Library Research Skills Needed by New College Students

1. Library Research Skills Needed by New College Students Richard Eissinger Southern Utah University

2. David T. Conley, College Knowledge • An ever-increasing proportion of high school students in the US today aspire to college. • Percentage of college students receiving bachelor’s degrees has remained relatively constant over the past 25 years. • It now takes on average 5 years to get a 4-year college degree. • Between 30%-60% of students now require remedial education on entry to college, depending on the type of institution they attend.

3. Introduction & Background • CIRP - Cooperative Institutional Research Program • FYE – First Year Experience • Information Literacy • SCANS - Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills • Goals 2000 • AASL Information Power • ACRL Information Literacy • ICT - Information & Communication Technology (ETS) • High School to College Issues • Millennial students

4. CIRP Freshman Survey* • HS grade inflation: 1966-2004 • A- or higher: 20% to 48% • C+ or lower: 22% to 5% • HS student – frequently felt bored in class • 1985: 29% > 2004: 43% • Studying 6+ hours per week • 1987: 47% > 2004: 34% • Faculty perspectives on student preparedness • 45% agree that most students they teach lack the basic skills for college level work * http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/freshman.html

5. CIRP Freshman Survey* * http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/freshman.html

6. First Year Experience* • Increased freshman retention • National average: 63-70% • SUU: before FYE 51% - after FYE 59% • 58.9% report increased persistence to sophomore year • 58.4% report improved student connections with peers • 51.2% report increased use of campus services • 50.6% report increased student satisfaction with the institution • 45.0% report increased out-of-class faculty/student interaction • 41.6% report increased level of student participation in student activities • 36.0% report increased academic abilities • 31.1% report increased student satisfaction with faculty • 26.7% report improved grade-point-averages • 18.3% report increased persistence to graduation * http://www.sc.edu/fye/index.html

7. Information Literacy • 1991 – SCANS, Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, US Dept. Labor • 1996 - Goals 2000, Dept. Education • 1998 - Information Power, ALA • 2000 - Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, ACRL • 2003 - ICT – Information & Communication Technology, ETS

8. High School to College Transition • The best predictors of whether a student will graduate or not are academic preparation and motivation. • High schools focus on making students college-eligible – to meet admissions requirements. They may or may not be college-ready. • Many students enter college with poor time management and study skills.

9. High School and College Differences • Change from a teacher-directed to a student-directed environment. • High school teachers often spend considerable time attempting to motivate students to learn. • Experience culture shock when they enter learning environments that different from their past experiences.

10. Instructor Expectations • Do not always collect homework – fewer tests • Professors are trained experts in their field & not in teaching methods • Extra credit usually not available • Students are expected to synthesize concepts between textbooks, class readings, and the real world • College classes larger, longer, don't meet every day • More writing required in college • More academic freedom • High school is more textbook focused; college more lecture focused • In high school the parent is held responsible; in college student is held responsible for actions (FERPA) • In high school the school creates social, cultural activities to enhance students’ education in HS; in college student must seek out social interactions • High school students can remain in school despite poor academic performance; can be dropped in college.

11. Beloit College Mindset List* • Gas has always been unleaded. • An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission. • Stores have always had scanners at the checkout. • They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors. • Libraries have always been the best centers for computer technology and access to good software. • Digital cameras have always existed. • Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less. • Money put in their savings account the year they were born earned almost 7% interest. * http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset

12. New Students: The Millennials • Echo boomers, net generation, gamers • Most ethnically diverse generation in US history • Tend to be visual learners, get bored quickly (lectures) • Hold a positive view of technology • It’s been suggested that these students are often overconfident because they equate their technology savvy with information literacy. • OCLC white paper on information habits of college students found that 80% of undergrads use web search engines for all or most assignments, while only half used the library’s subscription-based resources.* * http://www.oclc.org/research/announcements/2002-06-24.htm

13. Millennial Searching Habits • Many high school teachers endorse the internet as a good research resource. • Tend to find information in a chaotic fashion, focusing on speed and convenience. • Show little evidence of coherent search strategies. • Easily accessible information enables students to stop at the first answer they find. • They expect the research process to be easy – like Google. • Email still a fixture in teens’ lives, but IM is preferred. • Size of wired population surges at the 7th grade mark • They may be whizzes on communication devices, but their communication skills – both in writing and in person – have a long way to go.

14. The SUU Experience

15. LM1010: Information Literacy • 1 credit - general education information literacy requirement • Taught by library faculty (9) • Designed & maintained by faculty • Offered completely online using WebCT • Exposure to online learning

16. LM1010: Information Literacy • Skills Survey • Test-Out Exam • Four chapters/quizzes/assignments • Choose a topic • Find information • Evaluate information • Cite information • Final Exam

17. LM1010: Information Literacy

18. LM1010: Information Literacy

19. Skills Survey > Test-Out Exam

20. Skills > Test-Out > Final

21. Boolean searching by class

22. Scholarly vs popular by class

23. Learning outcomes

24. LM1010: Evaluation

25. Necessary Library Research Skills

26. Library anxiety • New college students indicate that they are not comfortable with library research • Size of library is intimidating • Lack of knowledge about terminology and locating items • Don’t know how or where to begin • Different buildings • Dewey vs. LC – numbers are subjects and a classification system

27. Library Phobias * *Research Strategy: Overcoming Library Phobias. BYU. 1993.

28. What you can do … • Visit local university libraries and develop a relationship with a local university librarian • Teach searching a university OPAC • Online chat • Libraries are frequently the only place to go after 5 pm to get answers • Ask a librarian!

29. Searching skills • Dewey decimal vs LC • Boolean searching • Look for the help page • Databases operate in similar ways • Reading an index • Using a table of contents or index (chapters in an OPAC)

30. Searching skills – Boolean, etc. • Boolean terms – and, or, not • Truncation and wildcards • OPAC vs online resources – understanding difference between electronic record and full text • Selecting an index – where to begin • Subject headings vs keywords • subject headings usable across databases • especially good in subject indexes

31. Searching skills - keywords • Your results are only as good as the keywords you use • Brainstorm using a thesaurus (Tools in Word) • Note how often their keywords show after searching (Edit/Find in Word) • Use multiple keywords • Correct spelling is important

32. Locating sources • Abstracts vs citation • colleges have abstract and citation databases available • some try to use abstracts as the full text • don’t understand what a citation is • Microfilm, microfiche – colleges have variety of formats available • Full text • Bound periodicals • Interlibrary loan – usually within school districts; colleges have ILL

33. Scholarly sources • Understand academic journals vs. magazines • Peer-reviewed, refereed, scholarly, academic • Scholarly research • Start them in high school to understand these distinctions (e.g., in Utah MasterFILE Premier is used as the high school default database) • Google

34. Evaluating sources • MLA • authority, accuracy/verifiability, currency • Source / authority • Purpose • Content / coverage • Currency • Bias • Why evaluate? • Students will need to defend their information choices to their professors

35. Citing sources • Style guides • don’t know about the different styles and formats by discipline • Plagiarism • Most students have not been taught the skills of paraphrasing, quoting and summarizing • Citation machines • ProQuest, Questia • Citation Machine, EasyBib, NoodleTools, RapidCite

36. Notetaking • Systematic notetaking leads to good research • RefWorks, EndNote, Reference Manager • Cornell method, outlining, graphic organizers • Microsoft OneNote

37. Microsoft OneNote

38. Conclusions • Discuss how their skills are transferable • Prepare them for the size of college libraries • Help your students see librarians are their best resource