The criteria set out in this document are intended to help describe, review and evaluate practice in information literacy 1 training principally for higher education researchers, but also for students and teaching staff. They relate to all interventions aimed at developing information-handling knowledge, skills and competencies, whether in the form of face-to-face sessions/courses or digital/online resources (thereafter referred to in this document as ‘courses or resources’).
The criteria serve three broad purposes:
(i) Helping training practitioners (i.e. institutional staff who design and deliver courses and resources) to describe and review them; the aim being to provide a structured and recognized way of presenting such interventions in online resources and demonstrating their value.
(ii) Providing a simple means of assessing courses and resources, for use within or outside the institutions in which the interventions have been compiled; the aim being to evaluate their suitability and usefulness as transferable resources.
(iii) Serving as a prompt for a dialogue between training practitioners and learners, and providing a structure for such a dialogue.
However, the criteria are not intended as a prescriptive or rigid tool, nor as a means of assessing the performance of training practitioners: they are very much about providing the latter with a logical and common-sense self-help framework that will assist them with the formulation and delivery of their resources.
The criteria take the form of a series of structured questions, set out in a table under two broad headings:
A.
describing and reviewing courses or resources
B.
evaluating courses and resources
These two parts are complementary, and in both cases, the criteria are articulated around a series of questions addressed directly at practitioners. There is also a preamble with general questions about the course or resource.
The criteria are informed by, and incorporate elements from teaching/learning resources criteria devised by other bodies (Vitae 2 , Jorum 3 , CILIP 4 , HEA 5 , DELILA 6 ). They are also available online at http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/strand2/ .
July 2013
1 Information literacy is defined in the broadest sense as knowledge, understanding and skills relating to all aspects of discovering, handling, creating and disseminating of research information and data; see http://www.rin.ac.uk/information-literacy .
2 Vitae Database of Practice, http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/34837/Database-of-practice.html
3 Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition judging criteria, http://www.alt.ac.uk/sites/default/files/assets_editor_uploads/documents/Jorum%20Learning%20%20and%20Teaching%20Competitio n%202010%20Final.pdf
4 CILIP CSG Information Literacy Group, Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/2010/12/csg-information-literacy-group-information-literacy-practitioner-of-the-year-nominationssought/
5 HEA evaluation of commercial online tutorial packages
6 DELILA criteria for evaluating information literacy and digital literacy open educational resources (OERs); these are drawn heavily from an earlier version of the above RIN criteria

Name of course/resource
Main aims and objectives of the course
/ resource
Month/year in which it was instituted
URL
Hosting organisation
Contact name
Email address
Phone number
Date on which questions were answered

Questions
1.1 Learners
Set out who the learners are that the course or resource is designed for.
1.1.1
Career stage
 Undergraduate student
 Postgraduate/research student
 Postdoctoral/Research Fellow
 Tenured researcher (lecturer, reader)
 Professorial/senior level
 Other
1.1.2.
Discipline
Responses

1.2 Need
Need relates both to what individual learners might require as part of their broader professional development, and also to the needs of relevant organisations, such as the
HEIs where learners study or the funders that support them. Also, professional requirements might highlight the usefulness of the course or resource. So the extent to which need is assessed or analysed prior to the formulation a course or resource could be an indicator of its effectiveness, and provide an important basis for setting its objectives.
1.2.1.
What steps have you taken to assess learners’ need for the course or resource (please describe)?
And if not, why not?
1.2.2.
How does the course fit the broader professional needs of the learners?
1.2.3.
How does the course fit with your institutional and/or departmental policy and practice on researcher development? Does it relate also to expectations or requirements from relevant professional bodies?
1.2.4.
Can the course be transferred or adapted to suit other needs or contexts from the one for which it was designed?
1.2.5.
How accessible is the course or resource, particularly for learners with special needs or disabilities such as visual impairment?

1.3 Demand
In addition to responding to need, it is also important to meet demand from individuals who wish to receive training in order to be able to perform effectively as researchers.
1.3.1.
To what extent is the course a response to the demand from learners?
How have you identified this?
1.3.2.
Is participation by learners in previous similar training activities a factor in helping you determine demand?
Describe analysis of participation by learners in previous similar training activities by:
 Range of learners by discipline
 Range of learners by career stage
 Other (please specify)

1.4 Meeting requirements
The ‘market’ for training is conditioned by a combination of anticipation of need, and responsiveness to demand. The course or resource’s level and learning objectives should reflect detailed consideration of both these areas.
1.4.1.
How is the course or resource made appropriate to its target learners in terms of:
 Current level of skill
 Years of experience
 Disciplinary areas
1.4.2.
What do learners need to know already in order to benefit from the course (prior knowledge)?
Have you set any baseline to reflect this?

