Do They Really Know? Collaborating with Faculty on Information Literacy Assessment

Abstract

This poster will recount the experience of Miami University's Faculty Learning Community for Improving Student Research Literacy, a group of professors and librarians who work together on incorporating information literacy skills into the curriculum. Faculty members wondered early on how students in their classes conceive of their own information literacy skills. These conversations led to the creation of a survey for students to self-assess the information literacy skills that faculty perceived important, including: 1) How and where students are searching for information; 2) Student perceptions to perform information research, and its applicability outside the library; 3)Location(s) where students perform information research; 4)Differences in information literacy skill perceptions between class level and experience with paper writing. Approximately 400 students were reached with the survey instrument. Results of the survey were matched to professor definitions of information literacy and a common list of desired information literacy skills created by professors at the beginning of the academic year. Study results allowed community members to see where perceptions among professors, librarians, and students were similar, and where they differed greatly. The results led to rich and stimulating conversations about how students perceive information literacy.