Langsdale Link
Contents:
- From
the Director's Desk
- Langsdale Annual Book Sale
- I Found My Home in Langsdale Library
- Two Thumbs Up for DVDs at Langsdale Library
- Librarians are in the Classroom
- Renew That Library Card!
- Copyright and E-Reserves
- Langsdale to the Rescue
- Chat with a Librarian Online
- Summer Reading
- Staff
Spotlight
- Word
Find
Librarians are in the Classroom
In 2004, the Langsdale Library and the Robert G. Merrick School of Business collaborated on a pilot information literacy project incorporated into MGMT 300, a lower-level undergraduate business course. I worked with course instructor Sally Brown to develop two class sessions covering search strategies as well as accessing and evaluating information resources.
Prior to the first session for each of the three sections, students completed an online pre-test to assess prior knowledge and research skills; students also completed a post-test following the second session. We studied those students each semester who completed both pre- and post-tests and attended both classroom sessions. Of the 72 students enrolled in the fall and spring courses, a total of 50 students were included in the study.
Although we were happy to see that both semester groups showed significant improvement (test average scores increased by 17 points in the fall and 11 points in the spring), information literacy competencies were quite low on the whole. Even after two sessions in the library, 14 percent of students scored below 60, and almost half (42 percent) scored between 60 and 70. Only 18 percent had a score of 80 or better.
Based on answers from the pre-test, students seem to have the most difficulty with identifying the elements of a journal citation (72 percent), requesting a book from another University System of Maryland campus (70 percent), determining the best database to use for a particular topic (60 percent), and using Library of Congress call numbers (58 percent).
In addition to the tests administered to assess skills, each student also had the opportunity to complete an evaluation of the instruction/instructor. The student evaluations indicated a desire among students to learn research skills and a perception of their benefit to ongoing studies. Of the 62 evaluations, 87 percent either agreed or strongly agreed that the library sessions covered information necessary for course research, and 82 percent thought that the session would be useful to them at UB. Surprisingly, only one student in the spring sessions said that he/she had participated in a library research workshop at his/her community college. It is interesting to note that the evaluations also indicated that 81 percent of students were more confident about research after participation in these sessions, even though their post-test scores were not that high.
Although the sample size was relatively small, this study indicates a need for additional projects to assess students’ information literacy skills coming into the University and as a result of library instruction. The library hopes to offer instruction sessions such as these in other liberal arts and business courses, and would also like to incorporate information literacy components into research-oriented courses in order to facilitate the development of information-literate students.
For more information on the pilot project or study, contact Lucy Holman at 410.837.4276 or lholman@ubalt.edu