The Five Colleges of Ohio Information Literacy Grant Proposal

The Five Colleges of Ohio consortium requests a three-year grant of $475,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to strengthen the teaching of information literacy in the curriculum. Recognizing the importance of information literacy as an academic competence, The College of Wooster, Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, and Ohio Wesleyan University seek to increase students’ skills and capabilities in using library and information resources. Our approach, which includes both consortial activities and initiatives at the campus level, focuses on building partnerships between librarians and faculty members and integrating information literacy into courses across the curriculum, with particular emphasis on the development of skills through the complete course sequence for the major.

Faculty and librarians at the member institutions view the development of sound information literacy skills as an integral part of a liberal arts education. Such skills are essential not only for students’ academic and professional careers, but also for their participation in a society increasingly reliant on electronic information resources. The fact that students need to master both basic information literacy competencies as well as library research skills at higher, discipline-specific levels suggests that a more structured curricular approach needs to be developed.

Therefore we propose a project that will enable librarians, information professionals, and faculty members to strengthen undergraduates’ information research skills. The World Wide Web, advances in electronic database technology, and the availability through high-speed networks of a variety of full-text electronic resources have dramatically increased available resources and the complexity of library research. This new electronic environment offers access to an overwhelming array of materials, yet little guidance about how to find, evaluate, and use relevant information.

The Five Colleges of Ohio consortium seeks to address these needs through consortial and campus-based activities designed to enhance the teaching of information literacy skills. Grant funds will be used to support: (1) a professional development program for librarians, to strengthen their leadership in teaching information literacy skills; (2) a curriculum development program for faculty, who will work in collaboration with librarians to integrate information literacy skills into the curriculum; (3) consortial development of comprehensive resource materials and strategies for teaching information literacy for faculty and librarians; and (4) faculty-librarian workshops to demonstrate effective approaches to teaching information literacy and to encourage further development and collaboration.

Previous grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation produced strong consortial relationships and channels of communication that provide a secure foundation for the implementation of the information literacy program. The innovative curricular aspects of this initiative, which emphasize librarian-faculty collaboration, will further promote educational cooperation within and among institutions. The efficiencies and cumulative benefits resulting from this effort may well serve as models for other colleges seeking to support librarians and faculty members.

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II. Background

A. The Five Colleges of Ohio Consortium

The Five Colleges of Ohio consortium was incorporated in 1995, with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation helping to establish a collaborative library. All five institutions have derived broad benefits from this and related initiatives. The Ohio Five seeks to promote the broad educational and cultural objectives of the colleges by fostering closer cooperation and understanding; to work as an alliance for the purpose of coordinating operating functions and administrative services; and to develop collaborative programs and resource sharing to enhance quality and reduce individual and collective operating and capital costs. Ohio Five presidents, chief academic officers, library directors and staff members, chief financial officers, and members of the faculty and administration meet regularly to identify future areas of development and implement current projects.

The consortium has focused much of its efforts on collaborative uses of technology to strengthen teaching and learning. The initial grant from the Mellon Foundation supported the development of a shared electronic library catalog for four of the institutions and facilitated participation by all five institutions in OhioLINK, a statewide library consortium that has pioneered the development of electronic library resource sharing. In 1996, the consortium received a second Mellon grant to help foreign language faculty at the five campuses acquire proficiency in pedagogical uses of technology and multimedia, and collaborate in curriculum development. The four-year project has supported inter-institutional technology projects such as interactive software for a Japanese video; a hypertext study of a Latin American author; multimedia materials (on Web CD) for beginning Chinese; and a multimedia tutor for Chinese novels. Most recently, faculty in all languages at all five institutions have begun to create a video-taped library of interviews with native speakers. This far-reaching consortial project will likely be used by college students across Ohio and throughout the Middlebury language-technology network. In addition, Denison and Kenyon are using a Mellon grant to explore innovative ways to use technologies to enhance teaching and learning. They offered four joint classes in the Fall 1999 semester using remote collaboration classrooms, provided workshops to a quarter of the faculty members, funded five collaborative faculty projects, and initiated a student liaison program for increase technical support for faculty.

B. Consortium Members: Characteristics and Experience

The College of Wooster. Founded in 1866, The College of Wooster has gained national recognition for its commitment to independent learning and student research. The College enrolls 1,700 men and women with a full-time faculty of 145. Wooster students come from 42 states, the District of Columbia, and 26 foreign countries. More than 90 percent receive financial aid. U.S. minority student enrollment is 6.3%; international enrollment is 7%.

The College of Wooster has been recognized as a leader in the integration of computing technology into the curriculum. Many students encounter this integration as soon as they arrive, as most sections of the required First Year Seminar use webpages and email discussion groups to extend dialogue beyond the limits of the class period. Many students take English or foreign language classes in one of Wooster’s enhanced seminar rooms, which have computer workstations for each student arranged on tables around the perimeter of the room, there to support the class when needed but also out of the way when the focus of the session is on discussion. Students in the social sciences use statistical software for quantitative analysis. Students in mathematics and the natural sciences use computers for calculation, visualization, data gathering and analysis, and simulation. All seniors at Wooster use computers extensively to research and produce their required Independent Study thesis.

For decades the College of Wooster Libraries have provided course-related bibliographic instruction tied to specific assignments in individual courses throughout the curriculum, starting with the First-Year Seminars. Because of Wooster’s Independent Study program, which requires all juniors to complete a semester’s project and all seniors to write and defend a thesis over two semesters, librarians have long been involved in working with departments at the junior-level and with individual seniors doing Independent Study. In addition, librarians have provided individual classes for both faculty and students in the latest on-line resources for general research and also for specific disciplines. During the early 1990s, librarians undertook a pilot "Library Faculty Fellows" program in which librarians worked one-on-one with faculty to redesign specific courses to incorporate library research and instruction.

Denison University. Founded in 1831, Denison is an independent college of the liberal arts and sciences serving 2,140 students from 47 states and 32 countries. Total student of color enrollment is 14.5% of the student body, and some 46% of Denison students receive financial aid. Distinctive academic programs include nationally recognized First Year Studies and Minority/Women’s Studies programs (the latter cited by the Ford Foundation) as well as an Honors Program whose director was named the 1994 CASE/Carnegie Foundation National Professor of the Year for liberal arts colleges.

