Assessment of Information Literacy

Presented by

Touro College LibrariesSara Tabaei, Information Literacy Director Bashe Simon, Director of Touro Libraries Committee on Outcomes Assessment

March 10, 2011

Why is the library conducting assessment?

Assessment

Meaningful measure of

student learning

Strengthens our

instructional program

Accountability to Middle States

Focuses our

instructional

objectives

History of assessment in the library: Fall 2008

N= 91Project SAILS

• Library databases are different from the free internet sites

What was the most significant thing you

learned today?

• Search the library databases instead of going to Wikipedia and Google

What will you do differently in your research

process from now on?

What questions do you still have about the use of the

library?

History of assessment in the library: Fall 2008

One minute survey

History of assessment in the library continues …

We needed quantitative data and we

only had qualitative

data!

So we created a pre and a post test.

But our plan did not work out because only limited time is given

to the librarians!

History of assessment in the library

SAILS Pre and post tests Post-tests Post-testsFall 2008 Spring 2009 Fall 2009 Spring 2010

91

545

893

2241

Tests administered

The Current Post-test

3 indirect & 10 direct questions.

Has all its direct questions based on the Association of College and Research Libraries

(ACRL)information literacy competency standards for higher

education.

The ACRL standards are similar to the

objectives of the Information literacy goals in the General

Education statement of Touro College.

Information Literacy competencies

ACRL Standards

Determines the extent of

information needed

Accesses the needed

information effectively &

efficiently

Evaluates information

and its sources critically

Uses information effectively to accomplish a

specific purpose

Understands the economic, legal & social

issues surrounding

the use of information

Touro General Education Goals adapted from ACRL Standards

To develop, refine & focus a

topic

The ability to select

information from books, journals, the internet &

other media

Evaluate and apply

appropriate search

strategies

Appraise the quality of sources in terms of

reliability, bias, currency

& authority

Demonstrate awareness of legal & ethical considerations in the use of information

The Current Post-test

The post test is posted online via

Google Docs.

The responses go directly into an

excel sheet-- the results are

summarized instanteously.

Not all sites have computers for

their students—so we also give

the test in paper & pencil format.

The answers are analyzed and if

75% answer correctly, we

adjust or change the question.

Touro library sites administered post-tests in 2010N= 2241

Graduate SCAS LCM LCW LAS (Flat-bush)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

CAMPUS

Spring 2010Fall 2010

A reference book can be borrowed.

True False Unsure

A reference book can be borrowed N=2241

TRUE FALSE Unsure0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Resource RecognitionACRL standard#2

Spring

Fall

Wikipedia Cdc.gov Arthritis.com Unsure

From which of the following websites would you consider information on Arthritis to be most accurate?

From which of the following websites would you consider information on Arthritis to be most accurate? N= 2241

wikipedia.org cdc.govarthritis-symptom.com unsure0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Evaluating Sources ACRL #3 & GE #4

SpringFall

From which of the following websites would you consider information on Arthritis to be most accurate?

N= 341 LAS F

N=186 LCM

N= 366 LCW

N= 314 MIDTOWN

N= 196 STARRET

CITY

N= 67 TAINO

N= 95 SUNSET P

ARK

N= 287 BENSONHURST

0102030405060708090

Evaluating sourcesACRL#3 & GE objective#4

wikipediacdc.govarthritis.comunsure

Perc

enta

ge

In determining the reliability of an Internet site, you should look for:

The responsibility of

the siteUser friendliness A sentence or

paragraph stating that the

information is correct

Unsure

In determining the reliability of an Internet site, you should look for:

N= 341 LAS F

N=186 LCM

N= 366 LCW

N= 314 MIDTOWN

N= 196 STARRET

CITY

N= 67 TAINO

N= 95 SUNSET P

ARK

N= 287 BENSONHURST

01020304050607080

Evaluating sourcesGE objective #4

Responsibility of siteUser friendlyA sentence or pargraph stating the information is correctUnsurePe

rcen

tage

Which of the following is a characteristic of articles found in scholarly journals?

Contains glossy pictures

Provides the author’s opinion and viewpoint

Has a list of references Unsure

Which of the following is a characteristic of articles found in scholarly journals? N=2241

Contains glossy pictures

Provides the Author's opinion

Has list of ref-erences

Unsure0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

Indentifying sourcesACRL standard #1

SpringFall

Which of the following is a characteristic of articles found in scholarly journals?

N= 341 LAS F

N=186 LCM

N= 366 LCW

N= 314 MIDTOWN

N= 196 STARRET

CITY

N= 67 TAINO

N= 95 SUNSET P

ARK

N= 287 BENSONHURST

0102030405060708090

100

Identifying sourcesGE objective #2

Contains glossy picturesprovides author's opinion or viewpointhas a list of referencesunsure

Perc

enta

ge

A recent study concluded that “women today eat about 300 calories more per day than women did in the 1970s—mostly from carbs”. Does this information need to be cited when you use it in your paper?

Yes, it needs to be cited

No, it does not need to be cited Unsure

A recent study concluded that “women today eat about 300 calories more per day than women did in the 1970s—mostly from carbs”. Does this information need to be cited when you use it in your paper? N=2241

Yes, it needs to be cited No, it does not need to be cited

Unsure0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Documenting SourcesACRL & GE #5

SpringFall

What did you learn today!Most interesting comments

“I wasn’t aware of the fact that we have books available on the touro website that are easily viewable and downloadable as well. there are many usefool tools to help conduct research and I will utilize it for future assignments.”

“I learnt more about the dangers of plagiarism and how I can be susceptible to it. “

“I learned how to use the system. I also learned if i'm writting something from another author how I suppose to do it to not be considerate as a stealer.”

“There is a lot of valuable information in the library in- service- I think that it should be part of a general orientation at the beginning of each semester for new students. “

Results and Recommendations

• The post tests appear to be reliable since the results are more or less consistent throughout the semesters.

• The post tests appear to have validity since we have based our questions on the ACRL information literacy standards.

• We will add more direct questions to strengthen the validity of the post test.

• We need to assess according to the grade levels of the students.

• For the most recent post test, we have added a question on whether English is their first language or their second.

Challenges!• The current post test is focusing on individual parts of a

concept.• Studies have shown that assessment of information literacy

skills are more accurate when linked to a contextualized problem or assignment.

• Currently we are testing short term skills and lower-level thinking skills.

• If information literacy testing becomes part of an assignment, we could test higher-level thinking skills, such as research skills.

Improvements

• We will add more questions to the post test to construct a more valid assessment tool.

• Embedded librarian in subject specific courses.

• Identify classes that could have information literacy skills incorporated through curriculum mapping of those courses.

• A general information literacy class for incoming freshmen and subject specific courses for upper divisions of undergraduate and/or graduate students based on the evidence of the post tests.

Contact Information

Sara Tabaei, MLIS, MAInformation Literacy Services Director

p: 212-463-0400 ext. 5233 email: sara.tabaei@touro.edu