Sue Samson and Kim Granath
Mansfield Library
University of Montana-Missoula
Throughout the country, universities are integrating information literacy into their curricula in response to changing enrollment patterns, varying student research abilities, and the fast-paced evolution of the Information Age (Roth, 1999). Although information literacy is an instructional goal that begins with libraries, it is at the core of an academic education and depends on a campus-wide culture of learning that endorses information and research as an essential component (Arnold, 2000). Shapiro and Hughes (1996) propose that information literacy be seen as "a new liberal art" so important do they consider it to the education of the "information-age citizen."
The research process has always been an essential component of the academic curriculum. While the Information Age has accelerated the process of gathering information, the ability to analyze and evaluate information has lagged (Bazillion & Braun, 1995). To foster information literate students who graduate with the ability to be life-long learners, two important elements need to be incorporated into their academic careers--the ability to conduct electronic research in tandem with evaluation and critical thinking and the integration of these processes into the university curriculum.
In a world rich in information and technology, student researchers today enter the academy with a lifestyle that incorporates fast-paced change, nonlinear and nonsequential modes of operation, and a reliance on the visual image. Frequently, their experience with research begins and ends with the World Wide Web (Web). Depending upon their point of access, the Web may provide traditional indexes of peer-reviewed journal literature or commercial and personal Web sites of variable quality. While the inability to evaluate information resources is not a new conundrum, the quantity and ease of access to information is new (Bazillion & Braun, 1995). In tandem with electronic research, critical thinking is the essential component of competency in information literacy.
Academic libraries are teaching libraries that seek to introduce students to the world of scholarly dialogue (Bechtel, 1986). Fifteen years ago, a student with a research assignment approached the library with 3x5 cards at the ready and used the card catalog to identify books selected by librarians and available in the library. This same student then used one or perhaps several indexes to periodical literature to locate journal articles also reviewed by professionals. This process was usually introduced as part of the high school curriculum and further augmented during college.
Since then, both the volume of information and the methods of access to information have been transformed. Today, students with a research assignment frequently sit down at a computer and enter the unreviewed maze of the Web. There they find text and images that can be easily downloaded and manipulated. Presentation of these resources can occur with little, if any, consideration for the quality, accuracy, or authorship of the information. The remedy to these oversights is a quality learning environment in which information sources are evaluated and analyzed to determine their value in academic research.
Academic librarians have never lost sight of the importance of scholarly dialogue as the essential component of research. This belief has remained constant with the rapid development of electronic access to information resources. Enter the Web pages of The University of Montana Mansfield Library (www.lib.umt.edu) and discover the rich rewards of access to quality information resources. An electronic search of a database that includes a consortium of library catalogs garners information about resources in libraries worldwide. Most traditional academic indexes to periodical literature are now available online; some even include the full-text of the journal articles indexed. Consistent with previous policies, these resources require subscriptions that now include licensing agreements. Although these databases are subscribed to via Web access, they are not found as part of a general Web search; libraries make the databases available to their university students, faculty and staff.
Web search engines, however, are the most frequently used access points to the Web. Although many valuable resources are available on the Web, it does not include traditional academic indexes to professional, peer-reviewed journals nor are the contents of Web resources reviewed by professionals. Thus, searching for quality Web sites is often compared to wandering through a bookstore with all the books strewn on the floor.
Web search engines also have their own dynamics (Granath, 2000). They vary in their methods of searching and in the numbers of pages that they search. Entire Web sites are devoted to comparing the search features of the myriad of Web search engines now available. To get the best results, searches need to be completed in more than one Web search engine or in a meta-search engine that queries multiple search engines simultaneously. There are now new search engines devoted to searching the hidden web. The hidden web consists of information resources whose contents cannot be indexed by traditional Web search engines; e.g., refer to http://www.invisibleweb.com. Subject directories, annotated guides to select Web sites, are another efficient method for locating reputable sites. These subject directories review Web pages and include links to selected pages; e.g. refer to http://lii.org. Although they vary in their level of selectivity, these sites are reliable sources for finding academic material on the Web.
Once a Web site has been identified, critical analysis of the resource can determine its appropriateness for academic research (Jacobson & Cohen 1997; Granath, 1999). Who is the author or sponsor? What are their credentials? How accurate is the information presented? Does it identify its sources? Is the information comprehensive? When was the information last updated? The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Web address serves as an important initial evaluative resource. The last three letters of the URL before the first slash (/) identify the type of server hosting the pages; e.g., education (.edu), government (.gov), organizations (.org), and commercial (.com). Also, a tilde (~) in the URL frequently identifies it as a personal page.
Servers hosting educational and governmental information frequently incorporate a review process that makes these resources more reliable than commercial, organizational, and personal pages. All of these factors are important criteria that can be used to evaluate Web pages included in literature cited.
Although students are the primary users of the library, faculty are the critical link to the Mansfield Library's Instruction Program (Samson, 1998). Without information literate faculty, students will flounder in their ability to complete competent research based on the design of out-dated or library-unfriendly assignments. Electronic research has revolutionized access to information, but it has not changed the basic premise upon which good research is based, that of reviewing the published professional literature.