With support from NSF and FIPSE, along with the Sloan, Mellon, Keck, and Culpeper foundations, Denison has pioneered the use of new technologies to enhance teaching and learning. The college commits 8% of EGO expenditures annually for technology and plans to increase that to 11% over the next three to five years. Denison was the first college or university of any size to develop computer-based laboratories for undergraduate economics (one of the college’s most heavily enrolled majors), receiving awards from AAC and the American Economic Association. Moreover, the college serves as the home institution for Ohio Five shared electronic library resources.

Three years ago, Denison’s library established an electronic classroom in which library staff provide instruction in the use of information resources annually to approximately 2,000 students, faculty and staff members, in addition to local high school students, teachers, and prospective students and their parents. Through a three-year Mellon-funded Teaching and Technology collaboration with Kenyon that began November 1998, approximately 80 Denison faculty members will begin or expand the use of technology in their courses. A course for education majors, "Technology in the Classroom," will be offered for the first time in the Spring 2000 Semester. Jointly taught by an instruction librarian and a member of the academic computing department, the course is designed to enable teachers to integrate technology into the secondary school curriculum.

Kenyon College. The oldest private institution of higher education in Ohio, Kenyon was founded in 1824. The College rose to prominence as a center of literary scholarship during the 1940s and 1950s, when poet and critic John Crowe Ransom made the Kenyon Review the nation’s foremost magazine of letters. Today, the College ranks as one of the finest liberal arts institutions in the country, attracting superior students and a superb faculty and providing them with first-rate academic, residential, and recreational facilities. Kenyon currently enrolls approximately 1,550 undergraduate students and employs over 150 faculty. Minority enrollment is 12% and 42% of the student body receives need-based financial aid.

Kenyon’s faculty have integrated a breadth of technologies to enhance learning in the liberal arts. From 1993-96, with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, more than 100 Kenyon faculty participated in week-long summer institutes. While exploring the possibilities of technology, the faculty engaged in comprehensive discussions about new approaches to teaching and learning. The program also funded partnerships among faculty, librarians, technologists and students. The institutes received national recognition as a faculty development program. The Pew grant and Kenyon’s "Fund for Innovation with Technology" (1989-97) resulted in dozens of new and redesigned courses. In Kenyon’s latest survey of faculty uses of technology, nearly half indicated a reliance on technology beyond word processing and email in at least two of their courses. Kenyon maintains a two-tiered approach to improve student research skills and information literacy: course-integrated instruction, in which staff partner with faculty to deliver assignment-specific sessions, and the "Program in Information and Learning Resources," a series of open-enrollment workshops on technology and research tools. Despite these efforts, an April 1998, survey of faculty and graduating seniors clearly indicates a need and desire for more instruction to develop and reinforce information literacy skills.

In 1997, the college built a networked electronic teaching facility in Chalmers Library, where much of the library instruction takes place. In addition to instruction sessions, the reference librarians have created web-based research guides for many courses. The guides can be accessed at any time, by any person interested in learning about the information resources available in that area of study. The guides are part of a comprehensive library web site, which includes links to the CONSORT catalog, course reserves, research resources, and information about our organization. An example of a current guide can be found at http://topaz.kenyon.edu/depts/library/instruct/lgls83.htm. Kenyon recently initiated a faculty/librarian information literacy project where faculty were invited to submit proposals for projects integrating instruction in information literacy within new or existing courses. One faculty member will be selected to participate in the program during the Spring or Fall 2000 Semesters. The goal of the Kenyon program mirrors the goal of this proposal, to educate students to become knowledgeable users of information.

Oberlin College. Founded in 1833, Oberlin combines a distinguished undergraduate college of arts and sciences with one of the nation’s leading music conservatories (combined 1999-2000 enrollment: 2,902 students, 245 full-time faculty). A pioneer in providing educational access, Oberlin was the first co-educational college in the United States (1833). In 1835, Oberlin also became the first multiracial college in the country, with the decision to admit African Americans. The College remains committed to educating individuals from diverse backgrounds, and its students represent 44 countries and nearly all 50 states. Over 60% receive financial aid. U.S. minority enrollment is 19%, and international students comprise 6% of the student body. In 1998-99, 12% of Oberlin undergraduates were first-generation college students.

Oberlin provides more than 200 computers for academic use as well as Internet access from every office, classroom, and dorm room. Over 70% of Oberlin students bring their own computers to campus, and over 90% check their e-mail on a daily basis. Faculty in many departments routinely post syllabi on-line and integrate Internet-based and other electronic resources into their courses. Central to the College’s technology efforts is the Oberlin Center for Technologically Enhanced Teaching (OCTET), which was established with Mellon Foundation support to help faculty identify and develop innovative, effective uses of technology in the classroom.

The Library has worked actively in cooperation with faculty to address information literacy concerns. A 1996 report by the faculty library committee articulated the need for better integration of information literacy skills into the curriculum. Subsequent to the report, a faculty task-force, working in close collaboration with library staff, designed a nine-session workshop on information literacy that was offered to faculty during the 1997 Winter (January) Term. The workshop served the dual purpose of better acquainting faculty with the library’s rapidly expanding electronic resources and initiating discussion of information literacy as a curricular concern. The Library collaborated with the staff of OCTET in 1998 to offer a second faculty workshop entitled "Using Educational Technology to Teach Information Literacy." Most recently the library has provided workshops for faculty in individual departments that focus on new disciplinary resources in electronic form. Library staff continue to teach a large number of course-related instruction sessions.

Ohio Wesleyan University. Established in 1842 and located 20 miles north of Columbus in the city of Delaware, Ohio Wesleyan University offers the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Music, taught by 138 faculty members. Distinctive features of the University include the National Colloquium (a semester-long forum that examines social issues), the Woltemade Center for Economics and Business, and an emphasis on community service learning. The institution’s 1,850+ students who represent 42 states and 60 countries bring a rich diversity to its liberal arts tradition. U.S. minority and international students compose over 19% of the college’s enrollment.

