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2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | Provost's Report April 2008 Ad hoc Faculty Committee on Information Literacy completes report on current state of the College's Information Literacy Program. This report contains several recommendations for improving various parts of the current program and represents part of the ongoing process of librarian/faculty collaboration and program evaluation so necessary to Information Literacy. The next step for this report is a review by the Library Director, Provost, and ultimately the Committee on Academic Priorities (CAP). February 2008 Congratulations to Rocco Piccinino, who has been admitted to 2008 Association of College and Resarch Libraries Immersion Program. Admission to this intensive 5 day program is competitive, but Rocco has prevailed nonetheless. The program stresses teaching skills and information literacy, knowledge of which will benefit the students and faculty of Division 3 classes and all of us in the Smith College Libraries. Rocco is the fifth Smith College librarian to go to Immersion. Ad hoc faculty advisory committee appointed The Provost has appointed three members of the faculty to serve on an ad hoc committee to collaborate on the Smith College Information Literacy Program. This group will work with members of the Information Literacy Team to review the current program and to move it forward. All three divisions are represented on the committee: Ann Leone (Division 1), Marnie Anderson (Division 2), and Donna Riley (Division 3), the latter who also served on the faculty advisory committee which helped launch the Smith program. New Member of Information Literacy Team Formerly of the Young Science Library and member of the Information Literacy Team, Rebecca Pappert left Smith College on January 11, 2008 for a new position at the University of Virginia. Taking her place on the Information Literacy Team is Sharon Domier, Five College East Asian Specialist. Sharon brings a wealth of knowledge and teaching experience to the ILT, and we are grateful for her participation. January, 2008 During the fall term 60.7% of students rated their experience in a library-related class as excellent. 36.5% indicated that their class was good, and the remainder (2.8%) thought their session was fair. A record number of students completed the basic Research Skills and Plagiarism Challenge quizzes during the fall term. The Research Skills quiz tests students’ knowledge of evaluating web sources and finding alternatives to the web search engine, getting help on citing sources, understanding peer review, and identifying scholarly resources. 482 students took the Research Skills quiz once in the fall (up from 414 in Fall, 2006) with 401 taking the quiz more than once to get a better score. 406 students took the Plagiarism Challenge (up from 312 last fall). Having viewed the correct answers 101 students took the quiz a second time. December, 2007 The French Department became the eleventh Smith College department to develop an Information Literacy program. This program is based upon competency standards for students which include information literacy – but also address other basic skills such as reading, writing, cultural awareness, and software literacy. Other language departments which already have Information Literacy programs include: Classics, German, and Italian. August, 2007 Physics became the third Division III and the tenth Smith department to create a formal information literacy program. As with other science departments, work on implementing this program will be a collaborative effort for Physics faculty and librarians Rocco Piccinino and Rebecca Pappert. May, 2007 The History department became the ninth Smith College deparment or program to adopt an information literacy program. This detailed road map establishes specific information literacy competencies for history majors (and others) taking 100 through 400 level history courses. Smith students enrolled in writing intensive classes took the Basic Research Skills and quiz 1,015 times and the Plagiarism Challenge quiz 474 times during 2006/07. The quizzes were offered on Moodle so that students could participate at a time of their choosing. For the first time instructional tutorials were embedded in the correct answers given to those who answered questions incorrectly; these tutorials demonstrated ways of improving research methods. In the first departmental information literacy program established at Smith - Education - a student bibliography assessment experiment has just been concluded. After a library session students from EDC 340 were asked to submit five bibliographic references in an early stage of their research. The bibliographies were measured for five criteria that had been stressed in class such as currency, scholarship, use of standard databases, and format. After comments from librarian and faculty students completed research and submitted a revised bibliography as part of their paper. Data indicated significant improvement as a result of class and even more improvement as a result of after-class intervention. April, 2007 Philosophy and Engineering became the seventh and eighth departments to endorse formal Information