Collaboration with teaching faculty to imbed information literacy into the curriculum is the focus of the Library's Instruction Program. This model has been widely accepted at universities across the country (Raspa & Ward, 2000). In contrast to "show and tell" library sessions completed separate from class research assignments, integrated instruction occurs in response to an assignment developed in collaboration between a teaching faculty member and a library faculty member. Ideally, the process is sequential and builds on student understanding and success, is structured to take advantage of available information resources, and is integral to curricular assessment of student progress.
Information literacy needs to be integrated at all instruction levels. Similar to 100-level courses throughout the university curriculum, first-year students need to acquire library experiences that establish a basic understanding of information resources and access. These basics include the ability to use the online library catalog, to locate resources in the library, and to access the general, multi-disciplinary databases that index periodical literature. Findings from a Research IQ survey distributed to entering freshman during summer 2000 orientations identified that over 75.8% of these students haved used the Web for research; 90.2% will have internet access when they become freshmen. These students need to learn effective search strategies for locating academic resources on the Web. They need to learn how to evaluate these Web resources and how to properly cite these resources in bibliographies.
Building on these basics, upper-division students can advance to subject-specific research resources that complement the 300- and 400-level curricula. These students need to identify peer-reviewed journals relevant to their major field of study. They need to learn advanced search strategies using subject-specific databases. More advanced research frequently requires the use of online document delivery and interlibrary loan to acquire resources not available on-site. Advanced strategies to maximize access to relevant Web resources is also important. Electronic research--searching electronic information resources; creating an electronic record of citations, notes, quotes, full-text; and developing a working bilbiography--is a process that would benefit these students.
Instruction at the Mansfield Library is integrated into the curriculum in variable degrees. For first-year students, curriculum-integrated library components exist in English Composition and Freshman Seminar and in a less formalized way in Public Speaking and Freshman Interest Groups. Library teaching faculty have participated in University Transition programs and provide regular orientation support for foreign students. Upper-division students receive course-integrated library classes upon faculty request. Librarians co-teach a Biological Literature class and a research methods class for beginning graduate students in the English Department. Library teaching faculty collaborate as well with Computing and Information Services in complementary areas of instruction and service.
More than 4500 students receive library research instruction throughout the academic year. Since spring semester 2000, a web-based assessment form has been used to establish levels of information literarcy and to determine the effectiveness of the program. The assessment was developed by the Library's teaching faculty and based on the concept of tiered instruction--levels of information literacy appropriate to lower-division undergraduates, upper division undergraduates, and graduate students (Samson, 2000). This assessment was further refined for fall semester 2000 based on the results of the previous semester and on the findings of the Research IQ given to incoming freshmen. Analysis of the 2000-2001 academic year assessments will be compared to the pre-test Research IQ and the previous year's assessments. These data will be used to provide direction to further strengthen the Instruction Program.
The research process includes the ability to find and evaluate resources and apply this information to decisions both professional and personal. Electronic research empowers students with the ability to connect to a wealth of resources while simultaneously developing an electronic working bibliography and notes in preparation for compiling their information. Critical thinking is, and always has been, essential to academic research; electronic access has crystallized its importance by increasing the quantity and ease of access to information.
It is imperative that educators foster information literate students by expecting that electronic research occur in tandem with evaluation and critical thinking and by integrating the development of this learning process into their curriculum. Within a campus-wide culture of learning, the research process cultivates the value and importance of information. Subsequently, access to information becomes imbedded into the curriculum. As a result, the library becomes a learning laboratory where students are introduced to scholarly dialogue in support of their advancing academic careers. The role of the library's Instruction Program in the university campus is vital within a framework of resource-based education and active learning.
By closing the gap between the classroom and the library, instruction is focused within the framework of the information environment. The library then takes its place as a curriculum integrated entity where students assume responsibility for their own learning. Active, integrated learning is a model for which libraries are well prepared. Active learning transforms the library from a place where books are housed to a learning laboratory essential throughout the curriculum. Library instruction likewise evolves from a "show and tell" format separate from the classroom to an active learning process through which information literacy instruction is delivered in concert with the university curriculum.
Literature Cited
Arnold, Judith M. (2000, Spring). Who needs information Literacy Anyway? Gatherings, 24. Friends of the University Libraries, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.
Bazillion, Richard J., & Braun, Connie. (1995). Academic Libraries as High-Tech Gateways: A Guide to Design and Space Decision. ALA, Chicago. 180p.
Bechtel, Joan M. (1986, May). Conversation, a new paradigm for librarianship? College and Research Libraries, 47, 221.
Granath, Kim. (2000). Evaluating Web Pages. Mansfield Library Guide, Univ. of Montana. Retrieved August 3, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.lib.umt.edu/guide/evalweb.htm.
Granath, Kim. (2000). Guide to Web Searching. Mansfield Library Guide, Univ. of Montana. Retrieved August 3, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.lib.umt.edu/guide/basic3.htm
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