WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
INFORMATION LITERACY LEARNING OUTCOMES

These are the desired outcomes for the Western Libraries' instruction program. The instruction program is evolving so this list may also be expected to change in years to come. This document was created in Fall. 1999. Last update: Fall 2006.


 

GOALS

LOWER DIVISION STUDENTS

UPPER DIV./ GRAD STUDENTS

 

should be able to:

should be able to:

 

 

 

The Social Aspect of Information

 

 

 

 

 

A. Understand the role, power,

1. Explain the different uses of information

1. through 4.

and value of information in

(occupational, intellectual, recreational,

 

our society

etc.)

5. Explain the difference between

 

 

information and knowledge

 

2. Describe how scholars use information

 

 

and keep informed

 

 

 

 

 

3. Describe how practicing professionals

 

 

use information and keep informed

 

 

 

 

 

4. Describe the uses of information

 

 

along with the possibilities and

 

 

consequences of misuse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. Explain public policy issues

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the ethics

1. and 2

relating to the access and

of information use by defining plagiarism

 

use of information

and by explaining how and when to give

 

 

credit for information and ideas from

 

 

others by appropriately citing sources

 

 

 

 

 

2. Demonstrate knowledge of the concept

3. Explain the legal, ethical, and

 

    of Intellectual Property (including copyright)

political issues surrounding information

 

 

technology, such as privacy,

 

 

access to government information,

 

 

information overload, equal access to

 

 

information, and the responsibility to

 

 

properly credit sources

 

 

 

 

 

4. Explain concepts and issues related to

 

 

censorship, intellectual freedom, intellectual

 

 

Property (including copyright) and respect for different points

 

 

of view

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Organization of Information

 

 

 

 

 

C. Explain different information

1. Describe different information environments

1. through 4.

environments

 

 

 

2. Describe the processes by which scholarly and

 

 

popular information is produced,

5. Describe the commodity nature of

 

organized and disseminated

information: who generates, controls,

 

 

disseminates, and uses it

 

3. Describe and distinguish between

 

 

scholarly , trade, and popular publications

6. Explain the concept of discourse

 

 

community and that discourse

 

4. Describe and distinguish between

communities independently

 

primary and secondary sources

develop specialized

 

 

vocabularies

 

 

 

 

 

7. Identify the stages of the scholarly

 

 

publication cycle

 

 

 

 

 

8. Demonstrate familiarity with unique and

 

 

shared concepts of research strategies

 

 

across disciplines

 

 

 

D. Explain how information is

1. Explain the major classification systems

1. through 6.

organized in a library

libraries use to organize and classify

 

 

materials

7. Explain how the Internet differs from

 

 

systems used to organize libraries

 

2. Explain the use and identify the parts of

 

 

library catalog records

8. Explain the use of citation indexes, the

 

 

ways in which they differ from other

 

3. Identify appropriate reference sources

indexes, and the fields in which they are

 

(encyclopedias, directories, indexes,

most relevant

 

abstracts, etc.) and explain their utility

 

 

 

 

 

4. Define types of databases and their

 

 

organization (files, records, etc.)

 

 

 

 

 

5. Define and distinguish between key

 

 

words, subject headings, and

 

 

descriptors

 

 

 

 

 

6. Describe the difference

 

 

between controlled vocabulary

 

 

and free text searching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E. Recognize the availability of

1. Identify physical and virtual service points

1. through 2.

assistance in locating

in Western's libraries

 

resources

 

 

 

2. Find Western Library's locally produced

 

 

research tools

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Research Process

 

 

 

 

 

F. Identify and articulate

1. Identify a specific information need

1. through 3.

information needs

 

 

 

2. Articulate the information need as

 

 

a researchable question

 

 

 

 

 

3. Determine information requirements,

 

 

often through a series of sub-questions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G. Identify a variety of

1. Use reference tools to extract key words or

1. and 2.

information resources

controlled vocabulary, such as subject headings and descriptors, appropriate to the research topic

 

 

 

3. Explain how people and organizations

 

 

can be used as information resources

 

2. Identify and use appropriate search

 

 

language which describes broader,

4. Explain how search terms may vary with

 

narrower and related terms

time and context, for example, culture and discipline

 

 

 

 

 

 

H. Develop effective search

1. Describe a variety of search techniques such as

1. through 4.

strategies

using indexes, advanced search, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Select categories of information resources

5. Demonstrate a variety of search

 

appropriate to a specific information need

techniques