Bridging the Sophomore Gap:A Developmental Model of

Information LiteracyShawn Bethke, Head of Library Public Services

George Loveland, Library Director

Ferrum College, Stanley Library

The Problem: The Skills are the Content

What information is needed?How do I access it efficiently?How do I evaluate it?How do I synthesize it into an artifact?What are the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the information?

What information is needed?How do I access it efficiently?How do I evaluate it?How do I synthesize it into an artifact?What are the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the information?

The Solution: Librarian/ Faculty Collaboration

What information is needed?How do I access it efficiently?How do I evaluate it?How do I synthesize it into an artifact?What are the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the information?

How does a downturn in the economy impact business ethics?In what ways does an individual’s genetic makeup contribute to autism?How do cortisol levels differ between non- athletes and athletes?

Faculty Enrichment in Library Resources Goals:

1. Identify the courses at Ferrum that are heavily populated by sophomores

and the faculty who teach them. Focus our efforts to integrate information literacy skills on these courses.

Faculty Enrichment in Library Resources Goals:

2. Understand the faculty’s research needs, in particular at the sophomore

level.

Faculty Enrichment in Library Resources Goals:

3. Make faculty aware of library resources and opportunities for bibliographic

instruction that address these identified needs.

Faculty Enrichment in Library Resources Goals:

4. Develop and deepen collaborative relationships between teaching

faculty and librarian faculty.

Mini Summits by Academic Schools

• Natural Science and Mathematics

• Social Sciences• Arts & Humanities

Mini-Summits: The Format

• Two hours each• Small group (3-5) discussion• Reported back to larger

group• Facilitated large group

discussion• Recorder for small groups

and for large groups• Compiled the data by

categories

• Determine the extent of information needed• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently• Evaluate information and its sources critically• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2000: 2-3

The question for discussion:

How can the library help integratethese skills into your sophomore-level courses in a way that supportsyour goals and objectives?

Now it’s YOUR turn!

Ferrum College participant evaluations

INFORMATION LITERACY:LEVEL I

• Freshman year. • Includes the Gateway Seminar

course, typically taken in the fall semester

• Includes English 102,typically taken in the spring.

INFORMATION LITERACY:LEVEL II

• Sophomore year.• Courses that students tend to take during their sophomore year or first semester junior as introduction to majors

INFORMATION LITERACY:LEVEL III

• Junior and Senior years • Students have achieved a C or better in English 102, have declared a major, and have successfully completed at least one course in LEVEL II.

• Junior and Senior Seminars with capstone projects • “Writing Intensive” courses• 300 and 400 level courses requiring a working knowledge of research methodologies and writing conventions within specific disciplines

INFORMATION LITERACY:LEVEL III (continued)

Information Literacy Benchmarks

• Each ACRL information literacy standard lists mastery goals for each level

Determine the extent of information neededLEVEL I: All Gateway Seminar students will:• Participate in a series of class discussions through which each

student will identify a problem and formulate a research question related to that problem that can be investigated through library research.

• Articulate a hypothesis of what she expects the outcome of the research to be (what she expects to find in answer to the question).

• Distinguish between a popular magazine and a scholarly journal by naming the characteristics of each.

All English 102 students will:• Formulate a research question that is broad enough to require

multiple kinds of sources yet specific enough to be thoroughly examined in a ten-page research paper, as determined by the student’s English 102 instructor.

• Explain the differences in content, purpose, and validity between a popular magazine and a scholarly journal.

  

Determine the extent of information neededLEVEL II

• Begin with a general topic, and explore research updates, such as specialized encyclopedias and research review databases (i.e., Annual Reviews) for possible ways to focus the topic.

• Construct a research question that is related to the research in the field, but that has not yet been fully explored.

• Construct a reasonable hypothesis that addresses the research question and modify the hypothesis based on results of preliminary searches.

Determine the extent of information needed

LEVEL III• Conduct an extensive search in multiple

specialized databases, print sources, archives that addresses a research question.

• Design a study or novel thesis on the subject. Write the literature review portion of a paper that places the novel thesis or original study in the context of the literature.

• Integrate the results of the extensive search into a project that addresses a problem or area where the research is lacking. At this stage, students are contributing to the literature of their field.

Next Steps:

Level III Mini-Summits

Updated Information Literacy Benchmarks with what we find