Launched by a 1991 Computer Planning Study, Ohio Wesleyan has taken steps to integrate technology into the teaching curriculum. This has included the necessary structural components, such as installation of a campus-wide fiber optic infrastructure and expanding and upgrading computer labs, to hiring a Director of Web Service and full-time technology trainer. The trainer designs technology workshops targeting specific needs of the faculty. Ohio Wesleyan, as a member of the Five Colleges of Ohio consortium, has also seen advancements in incorporating technology into the curriculum through the Mellon-supported foreign language and library technology-related initiatives.

Known for its teaching library, Ohio Wesleyan excels in course-related instruction. Reference librarians at Ohio Wesleyan sponsor a series of library workshops to assist both the novice and advanced student searcher in developing effective research strategies for print and Internet resources. Workshops include "Introduction to Research in the OWU Libraries," "Advanced Research Techniques," "Power Searching the Web," "Getting the Most from Fulltext Databases," and "How to Cite Electronic Sources Correctly." Librarians also provide workshops in the use of electronic resources for individual faculty members and departments. There is a long tradition of librarians teaching library skills in introductory English classes. This fall librarian Danielle Clarke and Professor Paul Kostyu have been teaching an honors course entitled "Information Literacy: The News and the Net" that is designed to have students think more critically about the accuracy and credibility of information found on the Net.

C. Consortial Development of a Web-Based Tutorial for Information Literacy

In addition to the efforts on each campus, the five colleges have experience in jointly addressing information literacy concerns. In January 1999, consortium librarians began to develop a tutorial for library research skills, with support from a $50,000 grant through the 1998 AT&T Teaching and Technology Program. The tutorial is designed to develop basic information literacy skills, providing a level of interactivity and user engagement that are crucial for effective learning. The tutorial, available over the World Wide Web, will be appropriate for use as a stand-alone activity, as a supplement to regular courses, or in conjunction with library instruction sessions, according to the needs of the individual colleges. Usability testing is scheduled for Summer 2000 with pilot testing in Fall 2000 at all five colleges. Since the development costs are being shared among the five institutions, the project will serve as a model for cost-effective, collaborative uses of technology.

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III. Need for the Project

A. Expanded Resources: An Increase in Complexity

The challenge of developing student information literacy skills is one that affects undergraduate students and faculty everywhere. The rapid development of networked electronic

information technologies, including bibliographic databases, full-text resources, and the World Wide Web, has markedly increased the availability of information, but has also substantially raised the complexity of the library research environment. This new environment, which offers a wealth of resources to our students, demands knowledge, skills, and experience to be used effectively.

The astonishing increase in the amount and accessibility of information for users of the Ohio Five libraries can be attributed largely to consortial activities. Mellon Foundation support for the organization of The Five Colleges of Ohio and the CONSORT library system has resulted in a major expansion in library resources, both within CONSORT and through OhioLINK, the nation’s leading state-wide academic library consortium. The creation of CONSORT has resulted in a combined catalog, giving our students and faculty immediate access to 1.6 million items; OhioLINK expands that to more than 30 million volumes available (and normally delivered within three days) to all five campuses.

Membership in OhioLINK now provides desktop access to over 130 bibliographic databases and approximately 2,500 electronic journals at substantially reduced cost. The creation of the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center (EJC) has markedly increased the immediate availability of scholarly journal literature for all of our students and faculty, more than tripling subscriptions on one campus. OhioLINK provides access to thousands of other full-text sources, including LEXIS-NEXIS, collected works of literature, and a large variety of reference works. The Digital Media Center, another new OhioLINK project, will provide widespread access to images, sound, video, and other types of multimedia information. This project currently focuses on art history and architecture images, but will expand to include the sciences, geography, and other disciplines. OhioLINK has also invested in patron authentication software, which permits our community to reach many OhioLINK electronic resources from campus, home, or when traveling.

A significant expansion of resources has been brought about by JSTOR, other electronic publishers, and especially the World Wide Web. All five consortial institutions participate in the retrospective JSTOR project, which provides electronic access to more than 100 core scholarly journals. In addition, Ohio Five libraries have implemented other electronic resource agreements individually and as members of other groups. The World Wide Web adds another intriguing dimension to the library environment. Although we use the Web for delivering licensed resources, such as those from OhioLINK and JSTOR, it also provides freely accessible resources that are increasing at exponential rates.

The ease of access to an vast number of electronic resources makes it increasingly clear that students will encounter many information sources that are no longer pre-selected by faculty and librarians for intellectual quality. The electronic resources brokered by OhioLINK, though extraordinary in their increasing depth, are in large part purchased as packages – a far cry from the careful selection of individual books and journal subscriptions that characterizes the print collections on each of our campuses. Moreover, students searching the World Wide Web will find some information that is of scholarly value, but much more that is of dubious quality or relevance. Because resources are available from any networked location, such as dorm rooms and off-campus sites, students may be less likely to consult librarians in the course of their research, even though their need for assistance and guidance is greater than ever.

B. Changes in the Learning Environment

These trends make it especially important for students to learn sound research skills. To function as effective scholars, they must (1) understand how information is produced, disseminated and organized; (2) understand basic tools for accessing information, such as catalogs, databases, and indices; (3) be able to develop search strategies for accessing information; (4) learn how to evaluate information critically; and (5) know how to use information appropriately, taking into account scholarly conventions and concepts of intellectual property. (See Appendix A for a fuller definition of Information Literacy.) Students need general knowledge and skills that will serve them well no matter what topic they investigate, and they need advanced knowledge and specific skills appropriate for their major field of study.

In the past, librarians at the Ohio Five institutions have been actively engaged in instruction to assist students in developing research skills. Most instruction has been related to specific courses, with librarians teaching about resources valuable for particular assignments. Often, supplementary materials, such as bibliographies that list and illustrate particular sources, are provided. While this approach to course instruction has proved beneficial, librarians and faculty members believe this model is no longer the most effective, given the new and open-ended electronic information environment. Librarians and faculty report that students, particularly those who have had little instruction in the use of library resources, encounter real difficulties with research. One common tendency is for students to search only the World Wide Web, when other sources, either electronic or print, would be more appropriate. Students also rely on full-text electronic resources and avoid print sources, even though the latter would provide better information. It is also quite common for students to become swamped in a massive amount of information because they do not know fundamental searching techniques, such as the use of controlled vocabulary, limiting functions, or Boolean and proximity operators, which narrow results to the most relevant information. Without a basic understanding of the principles and tools for accessing information, students are severely limited in their approach to information and may become frustrated by the process of conducting research.

