Information Literacy Program Outcomes

Integration of Information Literacy at UofL
Working Document of the University Libraries Information Literacy Team

Last Revised July 2001

Overall outcome: Students graduating from UofL will understand that research is a process that takes time, that it is not necessarily linear, and that to be informed and engaged citizens, they need to be prepared to apply the information skills they learn here to all aspects of their lives.

Gen 101 or Bus. Gen 101 Outcomes

• Students will understand the purpose of an academic library. [1.2.a & b]
  
• Students will be familiar with services offered to them by the library. [2.3.c]
  
• Students will be able to name the library web page to use when starting their research . [1.2.c]
  
• Students will be able to do a rudimentary search in an online periodical database and find at least one article appropriate to their topic. [2.2.b, 2.2.d]
  
• Students will know whom to go to for help with their library research. [2.3.c]

Comm 111/112 Outcomes (replaces Eng 101)

• Students will be able to name the tool to use to find books available at U of L. [2.3.a, 2.3.b]
  
• Students will be able to pick out keywords from a given topic and be able to revise those keywords if their search results prove insufficient or overwhelming. [2.2.b]
• Students will be able to find items in the catalog if given the author, title, or keywords and locate the item on the shelf using the appropriate call number system. [2.3.a, 2.3.b]
• Students will be able to differentiate between a book and a periodical. [2.3.b, 2.5.c]
• Students will be able to differentiate between a magazine and a scholarly periodical. [1.2.d]
  
• Students will know the purpose and components of a Reference Collection. [1.1.c]

English 102 Outcomes (ideally 2 sessions of 50 minutes each)

• Students will be able to define an index, an abstract, a catalog, and a database. [2.1.c]
• Students will be able to choose the correct database for their topic and be able to name 2 aspects of a database that are important to consider when using it. (time period covered, type of periodicals covered, full-text/abstract only) [2.1.c]
• Students will be able to find the paper copy of a journal article in the U of L library system. [2.1.d]
• Students will be able to cite a source correctly. [5.3.a]
• Students will evaluate information with 5 criteria: accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage. [1.4.b, 2.4.a, 3.2.a, 3.2.c]
• Students will understand plagiarism and copyright issues. [5.1.d]
• Students will recognize the difference between a resource from the Internet and a proprietary database. [1. 2.c]

Departmental Research Required Course (usually at 300 level) Outcomes

• Students will be able to construct a fairly sophisticated search strategy using at least 2 of the following: truncation, Boolean, synonyms, subject headings or controlled vocabulary. [2.2.c, 2.2.d]
  
• Students will be aware that the same search in 2 different databases generated 2 different sets of results. [2.2.e, 2.3.b]
  
• Students will know discipline-specific resources in the Reference Collection and understand their usefulness. [1.1.c, 2.2.f]
• Students will understand the variety and complexity of information. [1.2.a]
• Students will know at least 3 core information sources for their discipline. [1.2.b]
  
• Students will know the difference between primary and secondary sources as defined by their discipline. [1.2.e]
  
• Students will know how to make use of interlibrary loan. [1.3.a]
  
• Students will know that they can examine the bibliography, footnotes, and references sections of sources they find to locate additional sources of information on their topic. [3.7.c]

400/500 Level Outcomes

At this level the purpose of information literacy instruction is to help the students implement what they've learned at the lower levels in the broader philosophical context of their discipline. The students should also gain a deeper understanding of the "impact of context on the interpreting the information" they find. [3.2.d]

Assessment of all outcomes will be conducted.

The above outcomes are adapted from the Association of Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, 2000 and the ACRL Instruction Section's "Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction by Academic Librarians. The numbers after the outcome (ex. 3.7.c) refer to the ACRL Outcome number.

Integration of information literacy-revision/ amj/ 6-01