Palmer College of Chiropractic

David D. Palmer
Health Sciences Library

Information Literacy Development

 29 January 2002 - DRP

INFORMATION LITERACY COMPETENCY

CHARGE: Incorporate Information Literacy Competencies standards into the PCC curriculum in light of PCC's Chiropractic Educational Tenets

Goal:  Incorporate an Information Literacy Competency into the curriculum for the purpose of preparing students to successfully navigate self-directed portions of the curriculum and to establish skills necessary for life-long learning.

An Information Competent individual:

1. Recognizes and articulates their need for information.
2. Identifies and locates all types of appropriate information resources.
3. Knows how to gain access to the information contained in those resources;
4. Critically evaluates the quality of the information obtained;
5. Effectively Organizes the information obtained; and
6. Productively uses in a cost effective way, the information obtained.

Doyle, Christina S. (1992, June). Outcome Measures For Information Literacy within the National Education Goals Of 1990.

PHSL faculty in coordination with PCC faculty and the Office of Academic Affairs will conduct development, adoption, adaptation and implementation of Information Literacy competencies.

The PCC curriculum competencies will be generated from the guidelines below:

• Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education - please see attached
• ACRL Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction - please see attached
• Information Literacy Competencies: Selected Items & Efforts - please see attached
• Information Literacy Sources on PHSL webpage

Step 1. Do a needs assessment.

A.     Evaluate the curriculum for current projects requiring information literacy
        Faculty with courses where some kind of "library assignment" is made.

• Dr. Ansari
• Dr. Faruqui
• Mr. Morter
• Case correlations
• Dr. Weiner
• Many other faculty

B.     Survey students on their perceptions of their information literacy needs.

• Construct a survey with Institutional Planning

C.    Survey faculty and administrators who teach on their perceptions of their information literacy needs.

• Construct a survey with Institutional Planning

D.    Review accreditation standards and professional guidelines for information literacy competency.

• Review and incorporate ACRL Information Literacy Guidelines.
• Review and cite CCE Standards
• Review and cite NCA standards

E.     Review curriculum design for Florida on information literacy needs.

• Work with Curriculum Design Committee.
• Further development and incorporation of a proposal Information Literacy Tutorial Series by Marie Dusio.

F.    Search the educational literature on trends regarding information literacy and Health Sciences .

• Establish an Information Literacy Competency page in PHSL's homepage.
• Conduct a literature search and link results to PHSL's web page.

• Prepare PHSL faculty position description: Information Literacy Librarian

Step 3. Develop information literacy competency.

Appoint a key faculty to develop an information literacy competency plan. It is expected the major curricular assignment for the Information Literacy Librarian would be to coordinate this program with faculty.

• Visit different constituencies of faculty and students with the plan and solicit feedback.
• Revise the plan.
• Curricular: Courses will be identified for incorporation of information literacy presentations in either 1^st-2^nd-3^rd tri classes. Consider a 1 credit hour mandatory stand-alone class.
• Facilities: Lecture room and CTL labs for hands on instruction.
• PHSL: PHSL Information Literacy Librarian faculty member. Please see attached position description.

Step 4. Devise an implementation plan.

• Faculty: Appointment of PHSL Information Literacy Librarian by June 2002.
  • Work on an implementation plan is currently fragmented and needs a PHSL faculty member to coordinate.
  • A Task Force will be assigned following an initial presentation to the Year Directors.
• Curricular: TBD via Task Force, initial recommendation could be instruction to begin with March 2003 trimester
• Approval: Vice President for Academic Affairs approval by April 2002.
• Courses: To be determined by Task Force.
• Facilities: Schedule CTL / PC lab space for presentations.
• Budget: Appropriate budget increases for PHSL FY 2003 budget.
  

Step 5. Develop a cost analysis.

Estimated initial costs:

• Faculty: TBD - PHSL Info Lit Faculty position, including benefits.
• Equipment: $2000 - Laptop computer loaded with appropriate software.
• Equipment: $2000 - PC workstation for office.
• Facilities: $60,000 - CTL / PC / Info Lit lab development.

Estimated annual costs:

• Faculty: TBD - PHSL Info Lit Faculty position plus benefits.
• Travel/Meeting: TBD - meetings, workshops & seminars, annual Information Literacy conference.
• Faculty Development: $2,000 - Send Information Literacy Librarian to the ACRL Information Literacy Institute training session.
• Equipment: $2000 - for technology upgrades, e.g. laptop or workstation etc.

Step 6. Seek approval

• The final report Proposal will be presented to the appropriate approving body.

• What is Information Literacy?
• Why are Information Literacy competencies important to chiropractic students?
• How do Information Literacy competencies fit into Palmer's Educational Tenets?
• What Information Literacy competencies will be established?
• How is Information Literacy competency achieved?
• What assignments will be given to achieve Information Literacy competencies?
• How will Palmer measure its student's information literate competencies?