Questions Responses
2.1 Areas of information literacy covered
Information literacy covers a wide range of knowledge, skills and competencies, and it is important to describe to which of these the course or resource relates. One or more boxes may be ticked, and if appropriate, further information about content may be recorded briefly.
Relevant broad areas:
 Information searching and discovery
 Critical evaluation and analysis of information sources
 Citation and referencing
 Data management and curation
 Plagiarism, fraud, copyright and other relevant legal issues
 Data protection and/or freedom of information
 Publishing and dissemination of research results
(including open access)
 Other (please specify)
2.2 Learning outcomes
It is important to ensure that there is awareness of learning outcomes, at the outset of the course or the use of the resource.
What have you done to communicate the aims and objectives, and clear learning outcomes to learners or users of resource, based on assessment of need and demand?

2.3 Use of frameworks
Information literacy training also forms part of professional development more broadly. It is therefore inherently related to models or frameworks, such as the Researcher
Development Framework (RDF) rounded way.
7 and the Seven Pillars of Information Literacy 8 , and to the range of initiatives within institutions aimed at developing researchers in a well-
Is the course informed by the following frameworks, and how:
 Researcher Development Framework (RDF)
 Seven Pillars of Information Literacy
 Other
2.4 RDF Information lens
The information lens 9 highlights specifically the areas of the RDF where information literacy is part of the professional development of researchers, and gives an overview of the key knowledge, behaviours and attributes that can be acquired through, or used in, information literacy activities.
Have you sought to make use of the information lens of the RDF and how?
7 http://www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf
8 http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/seven_pillars.html
9 http://www.vitae.ac.uk/CMS/files/upload/Vitae_Information_Literacy_Lens_on_the_RDF_Apr_2012.pdf

Questions
3.1 Approach
These questions should be addressed when describing the mechanics of the delivery of the course or resource.
3.1.1
Format of course:
 Classroom-based courses (lecture or workshop)
 Individual tuition
 Online courses
 Training material (printed or digital)
 Other
3.1.2
Provide short descriptions of the main features of the course, against the categories below:
 Mode of learning
 Length of course
 How many times the course in its current format has been delivered
 Use of assignments
 Assessed/non-assessed
 Other (please specify)
Responses

3.2 Training providers
There are a number of points to be considered with regards to those responsible for the delivery of the course or resource, and the skills required.
3.2.1
Who designs and delivers the course?
 Library
 Graduate school
 IS department
 Other (please specify)
3.2.2
State the roles and responsibilities of each of these players with regards to the design and delivery of the course/resource.
 Library
 Graduate school
 IS department
 Other
3.2.3
List the skills or know how required by those devising, running or managing the course.
How do these skills relate to the different roles and responsibilities?
How were these skills acquired?

3.3 Support, dissemination and promotion
Support for the delivery of the course or resource comes in a variety of forms, from physical entities such as staff and equipment through to easy access to online resources.
3.3.1
Describe support required to run the course in terms of:
 Personnel
 Facilities
 Financial
3.3.2
What has been done to disseminate information about the course or resource, and also to promote it, among interested parties within the institution in which it has been developed? This relates not only to learners themselves, but also to the library, IS department, graduate school, supervisors, deans/heads of department, institutional managers, etc.)
3.3.3
[Digital/online resources only] What has been done to make any online resource available online for users outside the institution in which it has been developed? Has it been deposited in online facilities such as Jorum?
3.3.4
[Digital/online resources only] Is the resource free to use outside the institution, or can it be readily purchased? What are the license terms, if appropriate?

Ascertaining the influence, benefits and success of the course or resource, and relating them to baselines and objectives, is crucial for describing its effectiveness. The questions below are drawn partly from The Impact Framework evaluation model developed by Vitae’s Impact and Evaluation Group (IEG
– formerly the Rugby Team) 10 . For reference, the relevant impact level is indicated in brackets after each question.
Questions Responses
4.1 Numbers
(Vitae IEG impact level 0: Foundations)
How many learners have taken part in course or used resource by:
 Career stage
 Discipline
If course or resource run/used previously, are there any trends in terms of number of learners?
10 See http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/1418/Rugby-Team-activities.html

4.2 Feedback
(Vitae IEG impact level 1: Reaction)
What have been the reaction and feedback from users in terms of:
 Whether learning objectives met
 Quality of course/resource
 Originality of course/resource
 Attractiveness of course/resource
What is shown by evaluation and analysis of such feedback?

