Rubric for Assessment

Information literacy (IL) is a fundamental skill. I'm biased, as a librarian, it's my core subject, and is what I teach in every facet of what I do. As I went through my Masters of Ed program I had to consistently tell myself to "lighten up, 'Media literacy' is information literacy, you don't have to soap-box about it, it'll be fine" on a regular basis.

As a librarian, and teaching IL in other people's classrooms to other people's students, I have to make a connection to what they are doing in that space and the concept of IL as a whole. But, I know I'm not in every classroom, and IL is taught without me pretty often. Boruff and Harrison (2018) discovered that often IL is taught without a librarian at all, and that there are often zero rubrics or assessment tools for effective IL instruction (p. 33). So what does this mean?

It means IL is being taught, and library services are being taught, but librarians are often not consulted and/or there isn't any information provided to be able to improve instruction or library services, because there's no consistent metric for assessment. As instructors, especially instructors with an emphasis or discipline area, you can see the issue here.

Now, of course I'm not just talking about my work environment, after all, Boruff and Harrison (2018) are actually talking about a medical library environment. So what is suggested? How do you get other instructors on the same page, or to give up valuable classroom time to bring in a librarian? Well, actually it's "give the librarians more work" (yay...?). Developing rubrics which can be followed, or filled out and returned, providing tools for instructors to pass along information, and for a network between instructor, librarian, and student for any and all assignments that touch on this area until a student proves proficient. It's hard, and there's a lot to establish, as far as trust between library and instructors, here. But efficient, effective and student centered assessment tools can be valuable to all involved, to make sure that IL is taught and understood in an effective manner.

Reference

Boruff, J. T., & Harrison, P. (2018). Assessment of knowledge and skills in information literacy instruction for rehabilitation sciences students: a scoping review. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 106(1), 15–37. https://doi-org.vproxy.cune.edu/10.5195/jmla.2018.227