Meeting information literacy outcomes: Partnering with faculty to create effective information literacy assessment

This paper outlines the attempt by librarians at California State University Channel Islands (CI) to authentically assess the information literacy levels of first-year and third-year students, their partnership with faculty from CI’s writing and rhetoric programme in receiving a grant for this endeavour, the creation of a rubric and specialised assignment to facilitate the assessment process and the initial assessment data that came from the three-year grant period. Information gathered during our pilot study suggests that student information literacy proficiency levels can been determined by assessing student writing assignments, and that a targeted rubric is an effective authentic assessment measure in this endeavour. This study is of use to practising librarians as it highlights the efforts of the authors to partner with faculty, not only in assessing student papers, but also in creating a rubric and specialised bibliography assignment that can be used by librarians and faculty at their institutions.  This article is based on a paper presented at LILAC 2011

From Drips to Tsunamis: Planning for Disasters in Your Library

Disasters strike every area of any country and affect libraries, large or small. From a water leak to something big like an earthquake, hurricane or fire, libraries need to have a plan of action for an effective response. Our panel discussion included librarians who have survived disasters along with others who live in potentially hazardous areas. We discussed disaster plans from a number of institutions of different sizes, collections and budgets as well as providing some best practices and resources for creating or updating your own plan

Social Gerontology- Integrative and Territorial Aspects: A Citation Analysis of Subject Scatter and Database Coverage

To determine the mix of resources used in social gerontology research, a citation analysis was conducted. A representative sample of citations was selected from three prominent gerontology journals and information was added to determine subject scatter and database coverage for the cited materials. Results indicate that a significant portion of gerontology research, even from a social science perspective, relies roughly equally on medical resources as it does social science resources. Furthermore, there is a small but defined core of literature constituting scholarly “territory” unique to gerontology. Analysis of database indexing indicated that broad, interdisciplinary databases provide more comprehensive coverage of the cited materials than do subject-specific databases

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Habitat Selection in Female-Calf Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Pairs on the Hawaiian Breeding Grounds

The Au'au Channel between the islands of Maui and Lanai, Hawaii comprises critical breeding habitat for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) of the Central North Pacific stock. However, like many regions where marine mega-fauna gather, these waters are also the focus of a flourishing local eco-tourism and whale watching industry. Our aim was to establish current trends in habitat preference in female-calf humpback whale pairs within this region, focusing specifically on the busy, eastern portions of the channel. We used an equally-spaced zigzag transect survey design, compiled our results in a GIS model to identify spatial trends and calculated Neu's Indices to quantify levels of habitat use. Our study revealed that while mysticete female-calf pairs on breeding grounds typically favor shallow, inshore waters, female-calf pairs in the Au'au Channel avoided shallow waters (<20 m) and regions within 2 km of the shoreline. Preferred regions for female-calf pairs comprised water depths between 40–60 m, regions of rugged bottom topography and regions that lay between 4 and 6 km from a small boat harbor (Lahaina Harbor) that fell within the study area. In contrast to other humpback whale breeding grounds, there was only minimal evidence of typical patterns of stratification or segregation according to group composition. A review of habitat use by maternal females across Hawaiian waters indicates that maternal habitat choice varies between localities within the Hawaiian Islands, suggesting that maternal females alter their use of habitat according to locally varying pressures. This ability to respond to varying environments may be the key that allows wildlife species to persist in regions where human activity and critical habitat overlap

Historical Roads and Employee Housing of the Camarillo State Mental Hospital

Map created using ESRI ArcGIS software.Map created using ESRI ArcGIS software

Meeting information literacy outcomes: Partnering with faculty to create effective information literacy assessment

This paper outlines the attempt by librarians at California State University Channel Islands (CI) to authentically assess the information literacy levels of first-year and third-year students, their partnership with faculty from CI’s writing and rhetoric programme in receiving a grant for this endeavour, the creation of a rubric and specialised assignment to facilitate the assessment process and the initial assessment data that came from the three-year grant period. Information gathered during our pilot study suggests that student information literacy proficiency levels can be determined by assessing student writing assignments, and that a targeted rubric is an effective authentic assessment measure in this endeavour. This study is of use to practising librarians as it highlights the efforts of the authors to partner with faculty, not only in assessing student papers, but also in creating a rubric and specialised bibliography assignment that can be used by librarians and faculty at their institutions

Meeting information literacy outcomes: Partnering with faculty to create effective information literacy assessment

This paper outlines the attempt by librarians at California State University Channel Islands (CI) to authentically assess the information literacy levels of first-year and third-year students, their partnership with faculty from CI’s writing and rhetoric programme in receiving a grant for this endeavour, the creation of a rubric and specialised assignment to facilitate the assessment process and the initial assessment data that came from the three-year grant period. Information gathered during our pilot study suggests that student information literacy proficiency levels can be determined by assessing student writing assignments, and that a targeted rubric is an effective authentic assessment measure in this endeavour. This study is of use to practising librarians as it highlights the efforts of the authors to partner with faculty, not only in assessing student papers, but also in creating a rubric and specialised bibliography assignment that can be used by librarians and faculty at their institutions

Meeting information literacy outcomes: Partnering with faculty to create effective information literacy assessment

This paper outlines the attempt by librarians at California State University Channel Islands (CI) to authentically assess the information literacy levels of first-year and third-year students, their partnership with faculty from CI’s writing and rhetoric programme in receiving a grant for this endeavour, the creation of a rubric and specialised assignment to facilitate the assessment process and the initial assessment data that came from the three-year grant period. Information gathered during our pilot study suggests that student information literacy proficiency levels can be determined by assessing student writing assignments, and that a targeted rubric is an effective authentic assessment measure in this endeavour. This study is of use to practising librarians as it highlights the efforts of the authors to partner with faculty, not only in assessing student papers, but also in creating a rubric and specialised bibliography assignment that can be used by librarians and faculty at their institutions