Libraries and their Users Dial U for User

“Libraries and their Users: Dial U for User” Zagreb, Croatia March 2 – 3, 2007

Information Literacy Assessment – the ACRL Standards and Beyond Teresa Y. Neely, Ph. D. Director, Zimmerman Library University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA neely@unm. edu

Order of Lecture n n n Information Literacy as a Concept Defining Information Literacy Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Standards Beyond the Standards Assessing Information Literacy

Information Literacy as a Concept n n n n Zurkowski, 1974 – late 1980’s – no consensus ALA, 1989 – Final Report Doyle, 1992 – Behavioral perspective Bruce, 1996 – Relational perspective ALA, 1998 – Progress Report ACRL, 2000 – Standards and Objectives

Defining Information Literacy n “those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand. ” (ALA 1989)

Defining Information Literacy n a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. " (ACRL 2000)

Defining Information Literacy n “the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources. ” (Neely 2000, 2002)

Why Use Standards? n n Provides opportunity to measure, compare, and generalize Outcomes assessment tired to academic success

ACRL Standards, Objectives and Competencies n n n Published April 2000 International library community efforts pre-date ACRL Standards Various terminology and definitions n n n Information competency Information fluency Technological literacy

ACRL Standards n The information literate student n n n Determines the nature and extent of information needed Accesses needed information effectively and efficiently Evaluates information and its sources critically into his or her knowledge base and value system

ACRL Standards n The information literate student n n Uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose Understands the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally

Beyond the Standards n n Students’ relationship with faculty Attitudinal data Demographic data Technological competencies

Assessing Information Literacy n n Institutional support is critical Determine why you are assessing n n n Goals, objectives, research questions, accreditation, outcomes assessment Instrumentation Intervention Analysis and dissemination Next Steps

References n n n ACRL. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Chicago, IL: ALA, ACRL, 2000. http: //www. ala. org/acr; /ilcomstan. html. ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report. Chicago, IL: ALA, 1989. http: //www. ala. org/ala/acrlpubs/whitepapers/presidential. htm ALA. A Progress Report on Information Literacy: An Update on the American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report. Chicago, IL: ALA, 1998. http: //www. ala. org/ala/acrlpubs/whitepapers/progres sreport. htm

References n n Bruce, Christine S. Information literacy: A phenomenography. Ph. D. diss. , University of New England, Aarmidale, 1996. Bruce, Christine S. The seven faces of information literacy. Adelaide, Australia: Auslib Press, 1997. Doyle, Christina S. Development of a model of information literacy outcome measures within National Education Goals of 1990. Ph. D. diss. , Northern Arizona University, 1992. Neely, Teresa Y. Aspects of information literacy: A sociological and psychological study. Ph. D. diss. , University of Pittsburgh, 2000.

References n Neely, Teresa Y. Sociological and Psychological Aspects of Information Literacy in Higher Education. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. , 2002. n n Neely, Teresa Y. Information Literacy Assessment: Standards-Based Tools and Assignments. Chicago, IL: ALA Editions, 2006. Zurkowski, Paul G. The information service environment relationships and priorities. Related paper no. 5. ERIC, ED 100391, 1974.

Information Literacy Assessment – the ACRL Standards and Beyond Teresa Y. Neely, Ph. D. Director, Zimmerman Library University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA neely@unm. edu