David D. Palmer Health Sciences Library
Annual Assessment FY 2001 - September 2001

Palmer Health Sciences Library should provide information and instruction to users through a variety of reference and bibliographic services, such as:

• course-related and course-integrated instruction,
• hands-on active learning,
• orientations,
• formal courses,
• tutorials,
• pathfinders, and
• point-of-use instruction, including the reference interview.

As an academic unit within the college, Palmer Health Sciences Library should facilitate academic success, as well as encourage lifelong learning. By combining new techniques and technologies with the best of traditional sources, librarians should assist primary users and others in:

• information retrieval methods,
• evaluation, and
• documentation.

In addition, librarians should collaborate frequently with classroom faculty; they should participate in curriculum planning, as well as educational outcomes assessment.

Information literacy skills and bibliographic instruction should be integrated into appropriate courses with special attention given to:

• intellectual property,
• copyright, and
• plagiarism.

Modes of instruction, often referred to as teaching methods, "may include, but are not limited to:

• advising individuals at reference desks,
• in-depth research consultations,
• individualized instruction,
• electronic or print instruction aids, or
• group instruction in traditional or electronic classroom settings."(5)

• The PCC curriculum does not currently have either a formal information literacy or library use/instruction course. PHSL faculty has previously been invited to lecture for 2-4 class hours on PHSL resources and their effective use. One particular course, a Research Methods Course had been team taught with a PHSL faculty Information Literacy component. This course was moved from 2^nd Trimester to 9^th trimester …
• With the design of a new curriculum, PHSL faculty are participating in designing an information literacy component for the new curriculum.
• PHSL does provide informal instruction at the Reference Desk for students, faculty and staff who request assistance at the point of their information and literature research.

Does Palmer Health Sciences Library provide adequate space for instruction for both large and small groups?

• No, not within PHSL per se.
• PHSL does have access to Center for Teaching and Learning Computing Laboratories and wired classrooms on campus for basic library use/instruction and database search instruction.

Is the available space designed to provide hands-on instruction, as well as presentation of all types of resources?

• Yes, the recently remodeled P201 - P202 classrooms, and the CTL labs are appropriately wired for online presentations.

Does Palmer Health Sciences Library make appropriate use of technology in its instruction?

• Yes, the CTL department has state of the art classroom presentation facilities.
• PHSL faculty prepare and present their programs with Power Point.

How do PHSL faculty work with classroom faculty in developing and evaluating library curricula in support of specific courses?

• There is not currently a formal mechanism in place for this process.
• PHSL faculty as a formal curricular goal has identified information Literacy using ACRL Guidelines.
• With the resignation of the Public Services Librarian assigned to mange this area, PHSL currently does not have a faculty member assigned to develop support curricula for classroom presentation.
• Approval for a replacement PHSL Information Literacy faculty member is expected for FY 2003.

If applicable, how does Palmer Health Sciences Library facilitate faculty research?

• PHSL facilitates faculty research through its paper materials collections and electronic resources, e.g. subscribed bibliographic databases and other web-based resources.

Does Palmer Health Sciences Library provide a variety of educational programs?

• No, not at this time.
• The only education program at this time is one-on-one Reference area tutorials.
• There are also infrequent requests for classroom presentations of on the availability and use of PHSL resources, particularly web resources.
• Approval for a replacement PHSL Information Literacy faculty member is expected for FY 2003.

How does Palmer Health Sciences Library promote and evaluate its instructional programs?

• There has been no formal Information Literacy presentations by PHSL faculty since the resignation of the Public Services Librarian in June 2000.
• A presentation was made at Lyceum 2001 by Phyllis Harvey, which has led to an information literacy presentation request for a Fall 2001 business class.

PALMER COLLEGE OF CHIROPRACTIC
Office of Academic Affairs - Faculty Position Description
David D. Palmer Health Sciences Library - Public Services Department

We live, and will continue to live, in an information and technology rich world. To maximize the effectiveness of the Palmer Educational program and its graduates, all participatory stakeholders must be adequately prepared to effectively utilize technology to enhance learning. Although our learners may matriculate prepared to use technology it is essential that each student’s level of preparedness be assessed and their training needs be identified and subsequently, met. (Although we understand the need for educators to be trained as well, this proposal should first be designed to meet student needs, and faculty development programs can be offered prior to implementation or concurrently.)

Palmer will develop an information literacy program to be pilot tested for possible inclusion in the new curriculum. It will be developed and presented in a tutorial format and be experiential in nature (neither a competency nor a thread). The pilot test population will include any and all interested current educators and learners. Non-teaching staff might also be invited to participate. Participating faculty may elect to use this as "appropriate/approved scholarship".