Throughout the Ohio Five, there is agreement among librarians and faculty that information literacy is an essential component of liberal arts education and that the most effective literacy instruction will be related to a student’s course of study and to the curriculum as a whole. Information competence is seen as crucial for successful undergraduate study, graduate and professional work, subsequent careers, and indeed for life-long learning. Change in the library environment has occurred so rapidly, however, that many faculty and even some library staff are unfamiliar with both the wealth of information available electronically and the strategies and tools for accessing materials effectively. Despite the clear need for improved learning of information literacy skills, none of the Ohio Five colleges has the resources to add new library staff for training and materials development, nor do they expect budget increases in this area. The proposed project is designed to address this dilemma through a collaborative approach that will achieve our desired objectives in a cost-effective manner.

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IV. Project Activities

A. Summary of Activities

The primary goal of the project is to strengthen the library research skills of students by increasing integration of information literacy into the curriculum. This will be accomplished through consortial and campus activities for librarians, information professionals, and faculty.

The five colleges recognize that professional development for librarians and curriculum development for faculty are essential to achieve curricular integration of information literacy skills. In response to clearly identified institutional needs, the consortium proposes four interrelated strands of programmatic activity:

1. A professional development program for librarians, to strengthen their leadership in teaching information literacy skills;

2. A curriculum development program for faculty, who will work in collaboration with librarians to integrate information literacy skills into the curriculum;

3. Consortial development of comprehensive resource materials and strategies for teaching information literacy for faculty and librarians; and

4. Faculty-librarian workshops to demonstrate effective approaches to teaching information literacy and to encourage further development and collaboration.

The project components, and information about the funding requested for each, are described below.

B. Professional Development for Librarians

For this project to be successful, it is essential that experienced instruction librarians play a central role, taking the lead in working with faculty members on course development. By providing the right kind of support, we can enable librarians to step beyond their traditional job assignments to partner with faculty. Generally, faculty have not considered the incorporation of information literacy into their courses, and librarians have not been involved in discussions of the curriculum or the content of individual courses. A unique feature of this project, then, will be its support for collaborative work by faculty and librarians at the intersection of the curriculum and information literacy. If library staff are to play this role, it is vital that they be well versed in information literacy and knowledgeable of best practices in the profession. They must also have opportunities for advanced training and sufficient time to work on instructional materials and course-related projects.

Until recently, most library instruction efforts have centered on librarians making presentations on library use and research strategies in individual courses (called "course-related instruction" in the library professional literature). The typical "one shot lecture," where a librarian visits a course once during the semester, does little to address the broader need for instruction on the entire range of information literacy issues. Instead, we need to explore how faculty, working in partnership with librarians, can weave information literacy into selected courses over an entire semester and, more importantly, how this material can be meaningfully integrated throughout students’ undergraduate years. The project will break new ground by bringing together faculty and librarians to develop new teaching materials and methods, focusing on selected courses, with the long-range goal of implementing a structured, coordinated approach to information literacy in the liberal arts curriculum.

At each college, one or more experienced instruction librarians will be identified to participate in project activities. The consortium believes that at least .33 FTE annual released time for library staff at each campus is essential to achieving the information literacy professional development and curricular goals of the project. This level of released time will enable the participating librarians at each institution to develop the expertise necessary to lead information literacy efforts on campus and within the consortium, and to work effectively with faculty on the integration of information literacy material within the major and at the introductory level. A total of $187,500 ($37,500 per institution) is therefore designated within the budget for released time for librarians, to support the hiring of replacement staff.

1. Objectives

The consortium has identified the following objectives for the librarian development component of the project:

• to foster collaboration among instruction librarians across the consortium;

• to provide resources to allow instruction librarians to concentrate on doing research into information literacy and creating information literacy materials;

• to increase opportunities for advanced training in information literacy; and

• to form collaborative teams of professional staff and individual faculty members or departments.

2. Activities

The essential components of professional development for librarians, released time for research into and creation of information literacy materials and increased collaboration among the instruction librarians of the Ohio Five colleges, will be emphasized by providing resources for regular meetings about information literacy. Librarians on each campus currently provide instruction about information literacy yet have little opportunity to discuss the approaches they use for various disciplines or student developmental levels, consider integration of information literacy material throughout the curriculum, or research best practices nationally and within the Ohio Five. Approximately $5,700 in grant funding will therefore be used to support travel expenses and materials for regular meetings by participating librarians. Meetings will begin early in Spring Semester 2000 and will generally be held monthly during the academic year and once or twice each summer. The meetings will also foster development and review of comprehensive materials on information literacy for posting on a consortial website, as described below.

In conjunction with the meetings, the consortium will organize a working symposium for instruction librarians in Spring 2000 to formulate substantive ways of integrating information literacy into the curriculum. An outside expert, knowledgeable about information literacy in the liberal arts college context, will be invited to share expertise and national perspectives on information literacy efforts. The workshop program will involve discussion and development of project activities, including the consortial website on information literacy for faculty, identification of individual campus interests and possible collaborative projects, review of current activities across the consortium, and division of responsibilities for the remainder of the project. A total of nearly $6,700 is budgeted for the symposium.

Grant funding will also be used to support instruction librarians’ participation in conferences and training institutes. In particular, we hope that one participant from each college will attend the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Institute for Information Literacy to be held in Ohio in June 2000. The institute has been recognized as the leading venue for training instruction librarians in practices related to information literacy. Registration fees totaling $6,500 are included in the budget.

With these professional development opportunities and the released time made possible by the grant, the instruction librarians will be prepared and have adequate time to collaborate with faculty on course-related information literacy projects. We expect that a limited number of pilot projects will be developed in Summer 2000. The majority of the curriculum development will occur in the summers of 2001 and 2002, taking advantage of the increased training and experience of the librarians and the additional information literacy materials created for the consortium.

