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The knowledge brief on understanding survey data and public polls help users to understand the key concepts in survey research and its methodology with examples for popular surveys and public polls.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on evaluating international government data quality help users understand common data quality issues of international government data.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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This knowledge brief on commercial data quality helps users to prepare conversation with researchers on data quality issues.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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This knowledge brief on commercial data quality helps users to prepare the conversation of data quality issues with commercial data vendors.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on evaluating commercial data quality guide users to go through a list of common data quality issues that need researchers' attention.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on understanding commercial data helps users understand commercial data, the benefits of using commercial data, and its limitations.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on evaluating administrative data guides users to go through the quality dimensions of relevance, accessibility, interpretability, coherence, accuracy, and institutional environment to assess the fitness for use of the administrative data.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on understanding administrative data helps users understand administrative data, the benefits of using administrative data, and its limitations.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on using and evaluating U.S. federal statistics introduces the basic quality standards and guidelines that ensures the quality of federal statistics and how to assess the fit between the statistical datasets and their research needs.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on evaluating dataset for research needs guide researchers to assess the fit between the dataset and the research question.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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The knowledge brief on evaluating data documentation includes the characteristics of good documentation and the approaches to evaluate the quality of data documentations.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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This knowledge brief on data reference interview include a list of questions to ask when a researcher has a request related to data.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Instruction Program Material, Professional Development Material, Worksheet
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This course is designed to delve into the concept of subject headings. While subject headings are typically discussed in the field of library science and mainly pertain to catalogers, the creators of this resource strongly believe that having a foundational grasp of the origins and usage of subject headings will be beneficial for students and researchers. This comprehension will empower them to employ the appropriate terminology to retrieve information from databases and library collections specifically curated for accessing materials related to Black Studies.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Research as Inquiry, Searching as Strategic Exploration
Contributor: Erica Bruchko
Resource Type(s): Lesson Plan, Slide Deck, Worksheet
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The book is an edited collection based on a seven-session national forum webinar series on data quality literacy. It covers topics including evaluating data quality: challenges & competencies, quality assurance in data creation, understanding & evaluating governmental data (U.S. & International), commercial data quality issues, data quality: reproducibility and preservation, data quality: evolving employer expectations, and librarians’ role in cultivating data-literate citizens. This book is one of the deliverables of the Institute of Museum and Library Services funded project: Building Capacity of Academic Librarians in Understanding Quantitative Data, Data Quality Problems, and Evaluating Data Quality: A National Forum [RE-252357-OLS-22]. The project details and other deliverables including the national forum recordings and knowledge briefs are available on the project website: https://www.dataqualityliteracy.org.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry, Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Grace Liu
Resource Type(s): Publication
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This online guide provides an overview of four common source evaluation myths that might prevent students from being able to effectively evaluate online sources.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual
Contributor: Jane Hammons
Resource Type(s): Learning Object
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The goal of this assignment is to help students develop a better understanding of the need to provide citations. Moving beyond a focus on citations as giving appropriate credit to an author, this activity is intended to help students appreciate the value of citations for the reader (or scholars in general). Students will review a source without citations and attempt to answer a series of questions, then will discuss/reflect on what the activity contributes to their understanding of how scholars use and value citations.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Information Has Value, Scholarship as Conversation
Contributor: Jane Hammons
Resource Type(s): Activity
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Integrating geographic information systems (GIS) and social media analytics can be an effective approach to monitor disease outbreaks (such as flu, COVID-19, and hepatitis A) with near real-time updates and actionable intervention methods. Social media platforms can be used to investigate the public’s view and risk perceptions as they co-evolve with an outbreak, offering public health professionals an opportunity to tailor more effective responses or interventions to outbreaks. Using geo-tagged or geo-targeted social media data, GIS researchers can analyze human mobility and compare different local opinions from various cities and regions. This chapter provides basic knowledge about social media analytics with geospatial analysis approaches and GIS tools. Three examples (flu, COVID-19, and hepatitis A) are highlighted with data visualization and spatiotemporal analysis. The example of the COVID-19 outbreak in San Diego also addresses the key health communication issues (vaccination, masking, and social distancing) using geo-targeted social media datasets. Student skill levels will be the “beginner” in GIS or public health.KEY THEMES/KEYWORDSSocial media analytics; disease outbreaks; public health; COVID-19; health communicationSPATIAL LITERACY SKILLS IN THIS CHAPTERGeo-tagged social media data; geo-targeted social media data; Pearson correlation; locational privacy
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Information Creation as Process, Information Has Value, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic
Resource Type(s): Activity, Assignment Prompt, Slide Deck
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This lesson, aimed at mid- to upper-level undergraduates, discusses how research findings can be over-inflated, distorted, or misrepresented as the research is shared outside of its original context. Students will build on their fact-checking skills to trace claims back to their source. The lesson uses a flipped classroom approach to introduce students to multiple perspectives on this issue and its impact on the information ecosystem. In the classroom, students will demonstrate this issue in a potentially familiar scenario, a large-group game of telephone. To reinforce their skills, students will review news pieces that are derived from research, identify the claims, locate the original research cited in the article, and compare the findings to the claims shared in the news. Students will understand more about the publishing lifecycle and research integrity; how distorted research can have sociopolitical impacts; and how to be a responsible consumer and disseminator of information through critical thinking and analysis. Although the lesson refers to science, the issue of misrepresented research is interdisciplinary, and students will undoubtedly encounter claims in their everyday lives that will fall out of their area of expertise and need to know how to check them.This lesson includes flipped content (assigned readings/viewing and a reflection assignment for a discussion board), a lesson plan with timings, and two handouts for the in-class activities.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Research as Inquiry, Scholarship as Conversation
