Mercy Library Learning Commons Activities in Relation to Student Skills Development and Outcomes

Mercy's five year plan for increasing student success and retention is focused around information literacy and technology fluency activities that are provided in both formal activities structured around librarian instruction sessions given to scheduled classes, the library's own unique LISC260 course, Using Electronic Resources for Research but also through informal activities throughout the year that occur within the library and also within classrooms (such as librarian-assisted digital storytelling training sessions). 

These activities are intended to provide student success in several areas or outcomes as identified below:

• Information Access - Defined as those resources in print or electronic form available from the Library Learning Commons, accessible to students needing data or knowledge for research, work or personal inquiry in order to produce high quality work

• Collaborative Learning - Those activities within the Library Learning Commons that enable productive peer-to-peer interaction for the purpose of teaching, learning and producing documents related to coursework or personal growth and knowledge

• Assessing Veracity of information - Those activities within the LLC that inform, teach or impart to students the knowledge to understand different forms of data authenticity, the knowledge to make informed decisions on which resources to use and the ability to cite appropriate sources and understand the ethical issues involved in information retrieval and reproductioni

• Enhanced Technology Proficiency- Those activities that promote an understanding of how to assess and use both software and hardware systems and equipment to better synthesize information and produce high quality work

• Effective Communication - Those activities that enable students to communicate their questions and concerns and to recieve authoritative responses to questions related to research, assignments and also those opportunities for students to express themselves as creators of information

The sections that follow below are intended to provide in table form those library activities that target and promote the above student outcomes listed above.   Most importantly, the tables provide the data points associated with those activities enabling us to assess and improve our services on a yearly basis.  The tables are not intended to be exhaustive, rather, they are selected activities that most directly reflect the outcome.  In many cases, one activity will address several outcomes.  Please note this overlap.  In other cases, the data is fully addressed in other sections of this ePortfolio and is noted in the table.