Information Literacy Objectives for First-Year Students*
- The information literate student determines the extent of the information needed.
- The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
- The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
- The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
- The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.
- Competency Standard One: The information literate student determines the extent of the information needed.
Performance Indicator 1: The information literate student defines and articulates the need for information.
Students will be able to:
- Explore general information sources, such as general encyclopedias and the Internet, to increase familiarity with the topic.
- Describe the difference between general and subject-specific information sources.
- Define or modify the information need to achieve a manageable focus.
- Identify an initial question that might be too broad or narrow, as well as one that is probably manageable.
- Consult with the course instructor and librarians to develop a manageable focus for the topic.
- List terms that may be useful for locating information on a topic.
- Identify, locate, and use appropriate general or subject-specific sources to discover terminology related to an information need.
Performance Indicator 2: The information literate student identifies a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information.
Students will be able to:
- Recognize that knowledge can be organized into disciplines that influence the way information is accessed.
- Identify various formats in which information is available.
- Distinguish characteristics of information provided for different audiences; can, e.g. distinguish between magazines and journals.
Performance Indicator 3: The information literate student considers the costs and benefits of acquiring the needed information.
Students will be able to:
- Determine the availability of needed information and make decisions on broadening the information seeking process beyond local resources (e.g., interlibrary loan; using resources at other locations; obtaining images, videos, text, or sound)
- Determine if material is available immediately.
- Use available services appropriately to obtain desired materials or alternative sources.
- Define a realistic overall plan and timeline to acquire the needed information.
- Search for and gather information based on an informal, flexible plan.
- Demonstrate a general knowledge of how to obtain information that is not available immediately.
- Act appropriately to obtain information within the time frame required.
Performance Indicator 4: The information literate student reevaluates the nature and extent of the information need.
Students will be able to:
- Review the initial information need to clarify, revise, or refine the question.
- Identify a research topic that may require revision, based on the amount of information found (or not found).
- List various criteria, such as currency, which influence information choices
- Competency Standard Two: The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
Performance Indicator 1: The information literate student selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information.
Students will be able to:
- Select appropriate tools (e.g., catalogs, online databases) for research on a particular topic.
- Identify the differences between freely available Internet search tools and subscription or fee-based databases.
- Distinguish between full-text and plain bibliographic databases.
- Analyze and interpret the information collected using a growing awareness of key terms and concepts to decide whether to search for additional information or to identify more accurately when the information need has been met.
Performance Indicator 2: The information literate student constructs and implements effectively-designed search strategies.
Students will be able to:
- Describe a general process for searching for information.
- Gather and evaluate information and appropriately modify the research plan as new insights are gained.
- Identify keywords, synonyms and related terms for the information needed
- Identify keywords or phrases that represent a topic in general sources (e.g., library catalog, general encyclopedia, Academic Search Premier) and in subject-specific sources.
- Demonstrate an understanding that different terminology may be used in general sources and in subject-specific sources.
- Identify alternate terminology, including synonyms, broader or narrower words and phrases that describe a topic.
- Identify keywords that describe an information source (e.g., book, journal article, magazine article, Web site).
- Construct a search strategy using appropriate commands for the information retrieval system selected (e.g., Boolean operators, truncation, and proximity for search engines; internal organizers such as indexes for books)
- Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of Boolean logic and construct a search statement using Boolean operators.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of keyword searching and use it appropriately and effectively.
- Locate and use a specialized dictionary, encyclopedia, bibliography, or other common reference tool in print format for a given topic.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the fact that items may be grouped together by subject in order to facilitate browsing.
Performance Indicator 3: The information literate student retrieves information online or in person using a variety of methods.
Students will be able to:
- Use different research sources (e.g., catalogs and indexes) to find different types of information (e.g., books and periodical articles).
- Use the Web site of an institution, library, organization or community to locate information about specific services.
- Uses call number systems effectively (e.g., can actually find specific items that are listed in the library catalog).
- Explain the difference between the library catalog and a periodical index.
- Distinguish among citations to identify various types of materials (e.g., books, periodical articles, essays in anthologies). (See also 2.3.a.)
- Use specialized online or in-person services (e.g. library web pages and library staff) available at the institution to retrieve information needed (e.g., interlibrary loan/document delivery, professional associations, institutional research offices, community resources, experts and practitioners)
- Retrieve a document in print or electronic form.
- Describe at least two retrieval methods for information not available locally.
- Identify the appropriate service point or resource for the particular information need.
Performance Indicator 4: The information literate student refines the search strategy if necessary.
Students will be able to:
- Determine if the quantity of citations retrieved is adequate, too extensive, or insufficient for the information need.
- Evaluate the quality of the information retrieved using criteria such as authorship, point of view/bias, date written, citations, etc.
- Assess the relevance of information found by examining elements of the citation such as title, abstract, subject headings, source, and date of publication.
- Determine the relevance of an item to the information need in terms of its depth of coverage, language, and time frame.
Performance Indicator 5: The information literate student extracts, records, and manages the information and its sources.
Students will be able to:
- Determine whether or not a cited item is available locally and, if so, can locate it.
Performance Indicator 1: The information literate student articulates and applies initial criteria for evaluating both the information and its sources.
Students will be able to:
- Determine when the information was published (or knows where to look for a source's publication date).
- Recognize the importance of timeliness or date of publication to the value of the source.
- Demonstrate an understanding that information in any format reflects an author's, sponsor's, and/or publisher's point of view.
- Demonstrate an understanding that some information and information sources may present a one-sided view and may express opinions rather than facts.
- Demonstrate an understanding that some information and sources may be designed to trigger emotions, conjure stereotypes, or promote support for a particular viewpoint or group.
- Apply evaluative criteria to information and its source (e.g., author's expertise, currency, accuracy, point of view, type of publication or information, sponsorship).
Performance Indicator 4: The information literate student compares new knowledge with prior knowledge to determine the value added, contradictions, or other unique characteristics of the information.
Students will be able to:
- Determine probable accuracy by questioning the source of the data, the limitations of the information gathering tools or strategies, and the reasonableness of the conclusions.
- Compare new information with own knowledge and other sources considered authoritative to determine if conclusions are reasonable.
- Select information that provides evidence for the topic.
- Apply established evaluation criteria to decide which information sources are most appropriate.
Performance Indicator 7: The information literate student determines whether the initial query should be revised.
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate how searches may be limited or expanded by modifying search terminology or logic.
- Review information retrieval sources used and expand to include others as needed.
- Competency Standard Three: The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
- Competency Standard Four: The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
Objectives were not written for this Standard because its Performance Indicators and Outcomes are best addressed by the course instructor, rather than by librarians.
- Competency Standard Five: The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.
Performance Indicator 1: The information literate student understands many of the ethical, legal and socio-economic issues surrounding information and information technology.
Students will be able to:
- Select an appropriate documentation style and use it consistently to cite sources.
*Based on A Model Statement for Academic Librarians from ACRL, Summer 2001.