C. Curriculum Development Program for Faculty

Active participation of faculty is essential for the effective integration of information literacy materials into the curriculum, both within the major and at the introductory level. The consortium proposes to budget $225,000 (an average of $45,000 per institution) for curriculum development awards to faculty, who will work with instruction librarians to develop new or revised courses that address information literacy in a disciplinary contexts.

1. Objectives

The consortium has set the following objectives for the curriculum development component of the project:

• to help faculty incorporate information literacy into their courses in substantive ways, working in collaboration with instruction librarians;

• to encourage departments to develop articulated plans for skill development throughout courses required for the major (i.e., to consider the sequential inclusion of information literacy at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels of the curriculum);

• to foster cooperation so that academic divisions can work together to identify common methods for increasing students’ information literacy competence; and

• to foster consortial collaboration among faculty in the same academic discipline or division.

2. Activities

The project will fund a number of course development grants that will enable faculty to create and implement information literacy projects in collaboration with librarians. Individual faculty, departments, interdisciplinary groups, and teams involving faculty from more than one Ohio Five institution will be eligible to apply. Awards will be made through a competitive process that is coordinated at both the campus and consortial level. Awards are expected to average $5,000 and may include summer stipends, academic year course release, or funding for student assistants and specialized training, according to the needs and policies of the individual institutions.

Over the three-year grant period, we expect that approximately nine course developments will occur at each college through the awards program. Applicants will be strongly encouraged to collaborate with librarians in preparing their proposals and carrying out their projects. Faculty may choose to do comprehensive revisions of existing courses or develop new ones. While single-course projects will be eligible, preference will be given to proposals that address information literacy concerns within the major course sequence. Collaborative projects involving faculty from two or more of the colleges will be encouraged, as will initiatives with potential for generating methods and materials that can be disseminated and adapted in similar disciplines within the consortium and elsewhere.

A faculty project might involve the design of presentations, course materials, and laboratories or exercises that would weave the acquisition of information literacy skills into the disciplinary content of the course. Assignments and independent projects would have dual purposes, to advance knowledge of subject matter and use of information research skills. Information literacy topics could include:

• major reference works for the field;

• the primary indexing/abstracting tools for accessing the literature of the discipline;

• construction of complex search statements to query bibliographic and full-text databases (searching for multiple concepts, effective limiting, combining search sets, etc.);

• the definition of a literature review and how to determine whether one exists for a given topic;

• additional indexing/abstracting tools for identifying the most current literature (e.g., articles published in the past month) and more obscure literature (e.g., dissertations, conference papers) for a discipline;

• use of citation indexes to identify publications that cite a particular work or author, and how citation research complements other ways of locating information on a given topic;

• how to distinguish among various types of articles (primary literature/original research, secondary literature, scholarly literature, popular literature, peer-reviewed literature, etc.);

• the venues through which researchers in a discipline typically communicate new research results or theoretical insights;

• identification of quality websites on a given topic (both finding and evaluating sites);

• appropriate documentation and citing of sources consulted and the underlying issues of academic integrity, intellectual property, and copyright;

• understanding and interpreting bibliographic citations; and

• distinguishing among, understanding, and interpreting information found in the research process, including statistical data, theoretical literature, and original research.

A sample faculty curriculum development project is given in Appendix C. It was produced in response to a new curricular initiative at Kenyon College. Chemical Information is an example of an Oberlin College course developed and co-taught by a faculty member in chemistry and the science librarian. The URL for the course syllabus is <http://www.oberlin.edu/~aricker/chem396>.

D. Consortial Development of Resource Materials on Information Literacy

For this program to be successful and continue after conclusion of the grant, materials must become available that guide and assist faculty in incorporating information literacy. Therefore, in Spring 2000, the instruction librarians will begin to work with a small number of faculty to develop instructional materials and general information about information literacy which can be widely used for curriculum development.

Instruction librarians will participate through released time described in Section IV B. Faculty who assist the librarians in this work will receive modest stipends from the curriculum development funds described in Section IV C.

1. Content

The materials developed during the grant program will include:

• a summary of the Mellon grant program emphasizing the rationale and activities;

• a clear, concise summary of information literacy concepts and issues, including skills that need to be mastered at various levels of disciplinary knowledge;

• guidelines for incorporating information literacy materials and skills into course content at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels in a discipline;

• guidelines for developing and examples of good assignments that incorporate information literacy concepts and skills;

• ideas for hands-on exercises that combine course content with information literacy concepts and skills;

• approaches for raising information literacy concerns with students in the classroom;

• strategies for evaluating the usefulness of a bibliography;

• best practices in information literacy teaching and pedagogy;

• useful teaching information (e.g., strategies for evaluating websites, explanations of search engines, recommended style manuals, and methods for discussing plagiarism);

• summaries of research results on information literacy-related issues that have appeared in the literature; and

• information about other faculty, particularly within the Ohio Five colleges, engaged in related projects.

2. Project Website

The materials described above will be readily available to faculty at all five institutions through a consortial website that will highlight best practices, disciplinary resources, and sample course assignments. Instruction librarians will take a consortial approach to the development of the materials, devoting part of their regular meetings to planning, creating, and reviewing overall content of the site, considering in particular how the information should be organized and coordinated for maximum usefulness for faculty in various disciplines. The site will act as a clearinghouse of support materials for both faculty and library and information staff and will be maintained beyond the grant term.

As the project progresses, the site will be expanded to include more specific class and subject guides for disciplinary research. Instruction librarians on all of our campuses have begun to develop Web-based research information guides for particular classes and individual disciplines. Such subject guides include listings of general information reference materials (dictionaries and encyclopedias), as well as discipline specific references, indexes, databases, full-text sources, and appropriate Internet links. Course guides contain similar information, selected for specific classes or assignments. A course guide for an introductory chemistry laboratory course, for example, might include call numbers and links to the CRC Handbook, ACS Style Guide, Aldrich Library of Spectra, and the Science Citation Index. The grant would assist all five colleges in expanding and sharing these valuable resources.

