Library Learning

Project Information Literacy isn't a new thing to UIUC. We participated in some talks back in 2008, and some folks may be keeping up with the project itself. For those who aren't, however, the project is beginning a new study this month, examining the information literacy skills of young adults once they graduate. What happens to them once they leave the databases of their alma mater and have to utilize the reference material available to them in their first professional job?

After conducting phone interviews with recent graduates and focus group interviews, PIL writes that it hopes to post the results of their study on the site in October. The study is different in that it reaches across the nation to get data from graduates of public and private colleges, along with community and state colleges. The study focuses on these three questions:

"1. How do early adults (in their own words) put their information literacy competencies into practice in learning environments in a digital age, regardless of how they may measure up to standards for being information literate?

2. With the proliferation of online resources and new technologies, how do early adults recognize the information needs they may have and in turn, how do they locate, evaluate, select and use the information that is needed?

3. How can teaching the critical and information literacy skills that are needed to enable lifelong learning be more effectively transferred to college students?"

UIUC is participating in the study. Keep an eye out - the results of this one should be pretty interesting!

Within the study of information literacy, it’s hard to avoid the circumstances under which students learn most effectively. While most of the studies focus on how students learn – globally, visually, structurally, etc. – the environmental factors in which they learn are also important. In the library classroom, the environment is controlled, the instructor the focus of attention (usually), able to account for and negate any distracting factors. Where many students do their research – the library – is another matter.

The Chronicle recently posted an article on quiet zones in libraries, and how researchers in the University of Washington’s Project Information Literacy examined students’ study preferences. They found that many students seek out the quiet of the library to focus on their research and work. While there’s a focus on libraries that can provide group study areas where students can work together and chat, there’s a push back from students to keep their quiet areas quiet.

The Undergraduate Library here on campus has a noise-friendly floor (to a point), and a quiet floor. Speaking from the experience of working there, I am continually amazed at the number of students who arrive on a regular basis for the sole purpose of quiet study. More than that, I'm amazed that the students are the ones who patrol and enforce it, reporting most disruptions to the nearest librarian or student assistant.

The latest issue of Reference Services Review has come out, and there are a few new papers that shed some new light on aspects of information literacy and library instruction.

“A LibGuides presence in a Blackboard environment” by Aaron Bowen

This article describes current practices for applying and assessing research guides in Blackboard online learning systems. Bowen found that students valued access to library resources from a convenient link, and were more inclined to use it before other information sources. Bowen concluded that the study supported placing library research guides in a permanently visible area in Blackboard.

“Post-graduate health promotion students assess their information literacy” by Catherine Hodgens, Marguerite Sendall, and Lynn Evans

This paper examines post-graduate health promotion students’ assessment of their own information literacy skills before and after completing an online tutorial. The researchers found that there were perceived improvements in information literacy skills, but that some students still had trouble locating authoritative and necessary information and in plagiarism.

“Relationship Building with Students and Instructors of ESL: Bridging the Gap for Library Instruction and Services” by Julia Martin, Kathleen Reaume, Elaine Reeves, and Ryan Wright

This paper examines how academic librarians are reaching out to an underserved group at many institutions – ESL students. The researchers found that building relationships between librarian teachers and ESL instructors helped the students feel more comfortable in seeking out the assistance of their institution’s librarians.

They aren’t written by Janet Evanovich or Hilary Mantel, but these books (available in our library system or through I-Share) could potentially give you a new idea or two before the fall semester begins.

E-Reference Context and Discoverability in Libraries: Issues and Concepts
By Sue Polenka
Call number: 025.524 E108 (Main Stacks)

It’s the hot topic for librarians at the moment – how to integrate e-books into the library. But setting aside issues with publishers, there’s the problem raised at the ALA Conference – how do you make people more aware that these resources are out there? This text gives academic librarians some ideas on where to start.

Transforming information literacy instruction using learner-centered teaching
By Joan Kaplowitz
Call number: Currently in Library Processing

Learner-centered teaching is on the rise in higher education. But is it for you? More importantly, is it for your students? Check out these perspectives and practice tips.

Information Literacy Beyond Library 2.0
Edited by Peter Godwin and Jo Parker
Call number: Currently in Library Processing

You’ve been integrating social media into your teaching, helping students to use these interactive features to increase their information literacy. But what effect is it having on the students? What’s happening internationally? What new ideas are out there, and how can librarians pick up new skills?

Information Literacy as a Student Learning Outcome: the Perspective of Institutional Accreditation
By Laura Saunders
Call number: Surprise! It’s an e-book!

Information literacy outcomes aren’t just essential for students – they’re crucial for the institutions that those students attend. This book takes a look at the six different accreditation areas in the United States and profiles institutions working to meet the student learning outcomes for information literacy in those areas.