Contributor: Brittany O'Neill
Resource Type(s): Activity, Lesson Plan, Worksheet
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"The Cell Phone Search" is a legal research exercise designed to facilitate students' use of citators in subscription databases such as Westlaw, Lexis+, and Bloomberg Law by providing a series of questions for them to answer. For this exercise, the applicable frame from the Framework for Information Literacy is "searching as strategic exploration." At the end of the exercise, students are invited to think about how the results of their search and their search strategies would have been different had they used open access resources.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Searching as Strategic Exploration
Contributor: Latia Ward
Resource Type(s): Assignment Prompt, Worksheet
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This is a fun activity in which students can gain experience finding books on the shelves by playing "matchmaker" to a book. What book that is depends on what books you decide to pull. I usually go with books that are relevant to either the course or assignment. Students will need some brief instruction on wayfinding in the stacks. Great to do around Valentine's Day. :)
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Sarah Hood
Resource Type(s): Activity
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This lesson plan is for a one-hour orientation for entry-level nursing students. It introduces students to library resources, including searching in CINAHL and APA citation. The session includes a team-based citation exercise to simulate teamwork in nursing.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Framework as a Whole
Contributor: Sarah Hood
Resource Type(s): Activity, Lesson Plan
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This activity involves students working in groups to construct and organize an evaluative annotation paragraph. Each group focuses on different aspects of an article, including summarizing sections, evaluating content and target audience, and researching the author. This collaborative approach reduces intimidation, promotes teamwork, and builds essential research and documentation skills.
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Information Has Value, Scholarship as Conversation
Contributor: Sarah Hood
Resource Type(s): Activity, Assignment Prompt, Worksheet
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Disasters, natural or manmade, disrupt society and can expose people to public health emergencies. In preparation for impending natural disasters, national agencies, such as the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will situate supplies (emergency food and rations) close enough to locations facing potential impacts but far enough away not to be compromised in a disaster area. However, these are emergency supplies and are not designed to meet long-term needs or the needs of specific individuals. Private businesses within the disaster zone can also experience supply chain disruptions and thus also need to prepare in advance. This book chapter reviews the topic of disasters and their impact on supply chains, then presents a lesson using GIS to anticipate and address a supply chain disruption, using a Florida hurricane as a case study.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITYThrough a scenario of pre-natural disaster (hurricane) and using the information given related to distribution centers and retail stores, students will use GIS software to identify the distribution centers best fit to deliver the items needed in anticipation of a hurricane.LEARNING OUTCOMESBy the end of this lesson, students will be able to• recognize the importance of supply chain within retail contexts;• articulate the connection between supply chains and natural disaster preparedness;• utilize GIS tools to solve potential problems in real scenarios; and• propose optimal routes for distributing critical items using GIS tools within imminent natural disaster scenarios.This activity is part of Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations (ACRL, 2024).
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Information Creation as Process, Information Has Value, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic
Resource Type(s): Activity, Assignment Prompt, Slide Deck
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Informed decision-making about spatial data selection and reliability is a fundamental part of spatial literacy. The proliferation of spatial data on the internet and the large quantity of user-generated data increases thechances of integrating unreliable data into research. This chapter focuses on evaluating spatial data using the Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose (CRAAP) test with additional focus on the importance of Margins of Error (MOE) in American Community Survey (ACS) data. Reviews have shown that the ACS MOE is often overlooked during research or unreported in academic papers, resulting in misleading or invalid results that significantly impact policy and planning.The goals of the decision-making process in selecting existing data include: finding information that is most relevant to the research question; gaining a comprehensive understanding of available data and what it represents; comparing similar datasets; planning strategies for processing, integrating, and using data that are not a perfect match for project needs; and, ultimately, determining if a meaningful conclusion can be adequately derived from it.The CRAAP Test is a flexible and general framework for evaluating information resources in many disciplines and venues. To focus on specific concepts relevant to data capture in GIS using the CRAAP Test, we expand the basic concepts of the test and examine how they can be used to evaluate data sources in GIS.This activity is associated with a chapter in Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations (ACRL, 2024).
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic
Resource Type(s): Activity, Assignment Prompt, Slide Deck
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Environmental health (EH) is the study of physical, chemical, and biological factors in the environment that affect human health. EH data include environmental exposures, health outcomes, and socioeconomic status (SES), which are often place-based or have geographic correlations. This chapter aims to develop students’ spatial literacy skills to address two EH themes—environmental disparities and exposure-health associations—with open online mapping tools. Environmental disparity studies address the disproportionate exposures among populations of low SES and of color. Students will learn to use EJScreen to display maps of emission clusters, pollution levels, and SES, and interpret their relationships. Environmental exposures are associated with multiple adverse health outcomes—e.g., respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Students will explore the associations by comparing spatial patterns of exposure and disease generated with EJScreen and PLACES, respectively. Students will gain an impression of EH topics and online geospatial tools with class activities and examples.This activity is associated with a chapter in Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations (ACRL, 2024).
Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed: Information Creation as Process, Research as Inquiry
Contributor: Laureen Cantwell-Jurkovic
Resource Type(s): Activity, Assignment Prompt, Slide Deck