Questions
5.3 Knowledge and skills
(Vitae IEG impact level 2: Learning)
Changes in learners’ knowledge, skills and competencies resulting from course or resource
How have these been assessed?
5.4 Behaviour and attitudes
(Vitae IEG impact level 3: Behaviour)
Improvements that may be attributable to course/resource in terms of:
 Researcher attitude
 Confidence
 Behaviour
 Performance and practice
How have these been ascertained?
Responses

5.5 High-level impact
(Vitae IEG impact level 4: Outcomes)
Broader impact of the course/resource:
 Extent to which recipients have become better learners and/or researchers
 Way in which this has benefitted institution
What has been feedback from departments in which recipients work?
5.6 Challenges/barriers
What challenges and/or barriers (including lack of resources) have been encountered in implementing the course or resource?
How are these managed and/or overcome?
5.7 Steps taken
What steps have been taken to improve course/resource as result of any evaluation?

EXPLANATORY NOTES
A.
Criteria for describing and reviewing courses or resources
This first set of criteria is destined chiefly for those who, within higher education institutions, are responsible for devising, running or managing courses, sessions and other digital/online resources aimed at developing researchers’ information-handling knowledge, skills and competencies. The criteria take the form of a set of structured questions intended to help practitioners describe such interventions for the benefit of learners, but also for their peers. This might be useful for a number of reasons, including:
 a consistent approach to descriptions should make it easier to compare different courses or resources; this is for the benefit of learners, but also for colleagues in their own or institution who might be interested in drawing from what has previously been done;
 consistency is also useful when courses or resources are set out in public or open environments such as those found in Jorum 11 and the Vitae Database of Practice;
 a recognised way of describing courses or resources means that practitioners do not have to reinvent ways of presenting the different ones that they may be involved in.
In addition, addressing the criteria could be useful in helping to frame practitioners’ courses or resources, to review them for their own purposes and conceivably to demonstrate their value.
This first set of criteria is thus intended to answer the following broad questions:



In the first instance, practitioners will want to set out who the course or resource is designed for. It is then important to describe needs; these relate both to what individual learners might require as part of their broader professional development, and also to the needs of relevant organisations, such as the HEIs where learners study or the funders that support them. Also, professional requirements might highlight the usefulness of the course or resource. So the extent to which need is assessed or analysed prior to the formulation a course or resource could be an indicator of its effectiveness, and provide an important basis for setting its objectives.
Nevertheless, in addition to responding to need, it is also important to meet demand from individuals who wish to receive training in order to be able to perform effectively as researchers.
The ‘market’ for training is therefore conditioned by a combination of anticipation of need, and responsiveness to demand.
Information literacy covers a wide range of knowledge, skills and competencies, and it is important to describe to which of these the course or resource relates. Information literacy training also forms part of professional development more broadly. It is therefore inherently related to models or frameworks, such as the Researcher Development Framework (RDF)
Literacy
12 and the Seven Pillars of Information
13 , and to the range of initiatives within institutions aimed at developing researchers in a wellrounded way.
There are a number of practical questions that should be addressed when describing the mechanics of delivery, and also those responsible for the delivery
(roles/ responsibilities, skills of trainers, support required for running courses and resources, etc.).
Another important set of questions concerns the way that the course or resource is disseminated and promoted for learners and other stakeholders, within institutions and more broadly.
B.
Criteria for evaluating courses or resources
This second set of criteria is for the benefit of training practitioners who are looking to identify and possibly make use of existing information literacy courses and resources devised by their peers in other departments
11 www.jorum.ac.uk
12 http://www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf
13 http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/seven_pillars.html

or institutions. The emphasis here is on how finding out how success has been measured, how needs have been met, and what have been the outputs and outcomes of the courses or resources.
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Ascertaining the influence, benefits and success of the course or resource, and relating them to baselines and objectives, is crucial. It is therefore important to set out a range of criteria to help training practitioners and their institutions gather evidence to describe the effectiveness of the course or resource. The relevant questions for these criteria draw partly from the Impact Framework developed by Vitae’s Impact and
Evaluation Group (IEG – formerly the Rugby Team) 14 and are set out below. The first two relate to indicators that would be available following the completion of the course or soon after the resource has been used. The remaining questions relate to the longer term consequences of the training interventions..
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July 2013
14 See http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/1418/Rugby-Team-activities.html