York University Libraries believes that information literacy (IL) is a set of competencies all students must have, and IL is an important part of the work of the librarians. IL instruction—in classes, in workshops, and elsewhere—is the teaching part of our work, and focuses on developing a complex set of competencies including the ability to find, use, and evaluate information.

The Information Literacy Manifesto (2005-2010) is the Information Literacy Committee’s vision and plan for library teaching and instruction, in which user needs assessment is a key element. We did valuable work on this element over the last year by conducting surveys and focus groups with two important user groups: faculty and graduate students.

Faculty Say Information Literacy Instruction Is Important

In March and April 2007 we conducted an online survey of all full-time faculty at York to learn about their perceptions of the importance of IL instruction, to gather their insights on students’ IL competencies and research habits, and to learn about their experiences with and expectations of IL instruction at York. 221 valid completed responses were received, and we thank everyone for their time and thoughtful comments.

A more complete summary of the results is available, but here are a few highlights. It’s clear that librarians are not alone in knowing how crucial information literacy is: when asked to rank on a scale of 1-7 the importance of York students graduating with various core IL competencies, consistent mean and median rankings of above 6 show clearly how fundamental York faculty believe these competencies to be.

• 94% of respondents said that students can benefit from IL instruction.
• 87% give assignments where library research is an expectation, but see room for improvement in student skill levels here, especially among lower-level undergrads.
• 80% of respondents believe IL instruction is best taught through faculty/librarian collaboration, and 82% recommend the instruction be required and not optional.
• We were encouraged to learn that 53% of respondents are already incorporating attention to IL in class either on your own (54%) or by asking a librarian to do a tailored session (46%).
• 42% of faculty say that there is a “substantial” beneficial impact from a librarian visiting a class to do an information literacy session, and 33.3% more say it has “some” impact.

These and other findings from will play an important role in guiding our information literacy planning and programming. Thank you!

Graduate Students Recognize Need for In-Library Research Instruction

The Information Literacy Committee also sought input from graduate students, running surveys and focus groups in fall 2007. Among other things, we wanted to learn about their library and Internet research habits and their awareness, experiences, perceptions and expectations of our instructional services.

193 completed responses were received from grad students enrolled in myriad programs across campus. Focus groups were conducted in the Scott and Steacie libraries. An executive summary of our findings will be available on our web site soon, but here are some highlights.

85% of grad students are frequent users of the library’s electronic resources. However, in focus groups a substantial number were uncertain of their ability to make the best use of the library web site when conducting research. They also emphasized the need for greater faculty/librarian collaboration and referral to guide them through the research process. This feedback is under review by our Web Committee as part of a larger web overhaul project, and we would like to work more closely with the Faculty of Graduate Studies and graduate programs.

Grad students value the Libraries’ online tutorials and guides, as well as the consultations and workshops we offer. They suggested strategies to heighten awareness of all of these, new ideas for workshop content, and also ways to work more closely with faculty to promote and design program- or course-specific sessions. We’ve already changed our web site to raise the profile of our workshops and classes on the home page, and the Information Literacy Committee is currently working to strengthen promotion and liaison efforts with graduate students and the faculty who teach and/or supervise them.

The Libraries consider that a Learning Commons is important and we were happy to find that graduate students do too. The focus groups stressed that we should collaborate with other learning services units on campus to provide consultation and workshops on academic writing, presentation and research skills, and scholarly communication issues. This input will help guide programming efforts for the Learning Commons initiative.

So again, thanks to faculty and graduate students alike for giving generously of their time to participate in these surveys and focus groups. It has helped us learn what the Libraries are doing well, where gaps prevail, and where existing services or resources need to improve. In the coming year the Information Literacy Committee plans to to learn more about York’s undergraduate students’ information literacy competencies, expectations, and experiences – so stay tuned for our next instalment!

—Sophie Bury, Librarian