Purposeful and Repeated Use of Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy: A Case Study at a U.S. Private Liberal-Arts University

Chapman University is a private medium-sized liberal arts university located in Orange, California. With aspirations of national prominence, Chapman University is poised to enter the national stage in the United States and the university library will play an important role in this endeavor. One way that the library has demonstrated this commitment has been to create a scaffolded information literacy program that encourages lifelong-learning and provides instruction to our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. A crucial element of any highly effective information literacy program is a diversified approach to assessment. The Leatherby Libraries sought out new ways to assess our students’ information literacy skills to add to the informal assessment practices that we already had in place. The instrument selected for the initial phase was the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS). SAILS is a valid and reliable test based on the information competency standards for higher education produced by the Association of College and Research Libraries. The version of the SAILS test we used was the cohort test, which we first administered in 2007 on paper in a highly monitored setting with 130 students. In 2008 we tested 165 students and in 2009 we tested 655 students. Starting in 2010, we switched the method of administration to online and tested 965 students, followed by 1,017 students in 2011 and 991 students in 2012. Results from the testing consistently show that students at our university perform above the average compared to students at other master’s institutions. Results also provided internal benchmarks and details about skill sets and majors. For example, we found that across the years students majoring in sociology and psychology scored lower than students in other majors with regard to documenting sources, but better than other majors in understanding legal, economic, and social issues. In 2013, we investigated a new version of the SAILS test that provides an overall information literacy test score for each student, with designated competency and mastery levels. We elected to use that version of the test as part of a larger university effort to track student learning over the course of a student’s college career. We administered the test to 919 freshman students in the Fall of 2013. Results of that testing show that, as expected, few (16%) of the first year students demonstrated competency or mastery. Additional analysis of the data set is ongoing. We will examine the relationships between the variables of student major, transfer status, and student self-assessment of skill level with information literacy score. This testing and analysis will be mirrored by administering the same test to students who are completing their last year of college. One of the challenges of using a standardized tool is interpreting the results within the local environment; another is translating results into improvements in instructional effectiveness to address student learning outcomes. Our SAILS results allow us to better understand our students’ information literacy skills and to adjust our instructional goals accordingly

Information Literacy Assessment for Instruction and Improvement and Demonstration of Library Value: Comparing Locally-Grown and Commercially Created Tests

This paper describes two types of fixed-choice information literacy tests, one locally created and one nationally developed. The Madison Research Essentials Skills Test (MREST) is part of a tutorial-test model for first-year library instruction at James Madison University. Students must pass the test before they can move to sophomore status. This testing process relies on a collaborative model between JMU Libraries, the General Education program, and the Center for Assessment Research Studies (CARS). On the national level, the recently-created Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL) is based on the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy and in four test modules measures both information literacy knowledge and dispositions. TATIL was created by librarians and other educators and can be used to guide instructional program changes, for external and internal reporting, and to give students recommendations for improving their information literacy. The decision to use a test and to choose which approach to take can be informed by comparing the benefits and limitations of these testing options

Celebrating Student Scholarship with an Undergraduate Research Prize

The Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University started its research prize contest for undergraduate students in 2007. Having reached the tenth anniversary of the contest, we are well positioned to reflect on how the contest has changed in concert with new ways of inquiry and information creation and on its role in supporting and honoring student research. A decade of experience has taught us how to diversify the contest and reflect collectively on its merits. In this chapter, we present a case study of how the Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize (URP) recognizes and honors student scholarship. We explain the goals and processes of the contest and discuss the partnership elements that make the URP contest successful. A student contestant and a contest benefactor coauthor this chapter, enabling a forum with rich and diverse perspectives on the benefits of the competition. The reflection by student Talia Cain, presented in part above, underscores how the process of conducting research has contributed to the development of her scholarly identity.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/librarian_books/1004/thumbnail.jp

Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills: What the SAILS Tests Reveal Over Time

What can standardized assessments tell us about the information literacy levels of our students? When an institution chooses to use a national assessment, the institution is faced with negotiating the existing testing process and making sense of the results within the local context. Chapman University and its sister institution Brandman University have measured information literacy for several years with the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS). In this presentation we compare three models of implementation: (1) administering the SAILS cohort test to incoming freshmen; (2) giving the SAILS individual-scores test to freshmen and seniors; and (3) administering the SAILS cohort test to students enrolled in a required information literacy course. We share a snapshot of our results and, more importantly, how we have interpreted these results. We review the benefits and limitations of the SAILS tests, discuss solutions to implementation issues, and offer ideas for communicating results to stakeholders

Results of a National Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

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Watching Them Grow Up: Measuring Information Literacy from Third Grader to College Senior

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A practical guide to information literacy assessment for academic librarians

Westportxiii, 177 p.: illus; 25 c