From Insidehighered.com: Research Methods 'Beyond Google'

This is an interesting article about the need for information literacy integration across the curriculum and the techniques a few colleges and universities are using to make it happen. Especially interesting is the Cornell Undergraduate Information Competency Initiative.

Follow Up Information about NJAC Title 9A (from May Discussion)

From Laura Gewissler:

The following is excerpted from NJAC Title 9A: Higher Education posted on the Commission of Higher Education web site under regulatory postings: http://www.state.nj.us/highereducation/PDFs/Licensure_Mar08.pdf
See section 9A: 1- 1.9 (pages 7 & 8) for the changes proposed for August 2008. Bolded sections are the proposed changes.

Excerpts:
9A:1-1.9 Library
(a) At its most elementary level, the collegiate teaching and learning process cannot proceed effectively without the essential services, collections, computerized network access, and other resources that are provided and administered by an institution's library. For this reason, much emphasis is placed upon the adequacy of the library, its collections, and its staffing. In the 21st century, emphasis is also placed on information literacy for all students.
(b) Qualified library professionals, librarians, and support personnel in numbers sufficient to serve the needs of students and faculty shall staff the institution's library. Every institution, regardless of enrollment or number of academic offerings, shall provide access to at least one qualified library professional with the exception of institutions whose library collection is primarily in a language or languages other than English. Institutions whose collection is primarily in a language or languages other than English shall provide access to a qualified library professional, a librarian, or an individual qualified by way of disciplinary expertise (for example, an earned doctorate, extensive study in the discipline, demonstrated scholarly production, etc.). Each curricular area of the institution
should have a library liaison assigned who serves as that department or program's connection to library and research services. [There shall be an annual acquisition of books, journals, and other library materials, including software; appropriate systems for computerized access to other libraries' collections and to materials such as databases; and evidence of effective use of library resources by students and faculty.]
(c) (No change.)
(d) An institution shall demonstrate the development and maintenance of a collection that reflects and supports the curriculum. An institution should compile acquisition and classification data, documenting collection strengths and weaknesses, and have in place a plan to maintain strengths and remedy weaknesses though a combination of physical, virtual, and consortia materials. Institutions are advised to consult the Association of College and Research Libraries "RCL: Resources for College Libraries" or other recognized sources for core collection development.
(e) There shall be a program for continuous acquisition of materials including books, journals, databases, and other instructional materials.
(f) The institution shall catalog and maintain all library holdings appropriately, including providing a protective environment for its physical library material that adequately protects the collection from deterioration and damage.
(g) The institution shall provide clear and consistent methods for on-campus and remote access to electronic resources, and there shall be communication of that information to students in a manner to minimize barriers to usage. To the extent possible at individual institutions, there should be a consistent method for ensuring that electronic resources are archived so that access is possible for virtual library content over time.
(h) The institution shall document evidence of library education programming that encompasses both physical and virtual collections, and the existence of a plan to assess and document effective use of library resources by students and faculty.
(i) An institution should utilize library representatives in the curriculum development process to inform the administration of the library's ability to offer adequate support for materials and library education.
Page 8
40 N.J.R. 969(a)
(j) An institution may enter into contract with another library or libraries for the provision of collections and services, physical or virtual. Institutions shall demonstrate that the collections are appropriate for the curriculum of the institution, that students have convenient access to contracted library services, that there is adequate library instruction provided to students to use effectively the services of the contracted library, and that there are qualified library professionals or librarians available to assist students. The institution shall retain full responsibility for adequacy of resources available to students. Institutions are encouraged to participate in appropriate consortia that allow them to expand and more effectively deliver information resources and services.
(k) An institution shall have in place a plan that articulates how students will obtain information literacy skills as they progress through the curriculum. The plan shall identify outcomes for information literacy skill development, and how those outcomes are measured and assessed. Institutions are encouraged to use a combination of assessment methods to include formal testing, development of student portfolios, examination of research papers bibliographies, and/or other means. Institutions may use either a compartmentalized, or distributed, method of library education, or some combination that meets the needs of the institution. An institution shall provide evidence
of faculty and administrator involvement in the development, implementation and operationalization of
the information literacy plan. The institution has the responsibility, through its library or though other appropriate means, to make the information literacy plan available to the learning community. Within three years of initial licensure, an institution shall document how students are achieving information literacy outcomes.

