Beyond the library tour: Information literacy activities at NTU

Trudi Maly, Jayshree Mamtora

Introduction

It is now nine years since the information literacy program began at NTU Library. This Symposium provides an ideal opportunity to assess its progress and identify some of the lessons that have been learnt.

The Program began with the setting up of an information skills project in 1994. The Project carried out two surveys which sought to assess the information skills situation current at the time - library usage, habits and knowledge of the search process - to determine levels of information literacy at the beginning and end of the semester. Essentially, information skills were perceived as being poor.

As a result, an information skills manual was designed for students, and a librarian resource kit with instructional material for librarians was prepare

At about the same time the NTU Working Party on Degree Structures gave the go ahead for key competencies, including information skills, to be introduced to students as part of their studies.

In 1996, a Common Unit Committee was formed which included a senior member of library staff. It was agreed that information skills would be a compulsory component of each common unit, and that the information skills would be assessed and contribute 20 percent towards the overall mark of each unit. Additional funding was to be made available to the library to hire contract staff which would then release full-time staff to work on the program. The funding would also allow for an improvement in the IT infrastructure and an upgrading of training facilities. Again, without the additional funding, the library would have found it hard to undertake the task.

In 1999, the existing information skills manual was converted to HTML and offered as a web-based resource accessible from the library's web page with a view to developing it into an interactive online module. Staffing problems (changes, departures) slowed down progress, but a review of the Common Units in 2000 recommended that priority be given to its development.

So what are the common units?

Purpose - 'designed to introduce beginning university students to fundamental academic skills and provide a deeper understanding of their region and culture'

Objective - 'to gather and process information from multiple sources both print based and electronic, including databases, library catalogues and professional journals'

Started with four common units:

CUC101 - North Australian Studies
CUC102 - Reading and Writing and the World of Ideas
CUC103 - Thought and Communication
CUC104 - Northern Exposure

A fifth, CUC105 Cultural Studies was added in 2000

CUC102, was cancelled in 2002 but replaced by CUC100 Academic Literacies (introduced in Semester 1, 2003). CUC100 brought together multiple 'literacies' including information literacy. Initially IL was taught as a component of each of the five units. But now only CUC100 includes the IL component as it is a mandatory course for all students.

Face-to-face tutorials

Taught by reference librarians - up to seven staff required
Each student receives three two-hour tutorials, six hours
Based on information literacy standards
Students encouraged to use InfoSmart, an online information literacy tutorial (more on that later)
External students are required to use InfoSmart
Learnline - online teaching environment which is utilised for communicating with students undertaking the IL component.
For internal and external students
Finding info (info lit) component uses Learnline to make announcements, include handouts, and discussions (group discussion board)?
Only forum of discussion for external students - gives students an opportunity to share ideas, problems, etc.
Hope to exploit possibilities further, eg. online chat, assessable participation, E-Tutorials, etcetera.
Opportunity to bring subject 'alive' for external students

In addition to the common unit tutorials, the library also offers a general information skills program.

Hold three basic workshops, each at least an hour long:
Library tour and intro to library catalogue
Finding journal articles
Searching the Internet
Designed as introductory classes (especially the databases class)
Predominantly attended by:
mature-age students
students for whom English is a second language
students who have low-level computer skills
may also be enrolled in Academic Literacies, i.e. CUC100

Specific programs for law students

Legal research - embedded in the subject Legal Process, Research and Writing and is a semester long unit available in internal and external mode
Assessable unit co-ordinated by law librarian - worth 10 percent of mark for overall unit
Consists of two one and a half hour tutorials
Includes introduction to law databases, law reference materials, law reports and legislation with an emphasis on electronic resources
Large student numbers - requires second librarian to assist with teaching
Recently teaching online classes - e-tutorials for external students using Voice Café software - also two one and a half hour tutorials

Indigenous pre-law program - five week intensive bridging program
Designed to give indigenous students an understanding of concepts necessary to succeed in law studies
Law Librarian teaches three two-hour tutorials

Advanced Legal Research

An elective offered every two years.

InfoSmart - an online information literacy tutorial developed in 2001.
Developed for external students to replace face-to-face classes
Hope to further develop to include online assessment - possibly in both internal and external mode
Based on Info Lit Standards
Interactive self paced tutorial - includes quiz, self rating option and links to other tutorials

Link to InfoSmart and give brief tour.
Navigate using backpack

Research Navigator

We are currently developing Research Navigator for postgraduate research students. Online resource for postgraduate research students [http://wip.ntu.edu.au/rnnew/].

Objective: develop research skills of postgraduate students particularly in relation to the Literature Review, including:

starting (lit review)
methodology (lit review)
conduct research (lit review)
using catalogues of other libraries
interlibrary loans
searching bibliographic databases
searching the internet
referencing
keeping up with the literature (eg. alerts)

Problems and issues

Boolean or not to Boolean - that is the question

CUC info lit classes greatly focuses on creating Boolean search
Difficult concept for students to grasp
Overemphasis on using tools - Boolean
Need to balance this with broader concepts of Info Lit Standards

Staffing

Running info lit programs (CUC program, general info skills, embedding info lit into online units) is very demanding
Other responsibilities tend to be pushed to one side (eg. collection development, liaison duties, etc)
Even with additional contract staff employed during teaching period for CUC, difficult to deliver other services
Need for librarians to possess teaching skills as few do. (This issue was raised at a CAUL (Council of Australian University Librarians) teleconference in August, and a survey is being proposed to explore the value to employers of librarians having teaching skills.

Conclusion

After nine years spent developing information literacy training program, what has been learnt? That it is not an inexpensive exercise. The resources required to appraise, design, implement and evaluate information literacy programs are extensive, in terms of:

the number of staff, and staff of the appropriate calibre with the right skills and expertise
the extent of the IT infrastructure, sufficient to deliver programs as well as be accessible to students
training facilities, such that small groups as well as individual tutorials can be run
That it involves considerable consultation - even negotiation - inside and outside of the library, with academics, course designers, IT people, if it is to be successful
That is a constantly evolving, dynamic program, with fresh challenges every day
It is not for the faint-hearted, but the impact on the students is significant
The program is absolutely essential if Australia and the Northern Territory are to achieve their goals

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