & Stanny, C. (2016). What do undergraduate course syllabi say about information literacy? Portal: Libraries and the
Academy, 16(3), 599-617. https://preprint.press.jhu.edu/portal/sites/ajm/files/16.3mcgowan.pdf
Olesova, L., & Melville, A. (2017). Embedded library services: From cooperation to collaboration to enhance student learning in asynchronous
online course. Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, 11(3-4), 287-299. doi:10.1080/1533290X.2017.1404546
Paterson, S., & Gamtso, C. (2017). Information literacy instruction in an English capstone course: A study of student confidence, perception,
and practice. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 43(2), 143-155. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2016.11.005
Things to consider moving forward …
Working closely with faculty members,
Establish support for IL instruction.
Establish a framework for IL instruction and assessment.
Establish curriculum and programming for IL instruction.
Establish a collaborative and competent team for IL instruction.
1. Continue to keep abreast of best practices, issues, trends, and success stories in information literacy instruction, periodically reviewing the literature to identify areas for further exploration or implementation at an institutional or consortial level.
2. Continue to share information among colleagues and provide support for collaborative activities among librarians – either replication of a study to provide data for how to move forward or for implementation of specific programs or activities.
3. Work closely with faculty in the process of developing and implementing information literacy programming, collaborating on planning, curriculum development, assessment and evaluation.
4. Establish partnerships with campus departments / teams centered on teaching, learning, pedagogy, and curriculum.
5. Educate librarians about learning styles, active learning and other teaching methodologies that can be applied to IL instruction.