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With the establishment
of the new Information Literacy Program, the LCSC Library hopes to
accomplish several related goals:
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Help LCSC students to meet the
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education,
formulated by the Association of College & Research Libraries. These
skills will help LCSC students prepare for lifelong learning.
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Meet accreditation standards. Three college
accrediting bodies (Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools,
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and Western Association of
Schools and Colleges) have already added “information literacy” to the
required outcomes for college-level education and library service.
Should the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges add
“information literacy” to required outcomes, we will be ready with
consistent testing for these skills to demonstrate outcomes.
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Improve the students’ comprehension of advanced
instruction in research skills. Students come now to upper-level
classes with varying levels of experience with, and understanding of,
even basic research concepts. Some have been to an introductory library
instruction section, some have received the same introductory
information 5 or 6 times, and some have never received any basic library
instruction, depending on the courses they took and their instructors’
approaches. When introduced to advanced concepts, some are ready to
receive and apply the information, while others are not. With
consistent testing of different research concepts, instructors can
ascertain whether students are ready to proceed with advanced concepts.
And students can “prove” their mastery of introductory level concepts
without having to undergo the same training over and over.
How the
Program Will Work
The librarians have taken the 90-plus information
literacy outcome goals from ACRL and selected the ones they think the
library can help teach. They have been organized into 4 levels of
instruction:
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Level
One: |
Introduction to the Library, including a tour, an explanation of the
classification system, and basic overviews of the online catalog and
journal indexes.
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Level
Two: |
Intermediate-level training on using the library resources for
research. These skills include selecting
appropriate formats and evaluating information from various sources,
as well as using online search techniques, such as Boolean operators,
and making use of interlibrary loan.
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Level
Three: |
Training
on resources for research in specific disciplines, such as using
controlled vocabularies to access subject-specific databases.
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Level
Four: |
General
concepts about intellectual freedom and social / political /
economic issues affecting information and research.
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These four levels have
been further subdivided into individual
modules of instruction.
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Instructors can choose
to assign modules to help their students accomplish course-related
assignments. The tutorials will be available over the Web. Students can
come to the Reference Desk for
assistance or one-on-one tutoring if they find personal instruction more
effective.
Students may take tests for each module, and their results will be available to
instructors. In
the future, departments may decide to make passing of specific modules or
levels of instruction a prerequisite for higher-level courses in the
major.
The first level of instruction (4 modules) was
ready for use in Fall 2002. It replaced the basic one-hour
introduction to the library. However, focused library instruction for
course-related assignments and higher-level research skills still
continues in the library classroom.
The Library plans to add new modules each year until
all 4 levels of instruction are available. The Library wants
to engage the faculty and students in developing these modules and
welcomes your input.
Any questions or comments about this new Library
program should be directed to Barbara Barnes at 792-2235 or email blbarnes@lcsc.edu.
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ILI contact info: (208) 792-2647; email
ili@lcsc.edu
LCSC Library contact info: phone (208) 792-2396, fax (208)
792-2831 |
