Library Information Skills Curriculum LibGuide

This LibGuide is the result of our Reference Team's year-long project to create a new curriculum for our Instruction program, based on the Framework. Our project plan and documentation of our workflow is also available by request.

MacPhaidin Library’s information skills curriculum is designed to teach students increasingly sophisticated research strategies throughout their Stonehill careers and to produce graduates who are adept at articulating their information needs, finding the resources to meet them, and using that data ethically to create new knowledge.

By the time they graduate, students who participate in the full information skills curriculum can:

• Define their information need

• Identify appropriate source types and research tools to meet their information need

• Evaluate information to determine its validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness and bias

• Synthesize information from research with existing understanding in order to create new knowledge

• Identify the legal, ethical, economic and social issues related to the use of information and recognize relevant intellectual property laws

Using the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, we’ve created a curriculum that identifies specific learning goals for the different stages of students’ studies. The stages focus on a variety of core concepts ranging from the simple – the iterative nature of searching - to the more complex – the impact of context on the value of information. The framework is designed to enhance student's information skills through faculty-librarian collaboration. This curriculum provides a template faculty and librarians can use to collaboratively craft instruction that will improve students’ information skills and, thereby, result in better work. This guide introduces our mission statement, curriculum and learning outcomes, and provides examples of the many ways librarians can assist you as your students develop their skills.