Information Literacy in Sociology at UCLA

Abstract The challenges of implementing an Information Literacy (IL) program at a major research institution can be daunting. Librarians at UCLA have begun by collaborating with senior faculty in the sociology department to develop a sequential, three-tiered curriculum-integrated program through which students learn increasingly advanced IL skills as they progress through their undergraduate career. "For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow." Plutarch: Of the Training of Children. Genesis In 1994 the University of California Berkeley conducted a study of the information literacy (IL) competencies of 255 students graduating in political science and sociology. Approximately 63% of the scores were either poor or failing (Maughan, 1995). A study conducted in 1999 to measure the IL competencies of a random sample of 453 undergraduates at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) also found "critical gaps" in the overall level of students' skills. Recommendations from the study included closer collaboration with faculty in order to integrate IL more abundantly into the curriculum in a systematic manner (Caravello and others, 2001). By early 2002 the Library launched its IL Initiative involving most of the campus library units with the goals of assessing and improving IL skills at UCLA, and "increasing awareness of IL concepts among members of the UCLA community" (UCLA, 2004b). Librarians work on the initiative in various interest groups to further the IL mission, and it was through the outreach efforts of the collaborating group that initial contact with the sociology department was made. UCLA's sociology department is one of the largest in the country with over 1100 students. Historically, however, it had not utilized the library for extensive instruction, nor been a target for much library outreach. Like several academic departments on campus, faculty had been exploring ways to raise departmental standards and increase credit requirements. The presiding chair of the department realized that these goals intersected with the mission of the IL Initiative (UCLA, 2004b), and in spring 2003 responded to the collaborating group's overtures by calling a meeting of six faculty and four librarians to discuss a collaborative approach. Eventually a three-tiered curriculum-integrated plan was developed. Literature review Many institutions have used successful collaboration between librarians and sociology faculty to enhance students' IL skills. Some collaborators produced a single assignment for a specific course (Glasberg and others, 1990; Abowitz 1994). Others sprinkled IL instruction throughout a course as the students progress on their research assignments (Ford and Williams, 2002; Dodgen and others, 2003). Several institutions have also implemented sequential and tiered IL instruction in general education and specific disciplines, (Dorner, Taylor & Hodson-Carlton, 2001; Huerta & McMillan, 2000; Samson, 2000). Paglia and Donahue (2003) discuss how they integrated IL into the psychology curriculum by focusing on discipline-based instruction at the upper division level after students had already learned IL basics. A four-tiered IL program was developed in Missouri which began with general skills and branched into discipline specifics, but only the first two levels were required, therefore not all students received advanced information instruction in their major, (Ury, 1994). This was the first attempt at UCLA to integrate IL throughout a departmental curriculum in close collaboration with faculty. Implementation A key factor to the successful planning and implementation of the program was the cooperation and mutual professional respect of the main players. The librarian team was united in their goals and beliefs of what IL comprises, and each respected the others' strengths and unique contributions. Members included a senior arts librarian who had many acquaintances among the sociology faculty; a specialist in social sciences from the Research Library; a librarian from College Library; and a librarian from the Institute for Social Science Research. …