Pretests will be developed and administered concerning:

1. Basic computer operation
2. Internet access and searches
3. Copyright laws and campus library policies
4. Accessing materials stored in the Library (understanding and retrieving citations)
5. Reading the literature (attributes of each section of and type of article)
6. Critical appraisal of the literature

1. Basic computer operations
2. History, realities, and future possibilities of the Internet
3. Database and Internet search basics
4. Advanced database and Internet searches
5. Copyright laws, governmental and Palmer System policies on information and technology (including Institutional Review Board) and ethics
6. Information storage systems in the Palmer System and cooperating Resource Centers (interlibrary loans etc.)
7. Retrieval of stored information
8. Hierarchy of evidence, publications and presentations
9. Roles involved in the creation and dissemination of the literature
10. Current status of chiropractic literature base and those of related professions
11. Reading the literature: attributes of each section of an article
12. Qualitative understanding of the literature; measures of literature quality, appropriate reporting
13. Using the evidence in clinical decision making
14. Case study writing
15. Journal clubs: formation, participation and maintenance
16. Contributing to the literature

• letters to the editor
• literature reviews
• case reports
• meta-analyses
• contributions to clinical trials

1. Literature review
2. Editing the literature

• An invitation to participate in this process will go out to all Educators through inter- and intra-campus email. Content expertise in these areas will be stressed. A written invitation will also be sent to the Library and Research directors specifically requesting input/support from their departments.
• The Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning will be an essential resource.
• The Palmer Davenport Program Development Director and a similar person from Palmer West will coordinate and hold video or telephone conference meetings, set agendas and timelines, and ensure that the participants on their campuses have the resources and effectively meet the timelines.
• The program will be developed in a tutorial format with experiential components. Each topic will be able to be delivered as a separate topic, although there may be specific prerequisite knowledge.
• Pretests, which will also serve as posttests, will be developed and administered as placement tools. They may be written, oral and/or practical in nature.
• Content experts will design the sessions.
• Group and/or team design of the topics will be encouraged.
• Design of the sessions is considered college service.

• Once designed, a pilot test will be administered on each campus.
• The content experts who design the sessions will deliver them.
• Team and or group presentation of the topics is encouraged.
• The Program Development Directors will be responsible for arranging scheduling of the sessions and data collection related to the sessions.
• Educators with a contractual requirement for "Approved/appropriate scholarship or research" may use this program to demonstrate meeting that requirement.
• If not part of the core curriculum, presentation as part of Orientation or free (or discounted) tuition (perhaps through Special Programs) is suggested.
• Content deliverers retain the publication rights to methods and design of their individual session(s).
• The Program Development Director retains the publication rights to all program related design and methods, as well as the pre- and post-test data and educator, learner, and administrative reactions (satisfaction surveys etc.).
• Revisions based on the data collected will be made.
• The program will be included in the new curriculum, if deemed appropriate and effective in pilot tests.

Appendix 4

From: Dr. Charles Henderson, Chair, 
Curriculum & Educational Planning Committee, [1999]

Information Literacy

Today’s chiropractic clinician must know how to access and critically evaluate information in the peer-reviewed literature. Therefore, the Palmer graduate must be able to understand and apply fundamental research concepts as well as literature appraisal concepts to the professional literature. Palmer graduates will be prepared to take an evidence-based approach to chiropractic practice where rigorous scientific evidence is available. The term ‘evidence-based’ refers to an emphasis on scientific evidence over anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal information has limited power as evidence. The greatest value of anecdotal information is as a starting point for rigorous scientific studies.

Attitudes

1. Appreciate the importance of life-long learning (scholarship).

2. Accept the responsibility for keeping abreast of current health care literature.

3. Appreciate the role of the peer-reviewed literature in defining the chiropractic practice act.

4. Appreciate that patient and third party payers expect evidence-based health care.

5. Appreciate that evidence-based health care requires the health care provider to access, summarize, and apply information from the literature to day-to-day clinical problems.

6. Understand the legal and ethical imperative of the clinician to regularly review and critically appraise new health care information.

1. Understand key concepts such as peer-review, journal indexing, and hierarchy of clinical research evidence.

2. Be aware of the major health science literature databases and search services and understand their individual advantages and limitations.

3. Understand the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the different types of research study designs.

4. Classify clinical questions into appropriate investigative domains (therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, risk, etc.).

5. Describe methods for summarizing and storing a personal library of literary evidence.

1. Identify problems or areas of uncertainty relevant to chiropractic clinical practice.

2. Formulate relevant, focused, clinically important questions that are likely to be answered from the literature.

3. Demonstrate proficiency at designing appropriate literature search strategies using National Library of Medicine medical subject headings (MeSH), Chiropractic Library Consortium chiropractic subject headings (ChirSH), and Boolean operators.

4. Demonstrate the ability to accurately assess the clinical importance, validity, and applicability of evidence drawn from the literature.