Merrill Library Information Literacy Report

Note: this page contains an older version of the Merrill Library’s Information Literacy Report. For the current version, click here (PDF).


Merrill Library

University of Maine at Machias

Information Literacy Report

FY15 – FY18

 

Information Literacy is an umbrella term used to group the fundamental concepts, skills, and practices required to navigate and authenticate the explosive amounts and formats of information which we all encounter day in and day out.   There are six core concepts that the Merrill Library librarians at the University of Maine at Machias use, adopted from ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to guide the teaching and acquisition of Information Literacy skills at UMaine Machias. While there is not a required “library” course, faculty request Information Literacy/Instruction sessions for specific classes.  The librarians and the faculty member meet to discuss the skills required for a specific assignment.  The librarian then creates a lesson plan that focuses on the specific skills and tools required for the completion of the assignment.

In addition to the “one-shot” sessions described above, beginning in FY17 a librarian as co-instructor has been embedded in a research methods class. A series of lessons and graded assignments are designed to introduce students to the various steps in the research process including the use of the catalog, research databases, tools and accounts for citation management, interlibrary loan, and formatting a paper in the required format, i.e. APA, MLA, etc.

The librarians also create web-based research guides and specific course guides.  These guides are found on the Merrill Library website by clicking on the green rectangle titled Research Guides.

Librarians are available in person, via email, phone, chat, and by appointment.

 

Information Literacy Statistics for Fiscal Years 2015 – 2018 are presented below:

Fiscal Year 2015

  • Librarians conducted a total of 28 instruction sessions with 390 students in attendance.
  • There were 233 one-on-one reference sessions.
  • There were 336 views of online guides.

Fiscal Year 2016

  • Librarians conducted a total of 19 instruction sessions with 334 students in attendance.
  • There were 244 one-on-one reference sessions.
  • There were 279 views of online guides.

Fiscal Year 2017

  • Librarians conducted a total of 39 instruction sessions with 539 students in attendance.
  • There were 83 one-on-one reference sessions.
  • There were 194 views of online guides.

Fiscal Year 2018

  • Librarians conducted a total of 31 instruction sessions with 389 students in attendance.
  • There were 125 one-on-one reference sessions.
  • There were 138 views of online guides.