Program
Uniqueness and Success
The
APSU Library User Education Program is unique because it has achieved a
high level of support from the faculty, administration and librarians.
APSU librarians and faculty have a long history of collaboration.
APSU librarians are dedicated to providing information literacy
opportunities to the APSU Community and have found innovative ways to
accomplish them. The
success of information literacy in the Heritage Program, the invitation
to develop and team-teach an online multimedia literacy course and the
funding of the multimedia lab all indicate program success. A good foundation for
future assessment is being laid as a result of Immersion Program
training and participation in the national IMLS/ACRL Assessing Student
Learning Outcomes in Information Literacy Project.
Regular outreach regarding information literacy occurs. In all, much is being accomplished with limited resources.
The APSU Team wishes to build on the success of the present
program and create a true campus-wide information literacy program which
meets the needs of all APSU students, both those living on-campus and
those engaged in distance learning.
Contact
Person: Lori
Buchanan, User Education Librarian and Professor
Best Practices in Information Literacy Invitational
Conference
Austin Peay State University
Program Description
Links to all local information literacy-related
documents appear in the online version of this description found at http://library.apsu.edu/library/3_9ILI.htm.
I. Program and Team
Members
Woodward Library User
Education Program (soon to evolve into APSU Information Literacy
Services)
Team members who will
attend conference if invited:
Bruce Speck,
Vice President for Academic Affairs, currently leads the work of the
Liberal Arts Concept Development Committee, plans to begin a campus-wide
focus on pedagogy, and expresses an interest in integrating information
literacy (IL) throughout the curriculum.
Dr. Speck holds a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition, has
coordinated a Writing Across the Curriculum Program and has written
about principles of effective teaching.
Ted
Jones, Associate Professor of Mass Communication,
teaches HUM 1010-1020; wrote a dissertation about presentation styles
and information technology use in distance education; collaborated with
Lori Buchanan and DeAnne Luck to develop an online Multimedia Literacy
course. This course will be
highlighted in an article, entitled “Integrating Information Literacy
into the Virtual University: A Case Study”, submitted for a
forthcoming Library Trends issue on Teaching and Assessing
Information Skills edited by Hannelore Rader.
Deborah Fetch, Director of Library Services,
recently led the APSU Library Faculty through development of a new
Library Strategic Plan, which lists as its first goal, “To integrate
information literacy into all students' educational experience”;
collaborated with Lori and DeAnne in a statewide effort to educate K-12
teachers and librarians about the Internet.
DeAnne Luck, Electronic Resources Librarian and Library Webmaster,
teaches HUM 1010-1020 and conducts 10% of all instruction.
Lori Buchanan, User Education Librarian, trained in the Institute
for Information Literacy Immersion 2000 Program; currently participates
in the national IMLS/ACRL Assessing
Student Learning Outcomes in Information Literacy Programs: Training
Academic Librarians Project; coordinates
HUM 1010-1020 IL instruction; conducts 30-35% of all instruction.
Additional APSU team members:
Elaine Berg, Document Delivery & Distance Education Librarian
conducts 15% of instruction and teaches HUM 1010-1020.
Anne Berwind, Head of Information Services, teaches HUM
1010-1020.
Sean Hogan, Instruction Librarian (new), teaches HUM 1010-1020,
conducts 40% of instruction, & oversees Library Instruction and
Computer Room.
Chuck McCann, Media Services Librarian (new), oversees Multimedia
Lab.
II. Brief Program
History
In 1986, the User
Education Program was formalized with the hiring of a User Education
Librarian. Humanities
1010-1020 Writing, Speaking and Researching across the Curriculum, which
is part of the Heritage Program (alternative liberal arts core), was
developed and first taught by a team of composition, communication and
library faculty in 1988.
A proposal to build a
Library Instruction and Computer Room (24 computer stations and
instructional equipment) was accepted and funded by the APSU
administration in 1994. This
facility allows students to engage in instruction sessions which include
active learning experiences, especially important with the advent of
Library’s online catalog and networked electronic databases.
Between 1995 and
2001, the User Education Program continued to evolve as the Library
integrated additional electronic resources and technologies.
Formal instruction and one-on-one instruction at the Information
Desk continued to work in tandem. Instruction
also became a goal of the Library’s website, distance education and
Ask a Librarian (email/live chat reference).
