Jill Newby

Assessing the reliability and validity of locally developed information literacy test items

Purpose – With a call for increased accountability for student learning across higher education, it is becoming more important for academic libraries to show their value to the greater university community with the use of quantitative data. This paper seeks to describe the development of an information literacy test at the University of Arizona to measure student learning in an online credit course. In order to measure the impact of an online course, a test that was statistically valid, and reliable was created by local librarians.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology involved administering test items to undergraduate students enrolled in an online information literacy course and applying both classical test theory and item response theory models to evaluate the validity and reliability of test items. This study included the longitudinal and cross‐sectional development of test items for pre and post‐testing across different student groups. Over the course of two semesters, 125 items were developed...

An emerging picture of mathematicians' use of electronic resources : The effect of withdrawal of older print volumes

ABSTRACT This study presents the results of an e-mail survey of mathematics faculty, instructors and graduate students concerning the effect of the withdrawal of print volumes of core mathematics journals from the University of Arizona Science-Engineering Library that are available through JSTOR. Reported use and preferences for access of these core mathematics journals are given. Comments are included from those mathematicians who reported being affected by the removal of print journals from the library in the context of assumptions about how mathematicians locate and use information. Results of this study reiterate the results of the previous studies on the preferences and usage of electronic resources. In this regard, the responses of the University of Arizona mathematics community is typical of mathematicians elsewhere, especially at research institutions.

Quality Matters: New Roles for Librarians Using Standards for Online Course Design

Quality Matters™ (QM) is a nationally recognized organization that certifies online courses for effective design, using an evidenced-based set of standards and a structured peer review process. In this paper, the authors demonstrate how academic librarians involved with online courses can adopt Quality Matters to build capacity for designing online courses, as well as using this expertise to evaluate newly developed online courses throughout the university, thus building new networks and relationships with campus teaching faculty and other personnel interested in quality online learning.

A survey of information literacy credit courses in US academic libraries: Prevalence and characteristics

Purpose There is a lack of data about information literacy (IL) credit courses in US academic libraries. This paper aims to provide a detailed snapshot of IL credit courses, including percentages of libraries that offer credit courses, the number of credits offered, the audience and how public institutions differ from private nonprofits and for-profits. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed a stratified random sample of libraries at higher education institutions across all categories from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Qualtrics software was used to create and distribute the email survey. The response rate was 39 per cent (n = 691). Findings In all, 19 per cent of the institutions in the survey have IL credit courses taught by librarians. Large institutions, public institutions and those granting doctoral degrees are the most likely to offer IL credit courses. The majority of these courses are undergraduate electives of 1-2 credit hours offered under the library aegis, although a significant minority are required, worth 3-4 credit hours, and taught within another academic department or campus-wide program. Originality/value The findings update previous surveys and provide a more granular picture of the characteristics of librarian-taught credit-bearing courses, the types of academic institutions that offer them and compensation teaching librarians receive. This survey is the first study of credit-bearing IL instruction to include for-profit colleges and universities.