FYI: Information Literacy & Instruction Blogs

Lisa Coats passed these along and thought they might be of interest to the group. Enjoy!

Pegasus Librarian: http://pegasuslibrarian.blogspot.com/
InfoLit Librarian: http://danielrhood.com/blog/
Academic Librarian: http://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/
Alkek Library Information Literacy Blog: http://txstateinfolit.blogspot.com/
Guardienne of the Tomes: http://guardienne.blogspot.com/
Please Be Quiet: http://genneaux.wordpress.com
Information Literacy at I[daho]SU: http://spencerjardine.blogspot.com/

CJARL Meeting Notes – 05/23/08

Location: Georgian Court University, Lakewood, NJ

In Attendance: Brookdale Community College – Steve Chudnick, Amy Clark Jeanne Ostrowski; Georgian Court University: Mary Basso, Jeff Donnelly, Laura Gewissler, Barbara Herbert; Mercer County Community College: Martin Crabtree; Monmouth University – Lisa Coats; Ocean County College – Caitlyn Cook, Pamela Dong, Gary Schmidt

Announcements:

• The ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS User Education Committee is sponsoring a program entitled, "Teaching as Performance" on May 30 at Monmouth University from 10:30 - 2:30. Registration deadline is May 23.
• The FutureTech for Libraries Symposium will be held at TCNJ on June 13 from 9:30 - 3:30. Registration deadline is June 6.
• The NJLA Reference Section is sponsoring a tour of the TCNJ library on Wednesday, May 28 at 3:00 pm. Contact Lisa Coats for more information: lcoats@monmouth.edu
• If anyone is interested in contributing to the CJARL blog - with interesting articles, blog posts, etc. to keep our discussion going between meetings - contact Amy Clark.
• After today's meeting Gary Schmidt, Ocean County College, will be taking over as Chair of the group!

NEXT MEETING: October 10, 2008 ~ Location TBA

Discussion: Subject Research Guides In a follow up to the discussion about Portals from the March meeting, Georgian Court librarians shared via demonstration the subject/course-specific research guides they "house" in the university's course management system, Blackboard. GCU librarians have found that the relationships with faculty largely determine the extent to which the guides are used. The group discussed ways to organize and facilitate access to subject guides in the CMS or on library websites, logistical challenges to maintaining subject research guides, and philosophical questions surrounding subject guide content and students' abilities to find and select authoritative information on their own. Middlestates, General Education, and Information Literacy

Members shared experiences preparing for Middlestates visits with regard to general education and information literacy. Amy shared the work of the ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS User Education Committee in addressing the "Technological OR Information Literacy Competency" category in the new General Education guidelines associated with the new Lampitt bill and the comprehensive state-wide transfer agreement (community colleges to public colleges/universities in NJ). Laura mentioned NJ's Title 9, which requires that information literacy programs must be assessed/show that assessment is taking place. The group agreed that an information literacy program must exist before it could be assessed, and many agreed that such a comprehensive information literacy program do not exist at their institutions. Perhaps future revisions of the "Technological or Information Literacy competency" category associated with the state-wide general education model associated with the Lampitt bill will help to make such institution-wide information literacy programs a reality. Future of Print Encyclopedias The discussion came out of a New York Times column, (and it was commented upon in a number of places including recently on the Gypsy Librarian blog). Group members discussed advantages of having print encyclopedias and the need to have most subject-specific encyclopedias in print (due to lack of availability electronically), although it was noted that this is changing. Increasing online course offerings and multi-location campuses were cited as reasons whey electronic encyclopedias were preferable; making their existence known was cited as an issue. Someone mentioned "also available electronically" stickers for placement on print collection as a way to market the electronic collection. High School Partnerships/Collaborations This discussion topic grew out of the article: Burhanna, Kenneth J. "Instructional Outreach to High Schools: Should You Be Doing It?" Communications in Information Literacy (Fall 2007). Barbara Herbert discussed a working relationship she had with an area high school. The group members recalled that the region's Information Literacy group previously identified such collaborations as a project, but nothing lasting really came of it. The group discussed the need for students to establish "healthy" information-seeking habits before they get to college, but struggled with how to make this happen when less healthy ways of obtaining information are so quick and easy, (recall Gary's Whole Foods vs. McDonald's analogy). This led to a discussion of the "good enough" searching/finding so prevalent among our students, and what we can do to address it. It was noted that teachers at the high school level sometimes enable poor information seeking habits when they direct students to Wikipedia, (in ways not designed to teach them how Wikipedia works, which we discussed as a positive approach).