E. Consortial Workshops for Faculty and Librarians

A series of five workshops for faculty and librarians will be held during the second and third year of the grant to share current resources and methods, demonstrate effective approaches to teaching information literacy in the curriculum, and explore areas for further development and collaboration. The workshops will be organized thematically by discipline, academic division, or interdisciplinary area and will involve both faculty and librarians. Approximately $38,500 is budgeted for these activities, including travel, housing, and meals for faculty and librarians and stipends for faculty.

1. Objectives

The workshops are designed to:

• encourage sharing across institutional boundaries of effective practices;

• foster the creation of disciplinary interest groups of critical size;

• make consortial communication more efficient and effective; and

• provide a professional support network for instruction librarians and faculty on issues of information literacy.

2. Implementation

The workshops (which will rotate among the five campuses) will provide a forum for discussion by faculty and instruction librarians on appropriate applications of information literacy within the curriculum and a liberal arts education generally. The events will offer opportunities for faculty to work with outside experts and instruction librarians and faculty from the five colleges. The workshops will encourage further incorporation of information literacy skills into the curriculum and stimulate the development of materials for the website. The focus of the workshops will be on:

• sharing the latest resources and methods;

• examining sample syllabi, exercises, and approaches to teaching information literacy;

• working on cooperative projects; and

• planning dissemination activities and future consortial events.

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V. Project Administration

The project will be supervised by a six-member Steering Committee that will include

a representative from each of the five colleges and a chairperson, who will also serve as project director. Ray English, Director of Libraries at Oberlin, will serve as the chair and director. Dr. English coordinated the design of this information literacy initiative, based on his long-standing interest in and experience with the topic. His curriculum vitae is provided in Appendix B of this document.

The Steering Committee will include a diverse mix of representatives (e.g., library directors, instructional librarians, faculty interested in information literacy and curricular development, and academic officers). The responsibilities of the committee will include:

• serving on the coordinating committees at their respective institutions;

• writing policy and procedures for grant activities, in particular the faculty projects to be supported by the grant;

• soliciting proposals for course development grants and establishing criteria for selection and evaluation;

• encouraging collaborative initiatives among colleges within the consortium;

• reviewing the annual institutional plans for spending professional development funds for faculty and information literacy staff;

• organizing grant program workshops and symposia, including agendas, publicity, logistics, and evaluation;

• planning and overseeing grant expenditures;

• conducting program assessments and modifying program objectives, activities, and procedures if appropriate;

• preparing the annual and final reports to the Mellon Foundation; and

• developing plans to continue programs beyond the term of the grant.

The project director will be responsible for working with the Ohio Five office on budgetary, organizational, and policy matters; communicating with the five campuses; encouraging participation in the project; representing the consortium at meetings, conferences, and workshops; and insuring effective progress toward the project’s goals.

Each campus will establish a committee to manage the project within its institutional framework, including the selection and review of faculty projects. The campus coordinating committee will solicit proposals from faculty, monitor the activities of librarians in developing information literacy materials, promote collaborative projects at the local level, track the progress of faculty projects, communicate with the institution at large, coordinate efforts with the institution’s curriculum committee, assist with local arrangements, and evaluate campus activities. Members of the committee will include, but not be limited to, the library director, an instruction librarian, the Steering Committee representative, a faculty member, an academic officer, and a technology or computer specialist.

Instruction librarians and information professionals at each institution will be selected to work on the development of models that can be incorporated into courses and to collaborate with faculty on specific projects. With the support of the grant, these staff members will provide resource and methodology expertise. Both the Steering Committee and instruction librarians will meet regularly, monthly at first and at less frequent intervals as the grant progresses. When possible, videoconferencing facilities at Kenyon and Denison will be used for small-group meetings, saving on travel time. Other consortial projects requiring contact across wide distances may also use the facilities. Michael Upfold, CONSORT Library Systems Manager, will be the Internet/technology advisor and ex officio advisor to both groups.

Faculty who participate in projects will submit proposals that address criteria established by the Steering Committee. They will collaborate with instruction librarians as their projects are developed and will share their experiences with Ohio Five faculty in their disciplines (or related disciplines) at workshops sponsored by the project.

Administrative responsibilities related to fiscal management and reporting, will be handled by Susan Palmer, Administrative Director, and Brenda Howard, Accounting Assistant, in the Five Colleges of Ohio office. As host institution for the consortial office, Kenyon College will serve as fiscal agent for the grant. Dr. Palmer will also serve on the Steering Committee as an ex officio member, to advise about consortial matters. Ms. Howard will be available to assist with Web-based projects as well as financial reporting.

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VI. Three-Year Timeline

A. Year One (Spring Semester 2000)

• Colleges organize campus committees and name steering committee representatives.

• Instruction librarians participating in consortial activities are selected.

• Steering committee and instruction librarians convene monthly, separately or together.

• Steering committee develops full list and schedule of project activities.

• Instruction librarians begin investigation of best practices and development of instructional materials for consortial Web site, in collaboration with selected faculty.

• Steering committee creates guidelines and procedures for faculty-instruction librarian curricular projects, expenditure of grant funds, and reporting on grant progress.

• Campus committees develop annual activity and reporting plans for review by Steering committee.

• Steering committee develops publicity plan to alert faculty to curriculum development opportunities.

• Campus committees begin publicity to increase awareness of the project and the nature of the available opportunities.

• Instruction librarians approach selected faculty to participate in pilot curricular projects.

• Instruction librarians and Steering Committee organize and attend the working symposium.

B. Year One (Summer and Fall Semester 2000)

• Steering committee and instruction librarians continue to convene monthly.

• Selected faculty and instruction librarians begin pilot projects.

• Instruction librarians attend the Ohio ACRL Institute for Information Literacy; consortial representatives attend the Frye Institute.

• Instruction librarians continue development of consortial Web pages.

• First round competition for faculty grants announced on each campus.

• First round of faculty grants awarded.

• Steering committee reviews implementation activities and sets course for coming year, including workshop schedule, dissemination plans, and annual report.

C. Year Two (2001)

• Steering committee and instruction librarians continue to convene regularly.

• Campus committees develop annual activity and reporting plans.

• First round of faculty-librarian projects begin.

• Program publicity continues.

• Second round of competition for faculty grants announced on each campus.

• Second round of faculty grants awarded.