Will you be missing out on the IFLA Conference this August? Console yourself with a visit to Purdue University on Aug. 13, when Dr. Christine S. Bruce, of the famed “Seven Faces of Information Literacy” paper. Bruce will be the keynote speaker of Purdue’s Information Literacy Research Symposium. Bruce will be leading “Six Frames for Informed Learning” from 1-5 p.m. that day, in Hicks Undergraduate Library, Room B848.

Bruce’s talk will center on how librarians can teach undergraduates to use information in ways that support college-level learning. The six frames model is “designed to allow reflection on and analysis of how students are taught to use information within a discipline-focused classroom.” There will be group-work in this session, so come prepared to design example learning modules!

It’s free to attend, but register by Aug. 3! Move quickly, because the symposium is limited to 75 participants.

In the meantime, however, read up on Bruce’s Six Frames model in “Informed Learning,” available in the Main Stacks, with call number 370.15 B83i. If it’s checked out, then read one of her latest papers:

Bruce, C., Hughes, H., & Somerville, M. M. (2012). Supporting Informed Learners in the Twenty-first Century. Library Trends, 60(3), 522-545.

The ACRL's Summer Immersion program is well underway in Burlington, Vermont. Though the deadline for entry is long past (as is the one for the immersion program set for November - that's how popular this program is!), it's worth remembering what these immersion programs are about, and the ways that we're able to follow the one currently going on.

The ACRL Immersion programs allow instruction librarians to eat, sleep, and breathe information literacy for a few days. Until July 27, the librarians in Vermont will be working with new tools and techniques to develop and update the information literacy programs in their institutions. The ACRL offers a "Teacher" and "Program" track in the summer (right now), and an "Assessment" and "Intentional Teaching" track in the late fall. Click here for a list of faculty teaching these immersion programs (including our own Lisa Hinchliffe and Beth Woodard!)

To keep up with the program as it progresses, search for #imm12 on Twitter.

Our own Paula Kaufman, Dean of Libraries, has been listed as ACRL's Member of the Week this week! Read the interview here, and write a note of support! Kaufman is also the winner of this year's ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year.

It’s likely that most people reading this in the Chambana area won’t have attended the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals’ “Information Literacy Executive Briefing 2012” earlier this month. That doesn’t mean that we can’t benefit from it.

CILIP’s annual briefing on information literacy allows professionals to speak on a number of panels on different facets of literacy, implementation, assessment, and best practices. While we may have missed the talks themselves, the presentations are now online, available for your perusal.

All of these presentations are great to look over, but of particular interest is the “Information Literacy: the cure for health information obesity,” “Digital Literacies,” and the “Sir LearnALot and Lollipop” presentations. The health information presentation makes an interesting distinction between health literacy and health information literacy, with a good plan of action for implementation. The Digital Literacy presentation also makes a good distinction between the concepts students and librarians associate with digital learning, and how to engage students with their literacy development. The Sir LearnALot presentation is just plain fun, and features a beautiful concept map for information literacy.

No dates have been released for the 2013 conference, but keep an eye on the CILIP page!

Haven’t heard about the microlecture? The term is becoming quite popular among educators, especially those in large lecture classes. Essentially, what it boils down to is a video clip, about a minute or two in length, in which the instructor introduces the concept and summarizes the main points. This falls in line with the concept of “flipping” the classroom – changing the format of the classroom so that students complete their homework in class with instructor support after watching the lecture at home.

The microlecture format is being used by UIUC instructors, especially after CITES gave a call for microlecture proposals in 2010 – take a look at these microlecture uses and responses in two different disciplines.

Think you can use a microlecture for information literacy? Take a workshop sponsored by CITES Academic Technology Services in making screencast microlectures on July 25, from 1-3 p.m. at 23 Illini Hall. This class will help teachers in making screencasts for face-to-face, blended, or online classes. Best practices and tools will be covered, and teachers will have produced a small microlecture by the end of class. Teachers are welcome to bring a laptop or thumb drive with their own lecture content.

Register here, and learn more about the microlecture format here.

It’s daunting enough to be in front of a classroom on some days, and even worse to be in one where you aren’t sure your voice will carry to the back row. The CITES Academic Technology Services and the Center for Teaching Excellence are partnering to create a class for just this problem – “Technology Can Help You Teach Large Classes.”

In this session, Alan Bilansky of CITES will present to teachers on strategies for classes with large enrollments, and how technology is being used to overcome the challenge of size. Teachers will discuss technologies like the graders in Illinois Compass and Illinois Compass 2g, Wikis for group work, and perhaps most importantly, how to check student understanding – when there are so many students to assess.

This event is scheduled to be held from 2-3 p.m. on July 19 at 23 Illini Hall. Registration is required, so sign up here.