The mission of the Information Literacy Working Group (ILWG) at the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery is to support the teaching and learning of information literacy on the UMBC campus. The group promotes excellence in the delivery of information literacy instruction, the development of quality instructional activities and learning objects, and the ongoing assessment of these components.
Goals that support this mission include:
- To foster an awareness of libraries and information literacy in lifelong learning within the UMBC community;
- To promote the integration of information literacy into the curriculum via collaboration among faculty, administrators, librarians, and students;
- To design intervention strategies for the UMBC community that increase information literacy;
- To determine and implement appropriate assessment techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of the Library's information literacy program, instructional materials, and learning objects.
Current/ongoing projects:
- Web based learning objects: point-of-need online resources covering information literacy concepts
- Course-integrated instruction: sessions designed to provide in-depth instruction on discipline or class-related resources and research strategies
- Workshops: research workshops open to UMBC students, staff, and faculty. Designed to assist patrons in developing skills in library research, information management and citation software
- Project SAILS: standardized test to measure individual or cohort level information literacy skills
- IHU project: project to assess the effectiveness of a library lesson/intervention designed for first year IHU classes
- Subject guides: web guides designed to provide guidance on choosing discipline-based resources
Future projects:
- Create program-level outcomes for the library instruction program.
- Create an assessment plan that includes several types of information literacy assessment.