• Instruction librarians continue research and material preparation.

• Early adopting faculty start implementation of information literacy into courses.

• Second round of faculty-librarian projects begin.

• Consortial disciplinary or divisional workshops for faculty and librarians begin.

• Steering committee reviews implementation activities and sets course for coming year, including workshop schedule, dissemination plans, and annual report.

D. Year Three (2002)

• Steering committee and instruction librarians continue to convene regularly.

• Campus committees develop annual activity and reporting plans.

• Program publicity continues with a focus on dissemination of results.

• Instruction librarians continue research and material preparation.

• Third round of competition for faculty grants announced on each campus.

• Third round of faculty grants awarded.

• Third round of faculty-librarian projects begin.

• Faculty implement information literacy projects into courses.

• Consortial disciplinary or divisional workshops for faculty and librarians continue.

• Evaluation of project completed.

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VII. Dissemination

The relationships among the project Steering Committee, the instruction librarians, and the campus committees will provide channels of communication across the Ohio Five colleges. In addition, reports about progress and products will be distributed to others interested in information literacy. The methods of communication and dissemination will include:

• distributing print and electronic announcements to campus groups;

• making reports and demonstrations available to the participants in the other Mellon-supported library projects;

• offering information literacy methods, teaching models, and instructional materials for inclusion into nation-wide programs, such as the National Information Literacy Institute’s project to document best practices in information literacy;

• sharing project information and evaluation data with the library and information technology community through publications and conference presentations of organizations such as OhioLINK, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Academic Library Association of Ohio, and EDUCAUSE; and

• encouraging faculty to make presentations at disciplinary conferences and write papers showcasing their projects.

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VIII. Outcomes and Assessment

The activities sponsored by the grant will complement projects already underway on individual campuses and within the consortium as a whole, including the Kenyon-Denison Mellon grant for teaching with technology, the Mellon-funded OCTET project at Oberlin, the Ohio Five Mellon-Culpeper foreign language project, and the original Mellon grant that led to the establishment of the consortium, creation of the CONSORT system, and OhioLINK participation by member libraries.

We anticipate the following specific outcomes through grant activities:

• increased awareness on each of the campuses of the importance of information literacy and recognition that it is an integral part of a liberal arts education;

• considerable incorporation of information literacy content and skills into the curriculum, so that more courses at each institution include well-defined library use or library instruction components and rely on librarian-faculty teaching partnerships;

• enhanced sharing among reference and instruction librarians across the consortium of common approaches to enhancing information literacy programming at the local institutions;

• increased communication by faculty of successful pedagogical techniques for integrating information literacy into the curriculum, with an emphasis on seeking out, supporting, and highlighting methods used by the consortium’s most innovative teachers;

• improved skills for teaching information literacy of librarians and faculty members at each campus;

• improved mechanisms for sharing information literacy instructional materials within the consortium and among other institutions; and

• increased use of Internet resources to facilitate information literacy skills.

Assessment of the program will focus on the stated outcomes and dissemination goals with the realization that, at the end of the three-year project, faculty will be in the early stages of implementing curricular materials. The new and revised courses developed with grant funding will exemplify a range of methods for initiating the integration of information literacy into the curriculum. During subsequent years, as courses are further refined, we expect to see even greater impact on students’ information literacy skills.

We will initially measure success of the program on the basis of:

• annual reports from the steering committee, campus committees, and instruction librarians that include data about program participation and narrative assessments of the effectiveness of the professional and faculty development activities;

• quality, breadth, relevance, and level of use of the information literacy resources developed for the consortial web site, based on evaluation by faculty and librarians who draw on the resources for course development;

• the activities of the project librarians leading to the creation of instructional resources and course development, with attention to the appropriateness of the amount of release time budgeted for the project and the success of each institution in finding successful replacement staff;

• the number of faculty who apply to and participate in the information literacy curriculum development program or who utilize the materials developed by the consortium.

• the number of productive librarian-faculty teams created;

• statistics on the classes, course levels, and disciplines influenced by the project, including the overall number of students affected;

• evaluation by participating faculty of the extent to which student information literacy skills have improved in their courses, based on student performance;

• course evaluation data from the student participants, including their assessment of the extent to which their skills have improved;

• assessment by participating faculty of the most important general and discipline-specific information skills needed by their students;

• the number and effectiveness of consortial workshops, based on the number of participants, the disciplines represented, and evaluations by participants; and

• the number and quality of papers written for and presentations given to other institutions, conferences, journals, and other public forums by librarians and faculty.

Moreover, we expect to use our experiences during the three-year program, including what we learn from the assessment process, to encourage a second generation of information literacy resources and faculty projects. With a broad range of model courses and a set of evaluation data to draw upon, we will be better able to improve the teaching of information literacy skills and increase the extent to which such skills are incorporated into the curriculum on all five campuses.

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IX. Budget

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X. Appendices

Appendix A.

Definition of Information Literacy

Information Literacy encompasses both print and electronic forms of information and consists of the ability to:

• Understand in a basic sense how resource information is produced, disseminated, and organized, including differences among primary, secondary, and tertiary literature, and the distinction between popular and peer-reviewed literature;

• Understand basic tools for accessing information, including catalogs, indexes, and bibliographies, in both print and electronic format, and particularly the structure of electronic databases;

• Learn basic search strategies for accessing information, including how to determine the nature of information needed and how to formulate and refine questions throughout the search;

• Learn to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of information, including the ability to question the place, context, and time in which information was produced; the reliability and potential biases of the original source of the information, and whether the information has been reviewed by trustworthy referees; and

• Understand how to make effective and appropriate use of information, in light of issues of intellectual property and copyright in the electronic age; the need to synthesize and reconcile differences in information obtained from varying and sometimes conflicting sources; and protocols for properly citing sources and avoiding plagiarism.

