Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
PARB 227
Proposal
During the 2018-2019 year, Florida State University (FSU) Libraries began a pilot partnership with the FSU’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement (CRE) to create a cross-campus collaboration for undergraduate students in the FSU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), with a heavy emphasis on information literacy. 1st-year, 2nd-year, and new transfer students in this program attend a year long course while learning the basics of research by participating in an individual research project mentored by faculty, staff, post docs, or graduate students on the FSU campus. Developing a successful campus partnership is crucial to the holistic development of undergraduate students. Now in its second year for the 2019-2020 academic year, this partnership has grown to include subject librarians as an integral part of each semester. Embedded subject librarians provide instruction, meet with students multiple times throughout the fall and spring semesters, and overall become a resource for these young researchers as they develop their research and information literacy skills.
After assessing the first iteration of information literacy instruction delivered through this program, the second year’s instruction was redesigned to better meet students’ research needs. This year’s revamped instruction focused less on basic discoverability and source finding, knowledge and skills students felt was too repetitive, and instead addresses how students are approaching their research and interacting with sources. The instruction equipped students with the skills necessary to critically evaluate their topics, better strategize searching, evaluate sources to gauge their credibility, and read academic articles efficiently and effectively.
Short Description
Through a pilot collaboration between Florida State University’s University Libraries and Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), 1st-year, 2nd-year, and new transfer students in the UROP program learned valuable research & information literacy skills and tools to enhance their learning as part of their UROP research assistantships, and future academic careers. Currently in its second year, this program requires students to work closely with subject librarians, analyze topics, and reflect on their use of library resources during their research year.
Session Goals
The goal of this presentation is to share how a cross-campus collaboration can successfully engage undergraduate students through an information literacy lens during the research life cycle of a goal-oriented project.
Keywords
Critical Thinking Undergraduate Instruction Collaborate Coordinate Cross-Campus Partnership Program Integration
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Wetzel, Denise A. and Dunne, Liz, "Come together: Developing a successful cross-campus collaboration to improve the information literacy skills of novice researchers" (2020). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 23.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2020/2020/23
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Higher Education Commons, Information Literacy Commons, Other Education Commons
Come together: Developing a successful cross-campus collaboration to improve the information literacy skills of novice researchers
PARB 227
During the 2018-2019 year, Florida State University (FSU) Libraries began a pilot partnership with the FSU’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement (CRE) to create a cross-campus collaboration for undergraduate students in the FSU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), with a heavy emphasis on information literacy. 1st-year, 2nd-year, and new transfer students in this program attend a year long course while learning the basics of research by participating in an individual research project mentored by faculty, staff, post docs, or graduate students on the FSU campus. Developing a successful campus partnership is crucial to the holistic development of undergraduate students. Now in its second year for the 2019-2020 academic year, this partnership has grown to include subject librarians as an integral part of each semester. Embedded subject librarians provide instruction, meet with students multiple times throughout the fall and spring semesters, and overall become a resource for these young researchers as they develop their research and information literacy skills.
After assessing the first iteration of information literacy instruction delivered through this program, the second year’s instruction was redesigned to better meet students’ research needs. This year’s revamped instruction focused less on basic discoverability and source finding, knowledge and skills students felt was too repetitive, and instead addresses how students are approaching their research and interacting with sources. The instruction equipped students with the skills necessary to critically evaluate their topics, better strategize searching, evaluate sources to gauge their credibility, and read academic articles efficiently and effectively.
