US Federal Government Data, Documents, and Information Literacy: A Proposal to Integrate Information Literacy into the Study of Income Inequality

Course: Economics 415 Income Inequality
Faculty: Andrea L. Ziegert, Department of Economics
Librarian: Mary Prophet, Deputy Director, Head of Government Documents

Why information and US federal government data?

It is important for our students to have basic information literacy skills to locate, evaluate and effectively use information throughout their lives. Indeed such skills are essential to an informed citizenry. Government data and documents are an importance source of information. Indeed, the US government is the "official" source of information as diverse and far ranging as macroeconomic business cycle indicators to the living situations of America's children. In addition, data and information on government budgets, programs and participation levels are crucial to understanding the role of government in the economy, and the ability of government to meet the needs of their people. Such a wealth and diversity of information is incredibly valuable and requires a variety of skills and strategies to effective access.

Historically, government data has been cataloged in a way that often seemed complicated and difficult to use for the average student. More recently, access has been improved through a variety of on-line technologies. However, this presents a new set of access issues. First, information that was once available in print and on-line may only be available on-line. More importantly, the online location and types of information available can change overnight, (e.g with a change in administrations). This means that students may need a variety of methods to locate particular data overtime.

Economics 415 Income Inequality (formally economics 315)

Economics 415, Income Inequality is a particularly rich context to introduce and teach students information literacy skills with respect to government data and publications. In this course we study changes in the distribution of the nation's income in the post WWII period. To do this we study a variety of topics:

• Macroeconomic business cycle events for each decade 1950-2000;
• Changes in industrial structure and occupations in the economy
• Globalization of the economy
• Technological change
• Labor market policies (minimum wage, affirmative action)
• Changes in labor force during this period (e.g. increased labor force participation of women, or declining participation of men)
• Changes in demographic trends and economic well-being (e.g. increase in longevity among the elderly, or increase in the proportion of familes which are single parent, etc.)
• Education attainment and work experience of a variety race and gender groups in the US
• Immigration and the economy
• Poverty, the poor, and government policy and program participation

Having access to government data on these topics is crucial to understanding recent US economic history. Because many of these topics are controversial (poverty and single parenthood, affirmative action, work effort of the poor), being able to access government data can play an important role in helping evaluate the veracity and accuracy of other sources of information. Furthermore, government agencies provide a wealth of publications and reports which provide initial analysis of government data in a timely fashion.

Goals for Mellon Information Literacy and Curriculum Development Grant

Given the important role government provided data and information have in economics 415, I would like to work with a librarian to accomplish the following goals:

1. Introduce my students to a variety of government data and publications that complement the course;
2. Provide students with a variety of strategies to access data;
3. Provide students with the skills necessary to evaluate the accuracy and dependability of a particular data source.

To accomplish these goals, I would like to work with a librarian in the following capacities to develop:

1. A series of in-class on-line demonstrations on ways to access a variety of government databases and publications (Note: my classes is currently scheduled to meet one day a week in the economics' department computer lab);
2. A series of class assignments which require students to demonstrate their abilities to access and use a variety of government data and publication; and
3. A series of class assignments which require students to evaluate the veracity and/or reliability of particular web-sites or other information related to some of the more controversial issues of the course perhaps through the use of federal government data.

I am currently scheduled to teach this course this upcoming fall semester. To do so I would need to spend approximately a month to develop the information literacy linkages to the current course.

Potential Outcomes

Besides having more information literate students, I would hope that these strategies could be presented at regional or national meetings of economists. One possible outlet for publication would be the Journal of Economic Education, one of the top 25 journals in economics.

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