Rasmuson Library

Dept. of Library Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks

LS 101X - Library Information and Research

Plan for Learning Outcomes Assessment

"The key purposes of assessment are to ask important questions about student learning, to get some meaningful information on these questions, and to use the information for academic improvement."

Assessment Goal:

Determine whether students acquire the expected course outcomes.

Implement curriculum changes as necessary to assure expected outcomes are met.

Course Objectives:

Teach information-finding and research strategies, and principles of information organization, retrieval, and evaluation.

Expected Course Outcomes:

The student is expected to be able to use general and multi-disciplinary bibliographic research tools to find and evaluate information on specific topics. Intrinsic to this process are the following steps:

1. Formulate and articulate the research statement
2. Devise appropriate search strategies
3. Identify bibliographic tools appropriate to the topic
4. Carry out the search to obtain the needed information
5. Evaluate the retrieved information for reliability, authority, currency, completeness, and relevancy.

The student is expected to be able to use Internet tools and resources effectively to find information; use indexes to find periodical articles relevant to the research topic; use library catalogs to find books by author, title, subject, and keyword searching; use Boolean operators to manipulate search results; evaluate information.

While the search methodologies taught are universally applicable over various databases and subject areas, there are many specialized, discipline-specific indexes and catalogs, which are not introduced in this course.

Criteria to be used to measure proficiency in the initial round of assessment:

1. Can the student formulate research question, and recognize the significant words in that question, so that he/she could do a keyword search for periodical articles, books, or WorldWideWeb sites on the topic?
2. Can the student identify, in a bibliographic record for a book, the author, title, publisher and date, and whether the publication includes an index and/or a bibliography?
3. Can the student identify, in a bibliographic record, the Library of Congress Subject Headings he/she could use in a subject search to find other books on this topic?
4. Can the student identify, in a bibliographic citation for a periodical article, the title of the article, name of journal in which the article appeared, the author (if shown), the issue and date of publication?
5. Can the student use a known URL or a WorldWideWeb search engine to locate information?
6. Having responded to questions relating to the above knowledge, what degree of confidence does the student feel in attempting to search for information by author, title, subject, and keyword, using catalogs, indexes, and the WorldWideWeb?
7. Can the student apply basic principles of information evaluation so that he/she can discern reliable sources of information?

Plan for Assessment:

1. Initial and follow-up questionnaires in class
2. Questions on the IAS forms specifically designed to measure outcomes
3. Coordination with instructors in other core courses, e.g. Political Science, English, to include questions designed to assess research proficiency in these courses
4. Exit interviews with sample group of students