A few references came up in this discussion: Colbert's "Wikiality" clip New book: True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society, by Farhad Manjoo Movie:Idiocracy (also referred to in a blog post by Marc Meola on the ACRLog) ALSO: Ways folks are using - or might use -- Wikipedia as a teaching tool: Here's a lesson from factchecked.org (a wonderful lesson plan resource from the folks at the Annenberg Public Policy Center) that aims to:

• Examine the ease with which Wikipedia entries can be altered (either innocently or maliciously).
• Discuss the accuracy of Wikipedia as an encyclopedia and consider the usefulness of any encyclopedia as a source of information.
• Search Wikipedia for specific factual errors.

Available at: http://www.factchecked.org/LessonPlanDetails.aspx?myId=19. Article: Badke, W.(2008). What to do with Wikipedia. Online 32(2), 48. Book: Broughton, J. (2008) Wikipedia: the missing manual. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly. (Apparently you can request a free copy of this book from the author if you're using Wikipedia for a class assignment.) Project Muse vs. JSTOR GCU and Monmouth librarians shared their experiences with Muse, which were mixed. Generally, Muse seems to be perceived as a good compliment to JSTOR -- especially for more recent scholarly material -- if the institution can afford it. Also, JSTOR is now linking directly to Muse articles (if the institution subscribes to both). Anecdotes that students found "everything" they needed within JSTOR suggest that students may not always understand JSTOR's historical emphasis (or its lack of the newest content in most cases). A Few Other Follow Ups: At some point during the meeting we touched on the idea of libraries sharing their space. After the meeting I came across this article note from the Gypsy Librarian blog about collaborations between libraries and writing centers. On Sunday morning I was listening to WNYC's On the Media, which was re-airing an episode about books. The segment I caught was the middle one: an interview with Bill Powers, author of a paper entitled, "Hamlet's BlackBerry: Why Paper is Eternal." An interesting follow up to the brief discussion we had about how Amazon's Kindle and other readers have a ways to go before they're truly usable.

Next Meeting: May 23 at Georgian Court University

The next CJARL meeting will be held at Georgian Court University on Friday, May 23 between 10:00 am and 12:00 noon. Directions, parking information, and meeting location to follow.

Here are a few ideas for discussion. We certainly don't have to address all of them -- (or any of them, for that matter!) Please send your ideas (or weigh-in on those presented here) before the meeting and I'll put together a loose agenda.

• Explore Georgian Court's Information Literacy shell in their course management system
  (discussed at the March meeting)
  
  • Related article: Developing Students' Information and Research Skills via Blackboard.
• General Education/Lampitt Bill and the troublesome "Technological Competency or Information Literacy" category:
  
  • The ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS User Education Committee is working on submitting a proposal that this be looked at in the Fall. If possible, I'd like to get some ideas and feedback from members of this group to share. (I'll bring copies of relevant documents for those who aren't familiar with the Lampitt Bill.)
• What Happens to Your Research Assignment at the Library?
  