A pivotal point for the
User Education Program came in 2000 during the Institute for Information
Literacy Immersion Program, where the User Education Librarian received
important training in instructional design, program development,
information literacy standards and assessment, systems thinking &
change and teaching, learning & technology.
The development of an institutional case study and an information
literacy action plan at the Institute moved the program further down its
evolutionary path.
Current Program Activities
§
creation of Information
Literacy Initiative webpage containing key documents, examples of
local partnerships and links to national sites;
§
promotion of information literacy through a Bibliobytes (electronic newsletter) six-week series;
§
participation in the national IMLS/ACRL Assessing
Student Learning Outcomes in Information Literacy Programs: Training
Academic Librarians Project, which includes development &
implementation of a local
assessment plan;
§
development of and
team-teaching online multimedia literacy course;
§
refocus of
team-teaching in the Heritage Program using assessment plan developed
for national IMLS/ACRL Project;
§
facilitation of
the local Information Literacy Initiative Team’s work-in-progress on
Information Literacy Services Mission Statement, Program Goals and
Objectives, and Articulation Across the Curriculum plan;
§
participation on
team guiding implementation of Ask the Librarian (email and live chat)
and on team overseeing library website design;
§
proposing (newly approved) multimedia lab, which will
allow a team of librarians and faculty to assist faculty integration of
multimedia and information literacy into their courses; and
§
collaboration with
other Tennessee academic librarians to provide instructional materials
for the Tennessee Board of Regents Virtual Library which supports online
degree courses.
III.
Best Practices Categories exemplified in the APSU Program
The APSU Program exemplifies best practices in the
designated categories of Administrative & Institutional Support,
Collaboration with Classroom Faculty, Staff, Outreach,
and Assessment.
Administrative
& Institutional Support
The User Education
Librarian is responsible for the information literacy program. Articulated support for information literacy is found in the
Library’s Mission
Statement and Strategic Plan. The
Strategic Plan states that the current program will evolve into
Information Literacy Services, and lead the University in information
literacy.
Collaboration among
faculty and other University staff is recognized and rewarded through
the annual retention, tenure and promotion processes.
The User Education Librarian and other library faculty are
encouraged to serve on university standing committees with other
faculty, administrators and staff, which leads to important
relationships, as well as development of new knowledge and contributions
to various efforts, such as academic technology, advisement, faculty
development and governance. More
details about collaboration between classroom and library faculty
appears below.
Staffing,
continuing education and other resources for information literacy
efforts have received high priority through the years.
Examples include the
§
addition of two new positions: instruction & media
services librarians;
§
support for attendance at the Institute for Information
Literacy Immersion 2000 Program; supplemental support for participation
in the national IMLS/ACRL Assessment Project; support for participation
in preconferences and workshops related to information literacy,
leadership and staff development;
§
creation of the Library Instruction and Computer Room,
which is now receiving its third equipment upgrade of computers and
printers; contains a LCD projector and video networking system;
§
purchase of computer and LCD projector for distance
instruction; and
§
creation of the University’s Multimedia Lab housed in
Media Services.
Collaboration with Classroom Faculty
Communication about
information literacy within the APSU community occurs through Bibliobytes
(electronic newsletter), through regular updates to the Information
Literacy Initiative webpage, and through faculty orientations to the
Library services, collections and electronic databases.
An Information
Literacy Initiative presentation was created and presented to
faculty in March & April, 2001; a team of faculty and librarians who
will lead information literacy efforts on campus was identified at this
time.
For the past
thirteen years, information literacy concepts which help students
develop lifelong learning skills were integrated in the HUM 1010-1020
(Heritage Program) course syllabi constructed by librarians, composition
and communication faculty. Revamping
information literacy
instructional materials covering the search protocols and evaluation
criteria learning outcomes targeted for assessment in the IMLS/ACRL
Project was a major focus during Fall, 2001.
Heritage course-integrated library instruction experiences
traditionally influence the course-related instruction provided in other
sessions requested by faculty.
As a direct result
of the Initiative presentations to faculty and the work of librarians in
the Heritage Program, Lori Buchanan and DeAnne Luck were invited by Ted
Jones to develop and team-teach a new online Multimedia
Literacy course. All
three will receive extra monetary compensation for development of this
online course.