Appendix B. Curriculum Vitae of the Project Director

Appendix C. Example of a Faculty Project

September 29, 1999

Proposal for Faculty/Librarian Information Literacy Project

Ellen R. Stoltzfus, Department of Psychology

Proposal Overview

This proposal describes a project to promote information literacy among psychology students by instituting a two-tier program of instruction which will be collaboratively generated by Psychology Department faculty and librarians. The program will consist of instruction sessions in the library, written exercises, and possibly web-based tutorials. The major focus of this proposal is to generate active learning exercises which will allow students to independently practice their information literacy skills as they acquire them. These exercises will address issues such as understanding the different types of resources available, how to find various kinds of information, and how to evaluate the information that is found. In addition, some exercises will explicitly instruct students on the intersection of literacy and critical thinking about the content of psychology, respecting the fact that a student’s final goal is to integrate resources into written assignments. While finding and understanding information are the critical first steps in any research project, incorporating and integrating the information into some form of communication is a vital step for which students often get little instruction. We often assume that students will simply pick up these skills without explicitly teaching them. The proposed series of exercises will work to remedy this problem.

While I propose to work on these exercises to add to my own courses (Introduction to Psychology and Methods in Cognitive Psychology), I hope to generate a system of instruction which could be used in all psychology courses at the introductory and methods levels. This program would lead to more systematic instruction than is currently available to students in the psychology curriculum, and would offer this instruction in an efficient format. Currently faculty end up spending a fair amount of time with individual students on information literacy concepts while the students are researching term paper topics or independent study topics. If these concepts could be taught through tutorials or other kinds of exercises earlier in the psychology curriculum, students would have a more sophisticated set of skills before beginning their projects. This would save time for the faculty and library staff, and result in better work from the students (and perhaps even less frustration while completing the work).

The first phase of the proposed instruction program would take place in the Introduction to Psychology course, which is a prerequisite for all other psychology courses. Basic library research skills will be emphasized, such as knowing the difference between primary and secondary sources and when to use them, and how to search online catalogs or databases. Several active learning exercises will reinforce and expand upon the type of instruction that is currently available from the Science Librarian.

The second phase of the instruction program would take place in the upper level methodology courses that all of our psychology majors are required to take. This phase would focus more on advanced techniques and skills, and would emphasize use of resources in writing for psychology, in particular. For example, how to search for particular scales or instruments such as personality tests, and how to communicate the status of research when you find conflicting data among your resources.

Specific Goals for Active Learning Exercises

Some of the goals for information literacy in both the Introduction to Psychology course and the upper level methods courses are listed below with some specific examples of topics for exercises. While the Introduction to Psychology goals are likely to remain the same across each section of the course, the methods-level goals are likely to change with the instructor and content area. For example, in the Methods in Personality course the students must locate and evaluate personality tests in a variety of sources. This exercise would not be appropriate for the Methods in Sensation and Perception course. These lists will certainly be refined and expanded in collaboration with librarians and other psychology faculty once the project begins.

Goals for Introductory Psychology Exercises:

1. Identify different types of resources

e.g., know the difference between primary and secondary sources

2. Know when to use various types of resources

e.g., using original experimental articles when methodological details are of interest

3. Find resources using various tools such as online catalog and search engines

e.g, using Psychinfo and the Social Science Citation Index

4. Evaluate sources of information, including books and journals as well as the world wide web and popular media sources

e.g., understanding the importance of peer review, determining the

credentials and credibility of sources, considering currency of sources

5. Understand how to effectively make an argument incorporating evidence obtained through library research

e.g., avoiding summary statements about conclusions of research without saying enough about the evidence that led to such conclusions

6. Appropriately use ILL

e.g., what you should know about a resource before ordering it

7. Appropriately acknowledge sources when writing papers

e.g., how to cite in APA style, and types of unintentional plagiarism and

why they occur

8. Choosing topics for papers, and how to begin research

e.g., starting a search in an area you know nothing about, and narrowing

a topic using preliminary resource materials

Goals for Methods Level Exercises:

1. Finding and evaluating psychological assessment instruments

e.g., obtaining published versions of personality tests, locating and evaluating published norms for a particular test

2. Obtaining information on very specialized methodologies

e.g., finding specific conventions for reaction time methodologies, finding information to help you understand why certain statistics are generally used in a particular area of research, or finding out how other researchers have written a specialized consent or debriefing form for research that has important ethical considerations for participants

3. Learning and using advanced search techniques and making use of on-line journals

e.g., knowing when and how to do citation searches

4. Integrating different type of resources in writing a research paper

e.g., integrating theory and empirical papers, using literature review articles when reporting on the status of research in a particular area

5. Writing a clear and compelling argument while appropriately bringing in evidence

e.g., using evidence to support general summary statements, or knowing when and how to make methodological arguments, and how much methodological detail to give in an introduction or discussion section of an article

6. Appropriately using citations in writing

e.g., reviewing forms of citations in APA style, citing secondary sources,

discovering examples of problems in the psychology literature when people don’t appropriately cite other authors

7. Locating and evaluating websites on psychology topics

e.g., finding career-related and professional psychology information on the web,

evaluating sites on psychological disorders, cognitive neuropsychology, or other

psychology topics

Strengths of this Approach to Information Literacy Instruction

The proposed system of instruction for psychology students has several advantages over the current system of instruction, which is mainly geared at younger students and does not emphasize collaboration among faculty and librarians.

1. The two-tiered structure of this program allows for more level-appropriate instruction at the times when the students need it. There is currently very little formal library instruction for the upper level psychology students, so this proposal provides for a new level of instruction, as well as more systematic instruction for intro level students.

2. A collaborative instruction program using the knowledge and skills of both librarians and faculty, will allow content-specific exercises that should be more meaningful to students because they will be more integrated with course content. Closer contact between faculty and librarians may also enhance faculty knowledge about new library resources.

3. Explicit active learning exercises for each literacy concept will help students use the concepts they learn immediately, rather than waiting until they have to write a paper for their current or future classes. They will get more practice using the various search tools, and more practice thinking about the types (and usefulness) of the information they discover. Using standard exercises at the introductory level of instruction will also help faculty evaluate the skills students are developing, because it will be easier to assess their work. In addition, the self-guided nature of these exercises will minimize the amount of class time needed for this instruction program.

4. The exercises, especially at the upper level, will explicitly emphasize the intersection of literacy and critical thinking about the content of psychology. Students will complete exercises which help them to evaluate, organize, and integrate information from a number of sources, for the explicit purpose of communicating what they have learned from their research.

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