  • This article appeared in Vol. 56/Issue 1 of College Teaching (Winter 2008), (full-text available through Academic Search Premier). It addresses the work that librarians do with students at the reference desk-- primarily in the area of topic selection/narrowing -- when assignments assume students have these skills, and it suggests techniques discipline-area faculty might use to build topic focus strategies into research assignments. Might be interesting to hear what experiences members have with this issue and what approaches work best -- with students and faculty.
• Federated searching: your thoughts and experiences...
• Does anyone have partnerships/working relationships with local high school libraries/academic departments? Should we? A few interesting pieces on this issue:
  
  • Burhanna, Kenneth J. "Instructional Outreach to High Schools: Should You Be Doing It?" Communications in Information Literacy (Fall 2007).
  • I also recently listened to the "Thinking Out Loud" podcast by George Needham (OCLC) and Joan Frye Williams, which reported on the University College of London CIBER group's report from January 2008 entitled, "Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future." While I haven't read the report, the podcast, referring to the report, mentions the importance of establishing good research habits early in students' lives, and suggests that by the time they get to college most students are set in their Google-ing ways. (This seemed to support the idea for a greater collaboration between college and high school and even elementary schools with regard to information literacy skills.)
• NJLA/Computers in Libraries -- information sharing
• YOUR DISCUSSION TOPICS HERE! :)

Interesting "Article Note" from the Gypsy Librarian blog...

I feel like I take (or try to take) a pretty balanced view about the implementation of Library 2.0 stuff with regard to academic libraries, and I'm always interested in what people are saying about the future of academic libraries. I came across this "article note" on the Gypsy Librarian blog and thought others might be interested as well. Although I haven't read it myself, the article referenced is Jeffrey Gayton's article in the January 2008 issue of The Journal of Academic Librarianship entitled: "Academic Libraries: 'Social' or 'Communal?' The Nature and Future of Academic Libraries. Enjoy!

3.07.08 Meeting Notes

CJARL Meeting Notes – 03/07/08

Location: CJRLC Headquarters, Freehold, NJ

In Attendance: Brookdale Community College – Amy Clark; Georgian Court University: Laura Gewissler; Mercer County Community College: Martin Crabtree; Monmouth University – Lisa Coats, George Germek; Ocean County College – Gary Schmidt; CJRLC - Amy Kearns

Announcements:

• NJLA Conference registration is open. Early bird registration ends April 4.
  
• CJRLC Spring Membership meeting will be Thursday March 8 at Battleground Country Club in Manalapan. Additional details forthcoming on CJRLC's website.
• There is a program about open-source software at Princeton University on April 2. (I don't know the details about this....sorry!)
  
• The region's School Group Open House is scheduled for April 23, 3:30 - 6:00 pm at Princeton Day School. Linda Braun, (an expert on technology and literacy) will be presenting.
  
• "A Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends" Conference: August 4-5, 2008 in Denver, CO. Check out Library Garden for more details.
  
• There is a job opening for a Systems Librarian at Mercer County Community College. Visit http://www.mccc.edu/welcome_jobs.shtml#job5 for more details.
  
• The Reference Section of NJLA is sponsoring a program at Columbia High School on March 11 from 2:00 - 5:00 pm, on the Academic, School, and Public Library Collaboration Project. Contact Paul Schroeder or Lisa Coats for details.
  
• If anyone is interested in contributing to the CJARL blog - with interesting articles, blog posts, etc. to keep our discussion going between meetings - contact Amy Clark.
  
• If anyone is interested in taking over as chair of this group, effective summer or fall 2008, please contact Amy Clark.
  

NEXT MEETING:

May 23, 2008: Georgian Court University, Lakewood, NJ

Discussion:
Information Literacy Assessment Efforts:
Monmouth University Librarians shared some information about their ongoing information literacy assessment project. Pre- and post-test data collected over 4-5 semesters (with sections of a required freshman-level information technology course) is now being compiled, and librarians are conducting a literature review. Some issues identified include that depending on the section of the course, an assignment may or may not have been required in relation to the library session. The pre- and post-testing did not occur during the library session; pre-testing typically occurred the week prior to the library session and post-testing typically occurred one or two weeks after the library session.

Mercer has piloted the TRAILS test with their English 101 and 102 courses, and is now in the process of adapting the questions to best meet their needs before moving ahead with a more formalized assessment project. At the beginning of the term, students in English 101 (Composition 1), a course in which there may or may not be a library introduction, will take the pre-test. After completing 101 and 102, a research-based composition course in which library instruction is strongly suggested, the students will take the post-test. We look forward to hearing the results as they unfold!

