While faculty often express dismay at their students' ability to locate and evaluate secondary sources, they may also be ambivalent about how to (and who should) teach the skills required to carry out quality undergraduate research. This project sought to assess the impact of programmatic changes and librarian course integration on students' information literacy (IL) skills. Using an IL rubric to score student papers (n=337) over three consecutive first-year student cohorts, our study shows that when faculty collaborate with librarians to foster IL competencies, the result is a statistically significant improvement in students' demonstrated research skills. Our study also reveals a collaboration "sweet spot": The greatest gains accrue when librarians provide moderate input into syllabus and assignment design, followed by one or two strategically placed hands-on library sessions. Successful collaboration thus need not entail completely overhauling content courses so as to make library instruction the centerpiece. Quite the opposite, librarians can help reduce the potential burden on faculty by supporting discipline-and course-specific research goals, as well as by sharing resources and best practices in IL pedagogy.

The Claremont Colleges Library conducted direct rubric assessment of Pitzer College First-Year Seminar research papers to analyze the impact of diverse levels of librarian course collaborations on information literacy (IL) performance in student writing. Findings indicate that progressive degrees of librarian engagement in IL-related course instruction and/or syllabus and assignment design had an increasingly positive impact on student performance. A secondary indirect analysis of librarian teaching evaluations and self-perceived learning gains by students and faculty showed no correlation to rubric IL scores, suggesting the importance of "authentic" assessment in determining actual learning outcomes. This mixed-methods study presents findings in each area and examines their implications for effective IL course collaborations. Introduction: Holistic Assessment and its ChallengesModern libraries operate in a climate of rapid organizational, technological, and information change, the demands of which are exacerbated by persistent resource scarcity. In this context, assessment has become central to the practice of determining and communicating the "value" of academic libraries to the communities of higher learning in which they are situated.1 From ethnography to quantitative study to user experience research, numerous strategies are employed to evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of library services, tools, operations, and personnel in order to support the goal of producing "evidence-based reports of measurable impact."

abstract:The authors conducted a rubric assessment of information literacy (IL) skills in research papers across five undergraduate first-year seminar programs to explore the question "What impact does librarian intervention in first-year courses have on IL performance in student work?" Statistical results indicate that students in courses with greater levels of strategic faculty-librarian collaboration performed significantly better in IL outcomes than those in courses with low collaboration. Intensive librarian course support was not necessary to achieve significant learning gains; these tended to occur when librarians provided initial input into syllabus and assignment design, followed by one or two assignment-focused IL workshops.

BackgroundWhile the term “information literacy” is not often used, the skills associated with that concept are now central to the mission and accreditation process of medical schools. The simultaneous emphasis on critical thinking skills, knowledge acquisition, active learning, and development and acceptance of technology perfectly positions libraries to be central to and integrated into the curriculum.Case PresentationThis case study discusses how one medical school and health sciences library leveraged accreditation to develop a sustainable and efficient flipped classroom model for teaching information literacy skills to first-year medical students. The model provides first-year medical students with the opportunity to learn information literacy skills, critical thinking skills, and teamwork, and then practice these skills throughout the pre-clerkship years.ConclusionsThe curriculum was deemed a success and will be included in next year’s first-year curriculum. Faculty have reported substantial improvements in the information sources that first-year medical students are using in subsequent clinical reasoning conferences and in other parts of the curriculum. The effectiveness of the curriculum model was assessed using a rubric.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an examination of how web conferencing software and screencasting software has been used to provide training to librarians participating in the Illinois State Library's AskAway Illinois virtual reference cooperative.Design/methodology/approachBrief overview of the features of the web conferencing and screencasting software used, Wimba and Jing, respectively, is provided followed by a discussion of the implementation of these products as librarian training tools within the AskAway Illinois. Recommendations for training with these tools are also made based on experience and a review of the literature.FindingsUsing an online synchronous environment (Wimba) to provide AskAway Illinois introductory training ensures all librarians joining the cooperative have at least a basic level of knowledge. Follow‐up training is sometimes necessary and is best accomplished using an online asynchronous method (Jing) that is more convenient than a synchronous environment and is more informative than email or a phone call.Originality/valueAn example of how Wimba and Jing are implemented for librarian training is provided. Examples of best practices for using web conferencing and screencasting software to train librarians on new technology are also provided.