Blazing Trails: On the Path to Information
Literacy: lighting the path to collections
through collaboration
Brena Smith and Alison Armstrong, UCLA Library
May 1, 2009
Background:
HNRS101-I: Information and Research for
Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Partners & Collaborators
– Undergraduate Initiatives, a new library concept
– Information Literacy Program (outreach to subject
liaisons)
– Undergraduate Research Center, College of Letters &
Science
– Academic Advancement Program
– Future … capstones, fellowships & other long term
research projects
Delivering IL Instruction @ UCLA
• Current line up:
– Fiat Lux: 1 credit, 1 instructor
– EC 123: 1 credit, 1 instructor, Office of Residential Life
– SOC 10: co-taught by 2 librarians and faculty
– GE Program: librarians liaisons, many courses, College of
Letters & Science
– One shots: many librarians, many courses, College of
Letters & Science
Alignment with UCLA Library’s
Strategic Plan
• Making specialized collections available
– “[collections] are identifiable, accessible, and available…”
• Enriching services
– “…high quality services that support research, teaching,
learning, and the creation of knowledge…”
• Improving research skills
– “measurable raise…student’s information competence”
– “beneficial partnerships”
http://www2.library.ucla.edu/pdf/UCLALibraryStrategicPlan200609.pdf
HNRS101-I Criteria
• Our mission: to create something different!
– Need to meet the needs of several groups of students
– Collections/Partnerships/Collaboration
• Across-library unit
• Across campus
– Adaptable
• Sustainable
Course Design & Objectives
• The usual suspects: improve research skills and strategies,
ethical use of information, etc.
• Wanted to emphasize:
– Searching , accessing, utilizing documents from
specialized collections
– Deeper understanding of the collections, docs, services
important to specific disciplines
– Deeper understanding of issues that affect access to
information
Course Design & Objectives
• Course structure
– Each class session (quarterly, 2hr/once per week)
– Weekly themes: From catalog to copyright and from
books to data in the cloud
– Required textbook
– Utilizing the experts & the collections
– Making it all accessible
• Role of instructor
HNRS101-I
• Assignments & course readings
– Literature Review
– Presentation
– General assignments
– Readings
Assessment
• Overall success of the pilot
– Indicators
• Enrollment
• Time – effort
• Stakeholders
• Student learning
– Indicators
• Pre/post tests
• Assignments/Final Literature Review
Assessment:
Pretest
• Fall 2008 & Winter 2009
– Variety of ways students begin their research
– Varying levels of difficulty utilizing databases/OPACs
– About 50% (in both classes) could correctly identify
definition of peer-reviewed journal article
– Difficulty locating journal titles
Assessment:
Post-test
• Fall 2008
– Administered at the end of Winter 2009
– 4 Multiple choice, 1 open-ended comments
• Winter 2009
– Administered at the end of the quarter
– 3 multiple choice questions, 6 narrative, 1 open-ended
comments
Assessment:
Conclusions
• Final literature review
– Synthesize ideas & identify contributions
– Depth & breadth of research
• Use of documents and collections
• Oral Presentation
Role Playing
•
•
•
•
Break into groups of 4
Assign roles
Discuss, voice your perspective
Report back
Challenges & Opportunities
• Sustainability & growth
– Coordinator role
– Guest lecturers
– Adaptability
• Enrollment
• Fiscal concerns
• Collections
• Partnerships
Thank you!
• Alison Armstrong aarmstrong@library.ucla.edu
• Brena Smith brena@library.ucla.edu