GOING THE DISTANCE
FOR INFORMATION
LITERACY:
A RESEARCH PROPOSAL
EVA CAUDILL
HEATHER HEALY
CARLA HEIDEMAN
OVERVIEW

Research Goal

Examine how academic libraries can increase
information literacy in undergraduate distance
education learners at Emporia State University


Distant learners live at least an hour’s drive from campus
Three unique challenges to distance learners
Frequently nontraditional students with work/family
obligations
 Cannot physically visit the library
 May feel excluded or cut off from the library


Use of learning management system (LMS) and
virtual reference to increase information literacy

Incorporation of library resources into an LMS
RESEARCH AIM

Research Aim

Determine whether library materials and services
within Blackboard and the virtual reference services
provided at ESU are meeting students’ needs and
whether these systems and services successfully
teach distance learners information literacy skills
RESEARCH AIM
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher
Education
 http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informati
onliteracycompetency.cfm


Five Competencies:
 1. Determine the nature and extent of the information
needed.
 2. Access the needed information effectively and efficiently.
 3. Evaluate information and its sources critically and
incorporate selected information into his or her knowledge
base
 4. Use information effectively to accomplish a specific
purpose.
 5. Understand many of the economic, legal, and social issues
surrounding the use of information and access and use of
information ethically and legally.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS



1. Are instructors incorporating the library through
Blackboard? If so, at what level are they doing so? Do they
collaborate with and incorporate librarians?
2. Do distance-learning students use virtual reference
transactions? If so, are the transactions helpful?
3. Do distance learning students feel they are information
literate (as set forth in the ACRL guidelines) and do they
use information seeking behavior that demonstrates
information literacy?
DATA COLLECTION

Quantitative and Qualitative Data and Analysis
Self-completion questionnaire on Survey Monkey
 Learn how instructors incorporate library resources
within their course
 Instructors who agree to allow their students to be
surveyed and will provide a link to the student selfcompletion questionnaire survey on Survey Monkey
through Blackboard
 Learn if students use virtual reference and if they are
information literate
 Primarily quantitative research but student survey
includes open-ended questions too

INSTRUCTOR SURVEY
35 instructors teaching online undergraduate
courses at ESU in Fall 2011 (Due Fri. Sept. 30)
 Initial letter explaining research (Mon. Sept. 12)
 Self-completion questionnaire- Survey Monkey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LGYJ3R7.
 Reminder letter (Mon. Sept. 26)
 Timing - classes are underway and instructors’
schedules set
 Survey – inexpensive, minimal time commitment
for instructors

STUDENT SURVEY
Students in online classes from instructors who
participated in initial survey – Instructors post to
Blackboard (Mon. Nov. 14)
 Survey Monkey – Self completion questionnaire
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VGNHSRM and
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VGF269G
(Due Fri., Dec. 2)
 Instructors will post reminder on Blackboard
(Mon. Nov. 28)
 Timing – Students have had a chance to use
virtual reference and library resources in
Blackboard; before finals week
 Survey – inexpensive and voluntary; non invasive

PILOT STUDY
To address issues of reliability and validity, the
survey will be pretested by sending it in late July
to five instructors teaching undergraduate online
courses this summer (not included in list of 35
instructors for Fall 2011)
 Student pilot study with students from two of the
five classes whose instructors participated in the
pretest for the instructor’s survey

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Use of human participants

ESU Institutional Research Ethics Board
Participation is strictly voluntary
 Encode instructor names/course numbers so data
is not associated with names
 Store codes separately from data
 Contact information will be disposed of properly
after the drawing
 Participants must be over the age of 18
 Participants will have access to final research
paper

LIMITATIONS

Adequate population size

35 instructors teaching online classes Fall 2011
Assume each online class would have need to use
information literacy skills
 Number of students who are truly online distance
learners
 Not a longitudinal study

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH

Help information professionals and instructors in
the future on how to better include library
resources into learning management systems so
that students will feel more competent with their
information literacy skills, especially as online
course enrollment expands.
FOR FURTHER READING
Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods.
(Third ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press.
 Gandhi, S. (2003). Academic librarians and
distance education. Reference & User Services
Quarterly, 43(2), 138-154. Retrieved from Library
Lit & Inf Full Text database.
 Jackson, P.A. (2007). Integrating information
literacy into Blackboard: Building campus
partnerships for successful student learning. The
Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33(4), 454461.

QUESTIONS??