Several institutions are preparing for, or currently going through the Middle-States process. It was suggested that since compliance with Middle-States' recommendations is on all administrators' radars, librarians should highlight Middle States' emphasis on information literacy to get buy-in on administrative levels. Amy C., who is involved with the NJLA-CUS/ACRL-NJ User Education Committee, indicated that the committee used this tact to suggest changes to the proposed state-wide General Education changes in the Lampitt Bill. The General Education core competencies lump information literacy with technological competency, and the fulfillment of this competency is an either/or proposition. Drawing on Middle-States documents, the committee drafted a proposal to separate these two categories. The committee's proposal was endorsed by the ACRL-NJ executive board, and members of the committee will be meeting with the Chair of the NJ General Education Committee to discuss the proposed document in April.
Georgian Court University has re-vamped their general education program. GCU has instituted a first-year experience program, which requires two visits to the library: one for a general orientation, and one to gather research for an assignment related to a book all freshman are assigned to read. GCU is also initiating a transfer seminar to bring transfer students up to speed with information literacy and other skills.

Cameron, L., Wise, S. L., & Lottridge, S. M. (2007, May). The development and validation of the information literacy test. College & Research Libraries, 68(3), 229-236. This article discusses the Information Literacy Test (ILT) developed and used at James Madison University.

Scharf, D., Elliot, N., Huey, H. A., Briller, V., & Joshi, K. (2007, July). Direct assessment of information literacy using writing portfolios. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33(4), 462-478. Retrieved from Science Direct database. This details the NJIT information literacy assessment project.

Sonley, V., Turner, D., Myer, S., & Cotton, Y. (2007). Information literacy assessment by portfolio:A case study. Reference Services Review, 35(1), 41-70. Retrieved from Emerald Insight database. doi:10.1108/00907320710729355. References a UK-based portfolio assessment project.

Determining Reference Collection Use:
Most members present keep count of the number of reference books re-shelved, without noting specific titles. Some fear that super-efficient weeding of the reference collection would open up space that might quickly be commandeered by the institution for office space. Mercer will be losing some space in the reference collection area. Martin is working with faculty to determine what can stay and what can go. Previously, Mercer would collect using Books for College Libraries, but this is no longer possible due to space constraints. Other members mentioned that so much of what was reference-book material in the print-only age is now readily available online.

Colson, J. (2007). Determining use of an academic library reference collection: Report of a study. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 47(2), 168-175. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier.

Portals:
The group discussed the concept of portals and subject guides. Some librarians are maintaining subject guide web pages; others are not. OCC tags websites with specific course codes in their del.icio.us account.
At GCU, librarians have created an IL course in Blackboard, their course-management system. All students, faculty, and staff are enrolled in the course. Librarians maintain subject-specific resource guides here, which include resources listed by course/course assignment. The IL course also provides general information literacy material, such as modules/tutorials about differences between scholarly and popular sources, etc. In the course management system, use can be tracked.
This approach was noted as a manageable alternative to actually embedding a librarian within every course in the online environment. Creating the IL course, and enrolling all students provides information literacy instruction materials to distance education students. It also serves as a supplemental resource for students in traditional face-to-face courses.
Jackson, P.A. (2007, July). Integrating information literacy into Blackboard: Building campus partnerships for successful student learning. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33(4), 454-461. Retrieved from Science Direct.

Nichols, J. & Mellinger, M. (2007, Oct.). Portals for undergraduate subject searching: Are they worth it? portal: Libraries and the Academy, 7(4), 481-490. Retrieved from Project Muse.

Open Source and ILS vendors:
The group discussed the open-source movement and some of the upcoming programs about it. Laura raised the important question of who will support all of the open-source stuff? Logistically, this seems like a very big issue, although having librarians -- not the ILS vendors -- at the helm would certainly be advantageous to us.

Impact of Loss of NJKI Resources:
We closed with a discussion of how different institutions are feeling the impact of the NJKI databases. Several members' institutions have elected to pay, (through VALE), to continue coverage of some of the now-lost NJKI databases. Amy Kearns said that region directors are not concerned (at this point) that the $2 million will be cut from the budget. The state will have to determine which databases they will provide with the money available for next year. Here's an article about the "sting" of the NJKI shutdown from the Star Ledger on Friday. (Posted to the NJLA blog.)