Posts Tagged ‘Information literacy instruction’

Thank You, ACRL!

January 31, 2015

A question that always comes up in discussions of embedded librarianship is, does it work? That is, does it result in improved learning outcomes for students, and / or other improvements in achieving the institution’s mission and goals. Some small-scale assessments and a fair number of positive anecdotes have been published before, but we’ve lacked a large-scale, authoritative study.

Until now.

The Association of College & Research Libraries has just released a report that helps a lot in answering that question. , by Karen Brown and Kara J. Malenfant, is the report of a massive study in which over 70 North American academic libraries participated. If you’re interested in academic libraries, assessment of library services, or both, it’s a must-read.

Here are three of eight project findings listed in the Executive Summary, p. 1-2:

“(3) Students who receive library instruction as part of their courses achieve higher grades and demonstrate better information literacy competencies than students who do not receive course-related library instruction.

(7) Multiple library instruction session or activities in connection with a course are more effective than one-shot instruction sessions.

(8) Collaborative instructional activities and services between the library and other campus units … promote student learning and success.”

These findings beg the question, how do you achieve the ability to integrate instruction into courses, break out of the superficial one-shot approach, and build collaborations across campus?

While there are various options and approaches, my suggestion would be to adopt the embedded service model. It’s by enabling librarians to get out of the library, build relationships, and adopt common tactics with others to achieve institutional goals, that we open up these opportunities for ourselves.

So thank you ACRL, Drs. Brown and Malenfant, for this study!

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First-year College Students, Project Information Literacy, and Embedded Librarianship

December 18, 2013

I’ve just been reading the most recent report from . Released just a couple weeks ago, it’s entitled  It’s of particular interest to me, because together with my faculty colleague Dr. Sung Un Kim, I’m working on a study of the role of librarians in the First Year Experience (FYE) program here at Catholic University of America.

There were many observations in the report that were consistent with my impressions; I found myself nodding in agreement continously. There weren’t any big surprises; just many clear and compelling insights that I sort-of knew, but needed to focus on more clearly. There were echoes of time-tested models and principles of information behavior at work: concepts like the Principle of Least Effort, Mooers’ Law, the human tendency to ask other people we know for help with information needs, and elements of Carol Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process. These are fundamentals that every librarian ought to learn by heart and apply every day anyway.

What I found most arresting was the study’s insight into just how jarring the transition from high school to college is. When it comes to information literacy, the students in the study enter college very poorly prepared for the research environment that awaits them: the resources are much more complex, the expectations are much different, and the skills needed are nothing like what they have learned in their secondary education.

Enter the embedded librarian. As I read, I found passages that just cried out for embedded librarians — observations like “freshmen had little idea about who to ask for help” and didn’t know whom to ask on the library staff — or even that there was anyone on the library staff that would help them (p. 14); or “most students don’t need to ask for help,” “Reference librarians are available only to students who have gotten stuck on their research,” and “A scholarly database(s) recommended by a librarian is the only source worth checking.” (Myths 1, 3, and 4 of 5, p. 19)

Imagine, then, how glad I was to see that in the concluding section, recommendation 2 is “An integrated approach to teaching information competencies”, and the embedded model is cited as a way to achieving that integration. I agree, of course.

So if you’re an academic librarian — especially if you’re involved in reference, instruction, and outreach, I highly recommend that you read this report. It contains great insights, and may help you in developing your own embedded role.

Collaborate! (Is There Any Other Way?)

July 26, 2013

I’ve just uploaded to Slideshare the presentation I gave at the SLA Conference last month. It’s entitled, “Collaborate! (Is There Any Other Way?)” and you can find it at  .

Hope you find it helpful. Comments welcome!

Jan. 14 Webinar Available

January 19, 2013

I’ve posted my webinar presentation, “To Evaluation and Beyond: The Evolving Role of the Embedded Librarian” in Slideshare at   .