ILI Problems for Case Studies

***Cross-posted to a number of lists. Apologies for any duplication.***

 
I discovered a few years ago that the very act of describing a difficult information literacy instructional (ILI) problem in writing can help make it more manageable, as it causes you to think about its most important and vexing aspects. Once you have gone through this process, you may find it easier to come up with ideas for solving the problem. 

UCLA Department of Information Studies graduate students taking "Information Literacy Instruction" (IS 448) in Spring Quarter 2012 (beginning April 2012) will need to do a project focused on an ILI case study, preferably, representing a real-life problem. The project will be in the form of a mock grant proposal to address and help solve this problem. (See example below.) I need your help in developing up to date, real life case studies, so I'm asking readers of this post to send me some of your difficult or challenging ILI problems. 

Teams of students will select from among a number of case studies for their projects, and some of their ideas may help you. While there is no guarantee that they will select your case study, if they do, with their permission, I will send you a copy of their grant proposal ideas regarding your instructional problem. 

If you would like to submit a case study, I would really appreciate it if you would do so by following the format and categories utilized in the sample case study below. Please include your name, address, phone number and email if you would like a copy of their proposed solutions, and indicate whether or not students may contact you if they have questions about your case study.  

Please send case studies directly to me, rather than responding to the list: estherg@ucla.edu  

Thanks in advance for your help!                                   

                                      Esther

Esther Grassian
Adjunct Lecturer
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies,
Department of Information Studies
Email: estherg@ucla.edu

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SAMPLE ILI CASE STUDY

"Blended" Information Literacy Instruction (ILI) Credit Course for Undergrads

Institutional context:

One of nine campuses in a large public research university system, offering Bachelors, Masters, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral programs.  

User Population:

32,000 students total; 24,000 undergraduates (top 12% of high school senior class); 8% of undergraduates are underrepresented minorities; 4% of all students are international students; 8,000 graduate students (graduate Teaching Assistants teach a number of undergraduate courses); 2,800 faculty members; members of the general community, including "advanced placement" high school students, college students from surrounding areas, teachers, visiting scholars and researchers. 

Library context:

Third largest academic library in the country; 8 million volumes; 91,000 periodical subscriptions (print and online); 12 libraries on campus, one off-campus library; online catalog with automated circulation; 110 librarians; 300 support staff; Undergraduate Library has 175,000 volumes, subscribes to 250 periodicals, and provides access to all of the electronic resources available to other campus libraries through local and statewide licensing, with the exception of databases restricted to Law School and Management students and faculty. 

Instructional Problem & Existing IL Programs:

You are one of five reference/instruction librarians in the undergraduate library. Librarians all participate in an extremely heavy instructional program, including customized one-shot course-integrated sessions for 30-40 classes/10-week Quarter, as well as individual research appointments, paper point-of-use guides, various instructional Web pages, and online information literacy tutorials. Librarians also spend about 10 hours/week at the Reference Desk or on digital reference. 

Your library has been a leader in reaching out to faculty and TAs on campus regarding basic ILI for undergraduates, and in developing new and innovative forms of ILI. One librarian in your library has developed an interactive tutorial focused on plagiarism and documentation. You have been the primary developer of another general interactive IL tutorial that includes Camtasia Studio videos output as Flash movies. You have also developed and taught one-unit ILI courses for undergrads, one for upper-division students, and the other for freshmen.  With the support of the Head of your library, you have been trying to encourage other librarians to teach these and other one-unit IL courses, and you think that a "blended" course (part in-person/part online) would entice more of them to give it a try. The Head of your library is very supportive of this innovative approach and wants you to work with other librarians, faculty, grad students, and IT staff to develop a grant proposal to support it. 

 All of the librarians in the Undergraduate Library are available to assist with instruction, though at different levels and with different skills, and other partners may assist as well.

-- 
Esther Grassian
Distinguished Librarian
Adjunct Lecturer
UCLA Information Studies Dept.
 &
Information Literacy Librarian, Retired
(Formerly, UCLA College Library)
estherg@ucla.edu
Twitter: estherg
SL: Alexandria Knight
https://sites.google.com/site/esthergrassian/
https://sites.google.com/site/teachinfolit/