San Antonio College Library Department
Student Learning
Outcomes
July 29, 2005
The mission statement of
As stated in the Information Literacy Competency
Standards for Higher Education published by the Association of College and
Research Libraries (available: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm)
information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize
when information is needed and to have the ability to locate, evaluate, and
effectively use the needed information.
Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all
learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and
extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater
control over their own learning.
The following departmental goals and objectives are
mapped in parentheses to the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards
For Higher Education.
GOAL
The Library Department will provide resources, instruction, and services that enable and promote information literacy and life-long learning and enable the information literate student to:
-Determine the nature and extent of the information
needed (1)
-Access needed information effectively and efficiently
(2)
-Evaluate information and its sources critically (3)
-Understand many of the economic, legal, ethical, and
social issues surrounding the
use of information and access to information
(5)
OBJECTIVES
Students who use departmental resources, instruction, and
services should learn to:
1. Define and
articulate the need for information (1.1)
-explore general information
sources to increase familiarity with the topic (1.1.c)
-identify key concepts and terms
that describe the information need (1.1.e)
2. Identify a
variety of types and formats of potential sources of information (1.2)
-know how information is
formally and informally produced, organized, and
disseminated (1.2.a)
-recognize that knowledge can be
organized into disciplines that influence the way
information is accessed (1.2.b)
-identify the value and
differences of potential resources in a variety of formats (e.g.
multimedia, website, data
set, audio/visual, book) (1.2.c)
-identify the purpose and
audience of potential resources (e.g. popular vs. scholarly,
current vs. historical) (1.2.d)
-differentiate between primary
and secondary sources, recognize how their use and
importance vary with each discipline (1.2.e)
-realize that information may
need to be constructed with raw data from primary sources
(1.2.f)
3. Consider the costs and benefits of acquiring the needed information (1.3)
-determine the availability
of needed information and make decisions on broadening the
information seeking process beyond local
resources (e.g. interlibrary loan, using
resources at other locations, obtaining
images, videos, text, or sound) (1.3.a)
-define a realistic overall plan
and timeline to acquire the needed information (1.3.b)
4. Select the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval
systems for accessing the needed information (2.1)
-identify appropriate investigative methods (2.1.a)
-investigate benefits and applicability of various
investigative methods (2.1.b)
-investigate the scope, content, and organization of
information retrieval systems (2.1.c)
-select efficient and effective approaches for
accessing the information needed (2.1.d)
5. Construct and implement effectively designed search strategies (2.2)
-develop a research plan
appropriate to the investigative method (2.2.a)
-identify keywords, synonyms and
related terms for the information needed (2.2.b)
-select controlled vocabulary
specific to the discipline or information retrieval source
(2.2.c)
-construct a search strategy
using appropriate commands for the information retrieval
system selected (e.g. Boolean operators,
truncation, and proximity for search
engines; internal organizers such as indexes
for books) (2.2.d)
-implement the search strategy
in various information retrieval systems using different
interfaces and search engines with different
command languages, protocols, and
search parameters (2.2.e)
-implement the search using
investigative protocols appropriate to the discipline (2.2.f)
6. Retrieve information online or in person using a variety of methods (2.3)
-use various search systems
to retrieve information in a variety of formats (2.3.a)
-use various classification
schemes and other systems (e.g. call number systems or indexes)
to locate information
resources within the library or to identify specific sites for
physical exploration (2.3.b)
-use specialized online or in
person services available at the institution to retrieve
information needed (e.g. interlibrary
loan/document delivery, professional
associations, institutional research offices,
community resources, experts and
practitioners) (2.3.c)
7. Extract, record, and manage the information and its sources (2.5)
-select among various
technologies the most appropriate one for the task of extracting the
needed information (e.g. copy/paste software
functions, photocopier, scanner,
audio/visual equipment)
(2.5.a)
-differentiate between the types
of sources cited and understand the elements and
correct syntax of a citation
for a wide range of resources (2.5.c)
-record all pertinent citation
information for future reference (2.5.d)
-use various technologies to
extract the information selected (2.5.e)
8. Articulate and apply initial criteria for evaluating both the information and its sources (3.2)
-examine and compare
information from various sources in order to evaluate reliability,
validity, accuracy,
authority, timeliness, and point of view or bias (3.2.a)
-determine probable accuracy
by questioning the source of the data, the limitations of the
information gathering tools or strategies, and
the reasonableness of the conclusions
(3.4.e)
9. Determine whether the initial query should be revised (3.7)
-review search strategy and
incorporate additional concepts as necessary (3.7.b)
-review information retrieval
sources used and expand to include others as needed
(3.7.c)
10. Follow laws, regulations, institutional policies, and etiquette related to the access
and use of information resources (5.2)
-use approved passwords and
other forms of ID to access the information resources (5.2.b)
-comply with institutional
policies on access to information resources (5.2.c)
-preserve the integrity of
information resources, equipment, systems, and facilities (5.2.d)
-legally obtain, store, and
disseminate text, data, images, or sound (5.2.e)
-demonstrate an understanding of
what constitutes plagiarism and not represent work
attributable to others as
his/her own (5.2.f)
11. Acknowledge the use of information sources in communicating the product or
performance (5.3)
-select an appropriate
documentation style and use it consistently to cite sources (5.3.a)
Updated
01/09/08 Department name updated (C. Peterson)