Literacy programs. Engineering becomes the second Division 3 department with such a program, joining Psychology. Discussions continue with several other Division 3 departments. February, 2007 The Classics Department became the sixth Smith department to formally adopt an information literacy program for its majors. The program articulates skills to be learned in 100, 200, & 300 level classes. November 2006 The German Department became the fifth Smith department to formally adopt an information literacy program for its majors. In anticipation of the program's launch supplementary reference materials were purchased and two classes were taught as per the program's instructions. Summer 2006 Based on advice from faculty and observations of librarians Information Literacy Team revises and expands Writing Intensive Quiz with an eye to enhancing instruction on the ethical use of information. June 2006 Information Literacy Team launches two tools to help students learn about plagiarism, the Plagiarism Challenge (Holly Davis, Joacobson Center) and How to Recognize Plagiarism (Indiana University). May 2006 Two more departments English and Psychology approve Information Literacy Program statements. Discussions over the summer and early fall will continue with the following departments: African American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Art/Architecture, Biology, Classics, Computer Science, Dance, East Asian Language & Literature, Engineering, German, History, Landscape Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Sociology, and Spanish/Portuguese. April 2006 During the 2005/06 academic year the Writing Intensive Quiz was taken 1,075 times – sometimes as many as three times by the same person. As students reviewed the answers to missed questions they almost always learned and improved their comprehension of the skills being taught as reflected by higher test scores in succeeding attempts. January 2006 Second Smith Information Literacy Program announced. The Department of Italian Language & Literature has targeted two 200 level and two 300 level courses as core and advanced information literacy classes for Italian majors. Discussion on the content and assessment of these classes will continue over the spring with an eye to launching the program in September, 2006. Information Literacy Team mounts How Do I Detect Plagiarism page on Information Literacy website. December 2005 WRITING INTENSIVE QUIZ RESULTS - During the fall term the Writing Intensive Quiz is taken 885 times. Students who repeat the quiz a second and/or third time not surprisingly show marked improvement in their understanding of basic research skills. The quiz will be offered to students in writing intensive classes during the spring term and will then be revised for fall, 2006 based on student, faculty, and librarian observations. September 2005 RESEARCH SKILLS QUIZ FOR ALL WRITING INTENSIVE COURSE STUDENTS - To assist all students at Smith in learning basic research skills the Information Literacy Team has launched a Blackboard site - LIB 105, Research Skills for Students. This site is not a separate course. It simply contains a five-question quiz to be taken by all students enrolled in writing intensive classes at Smith. Although designed to be self-administered at any time during the term, this quiz will be most useful if taken after a library session or after its contents are discussed by the course instructor in class. Issues covered include academic integrity, citation style help, the nature of scholarly literature, web search alternatives, and ways to evaluate a web page. The quiz may be taken as many times as necessary until each student can score 100%. Full explanations for each answer are provided. Fall 2005 During the fall term of 2005 discussion of information literacy in the curriculum will begin with eight new departments representing all three Smith divisions: Anthropology, Classics, Engineering, English, History, Italian, Landscape Studies, and Sociology. Plans continue for information literacy in Art, Education, Philosophy, & Psychology. May 2005 Information Literacy Team develops Smith College Honors Thesis Information Literacy Checklist. This checklist describes many of the concepts and techniques stressed in the required research appointment for writers of Smith honors theses. April 2005 Information Literacy Team member, Barbara Polowy, presented "Working Well With Others: Collaborating With Faculty in Developing Information Literacy Programs" at the Art Libraries Society of North America Conference, Houston, Texas. “My presentation described the first steps in developing and implementing an information literacy program at Smith College. It covered how the library staff has worked with the faculty and college administration as well as our information technology colleagues to establish and promote adoption of information literacy objectives across the college curriculum.” The Smith College Education Department in collaboration with library liaison, Robin Kinder, has collaborated in creating an information literacy program for Education majors at Smith. The program will encourage students to learn and practice various skills in four undergraduate classes as well as one course taught at the graduate level. For the first time students will be asked to evaluate their perceptions of their information literacy skills in the Smith 2005 Enrolled Student Survey. March 2005 On March 23, 2005 the Smith College faculty adopted language describing Smith College Writing Intensive classes to have (among others) the following objectives:
Fall 2004 Discussions begin with four departments - Art, Education, Philosophy, and Psychology - about how information literacy can best be tailored to meet the needs of majors in each discipline. May 2004 Information Literacy Team refines basic learning outcomes for all Smith College Writing Intensive Students whose classes participate in the Information Literacy Program. Spring 2004 Information Literacy begins to replace conventional library instruction in selected classes. Five College Information Literacy Discussion List Debuts. FCInfoLit-L is a moderated discussion list devoted to information literacy and library instruction. Hosted by the Smith College Information Literacy Team in cooperation with the Five College Research, Instruction, & Outreach (RIO) Committee, this list is intended for librarians, archivists, library school students, or other instructors interested in information literacy who have an active affiliation with one of the Five Colleges - Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith College, or the University of Massachusetts. To subscribe to FCInfoLit-L send the following message: "subscribe fcinfolit-l" to the following address: majordomo@majordomo.smith.edu. Leave the subject line of your message blank. Others may want to subscribe to the national discussion list on information literacy, ILI-L; for details consult http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/ilil.htm January 30, 2004 Five College Libraries Better Teaching Workshop for Librarians hosted at Smith College. November 21, 2003 Information Literacy Teaching Lunch, 12 noon, College Club, lower level. September 2003 In a few writing intensive classes assignments stressing information literacy skills begin to be developed in collaboration among faculty, librarians, Jacobson Center staff, et al. Smith College Libraries Information Literacy Team formed to develop a formal Information Literacy program. Initial membership includes: Rocco Piccinino, Barbara Polowy, Bruce Sajdak (Chair), and Pamela Skinner. May 2003 Information literacy training for writing intensive class faculty will be held on May 22nd. Discussions with chairs of departments will begin to determine each department's information literacy needs. March 2003 Based on the committee report and on later discussions with faculty and Jacobson Center staff the Provost reported at the March Faculty meeting that a two-tiered program of Information Literacy would begin in the fall term. A summary of the report is posted on this page. January 2003 Committee issues report to CAP recommending a two-tiered information literacy program at Smith College Fall 2002 At the request of the Committee on Academic Priorities a committee of 3 faculty, 3 librarians, and a representative from ITS met in the fall of 2002 to recommend a strategy for incorporating information literacy into the curriculum. The need for such an integration was based upon faculty dissatisfaction with students' selection of inappropriate materials for academic work and librarians' perceptions of a sea change in students' information seeking behavior - i.e. the use of web search engines as the primary - often only - method of gathering data. The Provost's Report on Information Literacy summarizes the committee's findings as refined in further discussions during the Spring of 2003. September 2002 Information Literacy Subcommittee of CAP meets for the first time. Committee is composed of three faculty - Barbara Kellum (co-chair), Fiona Griffiths, Donna Riley, three librarians - Bruce Sajdak (co-chair), Barbara Polowy, Rocco Piccinino, and an Information Technology Services representative, Pat Billingsley. January 2002 As a result of faculty comments and their own observations of changed student information gathering behavior a committee of teaching librarians recommends to Library Director that the need for an information literacy program be communicated to the Committee on Academic Priorities PROVOST'S REPORT Information Literacy at Smith College Information literate students have the ability to define the kind of information they need and then locate, evaluate, and use it efficiently and ethically. Among other skills they should be able to:
Committee Recommendations As a result of committee deliberations and later discussions a two-tiered approach to integrating information literacy into the Smith curriculum is recommended.
2003-2004 Focus As a first step in 2003-2004 the effort for developing basic information literacy skills will be made through writing intensive classes. In May workshops for writing intensive faculty will present ways of designing assignments and using available support to incorporate information literacy into a class. For advanced skill development library staff will initiate discussions with departmental chairs to determine each department's own needs and assess how best to meet them.
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