Updates and Highlights of 2010-2011:

Library Instruction Sessions

Library instruction for individual courses represents a mainstay of our information literacy program and the prime vehicle through which students are able to understand, navigate and manipulate the resources they need to complete research assignments and becomes skilled life-long users of electronic resources.  With an almost 30% increase in the numbers of students reached from 2009 to 2010, the libraries continue to deepen their penetration into curriculum.  Data from September and October 2011 indicate that the number of sessions will be significantly higher in the final 2011-12 year of the grant, as per table below:

Increase in Number of Library Instruction Sessions and Students Reached

Increase in Student Downloads for Full-text Articles

One measure of gains in information literacy for students is in the number of downloads of full-text articles based on journal searches. As librarians deepen their reach through more intensive reference and consultation sessions with individual students (and through instructional sessions with entire classes) students are better able to create key word searches for their topics and locate needed articles.  Downloads represent a measure of their "findability" skills, as per the following chart:

Journal Searches and Downloads for full text articles:

Similarly, in 2010-11 we discovered that there was an increase over previous years of students uccessfully downloading needed articles from electronic databases, another key measure of the impact of information literacy instruction and reference.  Below is a detail from the most heavily database - Proquest:

Database Searches - sample from Proquest - Most heavily used database

Libguides Program:

Students increasingly rely on online tools and information resources to complete research assignments at all times of the day, wherever they have access to the internet.  As a result we have increased and deepened the reach of our Libguide program (an online resource aggregator/pathfinder).

• Numbers of Libguide offerings have increased significantly from 2010 to 2011.  See table below.

• Librarians have worked with faculty to design Libguides tailored specifically to course and curriculum assignments as well as broadly supportive of whole programs and library services (e.g. technology usage Libguides). 

• As a result, usage of the Libguides have increased from 3,449 hits in 2010 to 12,606 reflecting an increase of nearly 400%. See Attachment for more details.

Libguide are iterative instruments which grow and evolve in relation to added resources, feedback from faculty and students and changes in curriculum.  Each Libguide contains a Comments field to enable patrons to directly communicate with Libguide creators.

Libguides Created and Visited

2009-10 Mercy College Library Information Literacy Initiatives

One of the key roles of the Mercy College libraries is to fundamentally integrate information literacy and technology fluency into the experience and discovery of knowledge so that students can become critical users and evaluators of information throughout their lives. In alignment with college efforts to better assess student learning and develop learning outcomes, the Mercy libraries have examined their information literacy program and added new and innovative features that enhance the success of

literacy initiatives and assessment.

The first year student experience has been an area of particular concern and in response the Libraries have developed a creative and engaging assignment entitled the Scavenger Hunt (attached as Freshman Seminar Orientation). Currently embedded into the Freshman Year Seminar courses, the Scavenger Hunt exercise is designed to engage students in active and collaborative research and exploration by dividing students into groups, assigning roles and providing Flip cameras to enable the groups to self-document their discovery and learning process. Students are asked to search and retrieve specific forms of information and to interface with relevant library sectors such as e‐Reserves and Media Services in order to better understand how the library operates, how to obtain resources and how to become more efficient researchers. The assignments and video clips are retrieved, displayed and discussed by the groups in a collaborative process facilitated by librarians.

Note:  In addition we have developed other discipline-specific assignments targeted to first year students. For the English 112 courses the librarians have designed a research questionnaire tailored specifically to evaluating student understanding of literature and humanities resources (attached as IL‐Eng questionnaire). For the introductory psychology courses the libraries are utilizing a robust assignment that addresses information literacy outcomes relevant to this discipline (attached psyn101_InfoLitExercies). A similar exercise has been developed for the first year Speech courses. Together with the Scavenger Hunt exercise, these instruments represent an effort by the libraries to

more effectively embed information literacy objectives into the student learning experience during their critical first year of study.

Additionally:

• The newly launched Library Liaison program will introduce a process by which librarians will engage with first‐year and all faculty to discover how to better integrate information literacy into curriculum (attached Formal Guidelines – Library Liaisons Program).

• Librarians will continue to provide a library orientation and information literacy instruction to all faculty requesting sessions at all campuses, including first‐year.

• The librarians have developed a series of electronic LibGuides, or resource management “pathfinders” that are accessible through the library website. LibGuides provide links and resources in direct support of information literacy objectives for both specific courses and generally for all curriculum (attached HLS Libguide Screenshot).

Note:  In fall of 2008 Mercy College instituted a new General Education Curriculum. Prior to fall of 2008 Psychology 101, Sociology 101, and Economics 115 all had integrated information literacy components.   As the part of the new GEC, a Freshman Seminar Course was instituted and become a requirement for any incoming student with less than 30 credits.  The Information Literacy skills as well as critical thinking and critical reading competencies were integrated into Freshman Seminar.  Rubrics to assess these skills were created and Freshman Seminar Instructors were and are trained and mentored during each semester to be sure the competencies are met.  Speech 110, a graduation requirement, focuses on oral competencies skills, English classes continue to require writing proficiency skills, while the Mathematics courses continue to promote quantitative reasoning skills.