NATIONAL INFORMATION LITERACY SURVEY

Question Seven:

If computer literacy is required on your campus, is it a separate requirement from information literacy?

Chart 27 Separate Computer Requirement displays this answer graphically.

Why did 274 not answer this question? One reason may be that the question says IFÄ. Maybe they don't have a computer literacy requirement. And therefore did not answer.

Thus we can conclude that perhaps 245 have a computer competency requirement and 145 have an IL that is not separate?

Question eight:      

Has your campus used the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education?

Chart 28: Using the Standards It is easy to understand why 50% of the respondents may be aware of the Standards but not using them. Since the Standards were approved in January 2001 many would only be familiarizing themselves with this document at the time of the survey

Question Nine:      

Has your institution implemented information literacy standards?

Chart 29: Implementing Standards clearly shows us that 80% of the respondent institutions had not implemented IL standards. Of the "No Answer" responses 5 state that they are using the Standards published by ACRL. Of the "No" responses, 13 state that they are using these same Standards. Of the "Yes" answers we have a further breakdown below.

Chart 30  Requirement and implementing standards comparison.  Review of this chart shows that even those who have a requirement have not yet implemented standards.

We could expect the answer to this question to align with question four above which asked which committee, group or council was responsible for implementing standards.  It does NOT match at all. The total given in question 4 is 189.  Where here we have 88 respondents stating they have implemented standards. Why? Most of the respondents state that they are using the standards within the library or individual librarians are using the standards BUT that does not constitute institutional implementation of standards. This would account for some discrepancy.  This conclusion is supported by looking at the answers in question 8. Here we see that 145 respondents say they are aware of and using the Standards.  This more closely matches the 189 who answered YES to question 4 especially if we note that the largest group in that question is the librarians group.

Question 9a: If yes, which set of standards are you following?

Question Ten:      

If your institution has been through the process of accreditation lately, was the teaching of information literacy addressed in the accreditation process, either by the accrediting body or in the institutional self-study?

Chart 31 Teaching of information literacy and accreditation.  This chart matches the yes/no responses and whether an accrediting agency was named or not. We see that only two institutions responded that information literacy had been addressed in the accreditation process but they did name their accrediting agency. While 222 institutions said that information literacy had NOT been addressed and did name the responsible agency.

If yes, please note which:

Chart 32: Was information literacy addressed in accreditation process. This breakdown by accrediting body is interesting to note that many institutions addressed information literacy in their self-study while Middle States and Southern States associations were the ones most noted to have addressed information literacy in the accreditation process. This is not a total surprise as these agencies, especially Middle States has been very actively discussing information literacy for some time now.

It is good to note from the second chart that those who identified their accrediting body also identified that information literacy had been addressed either by the body or by the self-study. Conversely of the 397 that did not identify their accreditation group, most also had not included information literacy.

Question eleven:      

If your institution has adopted information literacy standards, is there a formal method in place for assessing student skills?

Chart33: Assessment of student skills.

If yes, what method(s) are used?

Chart 34:  Methods for assessing. The most commonly used assessment is the post-test as seen in this chart.

The 36 responses in the "Other" box included the following:

Chart 35 other types of assessments used.  The most common response was the assessment as part of course requirements.

Chart 36 all assessment types combined.  All assessments combined show the popularity of using pre and post tests as well as assignments or exercises as part of a course or library class presentation.

Question Twelve:      

Who is responsible for teaching information literacy content at your institution?

Chart 37: Who teaches information literacy.  We see that 58% of those institutions who responded to this question identified librarians as responsible for teaching information literacy content.  Another 24% of the respondents noted that faculty/librarian teams are also important in teaching information literacy.

This was a problematic question as on many campuses it is not a clear responsibility but rather everyone is involved in some way in the delivery of information literacy skills.  For example of those respondents that checked the category "Librarians” 8 added a comment in the Other field that named faculty as also having responsibility.  Some answered that the librarians are taking the leadership but that they are going toward a partnership model. Of those that marked the Other category most, 43 respondents, stated that either librarians and/or faculty were responsible to some degree but were not working formally as teams Æ that in fact, an "all of the above” category was needed as an option to this question.  Responses in the Other category included:

Question Thirteen:      

What has been the impact of your campus information literacy program? (Explain below)

 Only 324 institutions (49%) answered this question.  Responses were categorized by the extent to which information literacy has had a measurable impact. Several responses were coded in more than one category. For example those that state "Students are comfortable and confident in using computers for their information needs" were coded once in the confidence category. But another that said "Better awareness of library resources among students. More sophisticated questions from students" were coded in both awareness and reference questions categories.  Other responses were not direct answers to the question but rather explanations of practice such as: "All students complete a Senior Thesis project that requires information skills. Students complete a literature review....." This response was put in the "no answer" category as it does not address the impact of the program.

Chart 38 Impact of IL shows the actual responses in their specific categories. It doesn't include the non-responses or those in the "no answer" category.  Of special interest are those that have begun assessing and those that have assessment in place. These include comments such as:

 "A campus assessment group found that students who had gone thru our library module as freshmen had less library anxiety and more confidence in subsequent classes."

"Faculty surveys post-instruction show that students are more likely to use library resources effectively and to approach a librarian."

"Institutional Research study (ongoing) data indicates strong, significant positive relationship between attendance in library workshops and grades in English and ESL GE-level courses, and small positive relationship between enrollment in library courses and GPA. Study was replicated over two semesters and is continuing each semester. Data is drawn from student records and control groups are used. The research is conducted by Director of Institutional Research."

How do you know? (What evidence do you have of these impacts?)

Respondents from 392 institutions left this question blank. Other responses were categorized. Again some responses were put in a "no answer" category. An example of this is the response " Student skills are very uneven" or "this is being required for all honors students."

Chart 39 Evidence of IL

Question Fourteen:      

If your institution has not implemented an information literacy program, what do you feel are the primary reasons? Please explain:

Comments on this question include the following representative examples of barriers to information literacy implementation on campus:

"Faculty (and administration) acknowledge the need for it, but say they cannot add another requirement because they do not have time to teach what they should now.Ó

"Curriculum is full.Ó

"This survey made us aware of the importance of establishing a formal program and assessment of same.Ó

"Not a clear understanding of what is information literacy.  Does not recognize how important information literacy is to the total education process of all studentsÓ

"I just learned about "information literacy" with this survey and someone inquiring about the same topic the next day. I have been reading up on it sinceÓ

"Under estimation of the Librarian's contribution to the whole learning experience of the students in regard to metacognition.  Also, lack of knowledge of what it really means to be information literate. But with the availability of formal information literacy standards for higher education, this will change steadily. I recommended to my Academic Dean that Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education be made available to each course instructor and that the necessity for achieving these standards be stressed, which calls for partnership between the course faculty and the library faculty. I have hope that things will continue to change especially with the impending SACS visit in 2002.Ó

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