Collaboration
between classroom faculty and librarians to integrate information
literacy concepts into courses resulted in a Psychology
Research Guide webpage, as well as webpages providing specific
examples for citing online and print sources in APA format and MLA
format. Additional examples
of collaboration with faculty may be found on the Information Literacy
Initiative webpage.
Librarians and faculty
have partnered in developing assignments, courses, pedagogy, and an
alternative core curriculum. Continuous
improvement occurs as a result of reviewing student perception essays
and instructor feedback. A
review/revision process by the librarians occurs each semester.
See Assessment section for additional information.
Staff
APSU librarians
possess broad experiences and depth of expertise in teaching information
literacy, as evidenced in the collaborations discussed above. The User Education Librarian has 18 years of instructional
experience. She received
additional training during the Information Literacy Immersion Program
and through participation in the IMLS/ACRL Assessing Student Information
Literacy Learning Outcomes Project.
The new Instruction Librarian took over management of the
day-to-day operations of the Library Instruction and Computer Room,
which serves as a student lab when not in use as an information literacy
classroom. In addition, he
teaches 40% of the information literacy sessions.
His assumption of these duties frees the User Education Librarian
to devote more time to facilitating program development.
Defining APSU
librarian characteristics related to instruction include
·
five APSU Librarians, with 60 years of combined teaching
experience;
·
a new Media Services Librarian possessing graphic design
experience;
·
a Library Webmaster with six years of experience in
website design and construction (she currently serves as the Tennessee
Library Association Webmaster);
·
a partnership with Distance Education Staff to create the
University’s Multimedia Lab in which librarians, faculty and other
specialists will collaborate to assist faculty integrating multimedia
& information literacy within the curriculum.
Outreach
APSU
Librarians utilize Bibliobytes (electronic newsletter to
faculty), Woodward Words (electronic newsletter to students), and
InnerAction (APSU campus electronic newsletter) to reach members
of the campus community.
Information
Literacy articles also appear in campus and local news media.
Information
literacy is discussed in academic department meetings and faculty/staff
development sessions, as well as in the Library’s annual report and
web pages. Special
information literacy workshops are arranged.
The new multimedia lab will provide an additional way to reach
faculty.
APSU
Librarians work with local school classes.
They helped in a statewide effort to train Tennessee K-12
teachers and librarians and public librarians in use of the Internet.
Four APSU librarians currently work on Taskforces of Tennessee
academic librarians collaborating to design information literacy related
materials for the Tennessee Board of Regents Virtual Library. This Virtual Library will help meet the needs of
Tennessee’s online students.
Assessment
Sporadic
assessment of library skills, mostly obtained through student perception
surveys, occurred at APSU prior to 2000.
The Heritage courses included some additional assessment
techniques. Last year, the
User Education Librarian developed a renewed interest in assessment
during Immersion Program training.
The APSU
Information Literacy Action Plan states a need for formalized
assessment of APSU student information literacy learning outcomes.
The local Assessment
Project Report required for the IMLS/ACRL Assessment of Student
Information Literacy Learning Outcomes Project was completed recently.
This plan targets summative assessment of information
literacy objectives related to the search protocols and evaluative
criteria learned by students in the two Heritage courses.
Multiple
assessment methods, including pretest/posttest questions, two
assignments with checklists/scoring rubrics, peer &
self-evaluations, and research logs, were developed and used to assess
the same competencies several times.
The research log entries are being posted in the Blackboard
(online) environment, using knowledge the librarians gained in teaching
the online Multimedia Literacy course. Integration with course and curriculum assessment may be done
on an informal basis in Heritage; however, those librarians
team-teaching the Multimedia Literacy course with Ted Jones are working
with him to integrate assessment of information literacy learning
outcomes with course and curriculum assessment.
All assessment results will be used in the upcoming SACS
accreditation visit.
Participating
in this national assessment project affords APSU librarians the chance
to build an information literacy program using the necessary building
blocks which include
§
implementing a formal instructional planning process;
§
incorporation of the new Information Literacy (IL)
Standards;
§
articulation of IL skills taught from freshmen through
graduate years;
§
integration of IL concepts within the appropriate
disciplines; and
§
inclusion of assessment for IL learning outcomes.
As a
result, program-level formative assessment is occurring.
APSU is
progressing toward the best practices level for Mission, Goals
& Objectives, Planning, Articulation with the
Curriculum, and Pedagogy.
Elements which already exist or are under development include
§
working
definition of information literacy (IL);
§
institutional and library mission statements supportive of
IL;
§
IL Case
Study/Action Plan to use as a starting point for discussion;
§
established IL Initiative Team made up of librarians and
faculty who will plan a program, write a mission statement and goals
& objectives, and implement the integration of information literacy
into the curriculum for traditional and distance education environments;
§
familiarity and understanding of the new ACRL IL
Standards for Higher Education and the ACRL/IS Objectives for
Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic
Librarians;
§
emphasis on students learning in context of their
courses’
§
use of teaching methods most appropriate to the local
environment;
§
incorporation of active and collaborative learning
activities;
§
building on the existing knowledge that students possess;
§
relating IL to on-going course work; and
§
experimentation with a wide variety of methods.
Most
Problematic Category
Articulation
with the Curriculum was initially identified as a desirable objective by
the User Education Librarian for inclusion in the Library’s Strategic
Plan. However, because of
the number of objectives already in the Strategic Plan, the Library
Faculty decided to exclude articulation for now.
In APSU’s context, “articulation” means integration of
information literacy learning outcomes which progress in complexity and
carry throughout students’ academic careers, rather than a single
one-shot session. APSU instruction is “articulated” with the curriculum in
that librarians teach specifically to the assignments at hand.
The
majority of the User Education Program’s course-related sessions are
presently generated through faculty requests. Therefore, it is
anticipated that a well-structured plan needs to be written, meetings
with academic departments scheduled, and careful communication with
individual faculty occur, in order to redirect instruction and fully
embrace articulation.
IV.
Evidence of Program Success
Between 1986-87 and
2000-01, the number of instruction sessions grew
from 57 sessions to 131, representing a 130% increase.
A new surge in the number of instruction sessions is presently
occurring, with Fall, 2001 sessions (96) outpacing Fall, 2000 sessions
(76) by 26%. The number of
students reached has increased by 153% in the past 15 years.
Within the last year, several new partnerships with faculty were
formed. The success of
information literacy in the Heritage Program, the invitation to develop
and team-teach an online multimedia literacy course and the funding of
the multimedia lab all indicate program success.
The APSU Team wishes to build on the success of the present
program and create a true campus-wide information literacy program which
meets the needs of all APSU students, both those living on-campus and
those engaged in distance learning.
V.
Program Uniqueness and Conference Contribution
The APSU Library
User Education Program is unique because it has achieved a high level of
support from the faculty, administration and librarians. The Program’s librarians have a long history of
collaboration with faculty. APSU
librarians are dedicated to providing information literacy opportunities
to APSU students and have found innovative ways to accomplish this.
Regular outreach occurs. A
good foundation for future assessment is being laid. Much is being accomplished with limited resources.
The APSU team is
poised to contribute to this conference by sharing our experiences with
·
active, ongoing, evolving curriculum development with
faculty;
·
joint classroom teaching experiences that contribute
directly to how information literacy is being taught and learned;
·
using virtual reference and online environment
technologies to engage in real-time communication with and extend
immediacy of library services to students, faculty and administrators;
·
adapting, through innovative thinking and the use of
technology, to do “more with less” and to evolve distance learning
models;
·
contributing as generalists to the learning/collaboration
process while maintaining library-related specialties;
·
participating in evolving methods of scholarship by
working with faculty on information access through new technologies;
·
promoting the interface of librarians and technology as a
gateway to the multimedia world of information;
·
working on committees and forming collegial networks of
expertise with faculty to solve curriculum issues; and
·
experimenting with a virtual university model.
VI.
Questions to Consider at the Invitational Conference
A. What strategies may be employed to help evolve a User
Education Program driven by faculty requests into an Information
Literacy Program in which faculty and librarians work together to make
sure the articulation of student information literacy skills is fully
achieved?
B. How do we ensure that our distance students, especially
online degree students, achieve information literacy competencies?
What can we do beyond providing links within online courses to
the Library’s website, to pages within the Library’s website, to
customized pages developed with the course content and assignments in
mind? How can we encourage
faculty to be open to working with librarians to include information
literacy concepts within their courses?
