sources such as family photo albums and family bibles. Business students can be required to develop a marketing plan for a potential advertising campaign.
They will need to identify demographic and financial information, conduct market research, and research product reviews. Students enrolled in English and other writing-intensive courses can be required to write diary entries or the opening chapter of a historical novel, for example, in which they must research the daily routines and customs of people during a particular time period.
ASSESSING KNOWLEDGE OF THE COSTS AND
attempt to use the resources available beyond what is housed in their library’s building. Frequently students will seek out only what is immediately avail- able online and in full text. Most libraries do provide their students with in- terlibrary loan and document delivery services such as Ingenta and Info- trieve, but many students, to the detriment of their research, do not take advantage of these services. Even graduate students are weak in this area.
The research literature shows that even if students are aware of these ser- vices, some do not give themselves enough time to utilize them. Information- literate students understand that in order to take advantage of the many re- sources available to them, they need to begin their research early.
For some upper-level students, the need to acquire a particular skill in order to gather needed information or understand its context may arise as they pursue their research. Upper-level history students may need to learn the basics of a foreign language to translate primary source materials. Com- puter science students may need to become adept at a new programming language in order to fulfill their research or course requirements.
It is important for students to have a realistic plan for acquiring sources and completing their research. This is challenging for students at any educa- tional level. Success in the research process requires a commitment of time and energy on the part of the student.
Assessment Queries
Very few queries were identified for assessing this particular indicator and its accompanying outcomes objectively and independently. However, students can be asked whether or not they are familiar with the services their library provides, or they can be asked to respond to open-ended short-answer questions about their experiences using these services. The following queries were taken from the College of Saint Rose’s Assessment of Information Literacy Skills(Saint Rose Assessment) and assesses outcome 1.3.a.
Interlibrary loan is a system for Saint Rose students to a. purchase books and journals
b. borrow books owned by the Neil Hellman Library c. get books and articles that are not owned by the Neil
Hellman Library
d. travel to area libraries and check books out of them
Developing a Topic and Identifying Sources 39
Which of the following would be the best for identifying any book not owned by the Neil Hellman Library?
a. EBSCOhost Academic Search
b. Modern Language Association (MLA) International Bibliography
c. Neil Hellman Library Periodicals List d. WorldCat
The following query was taken from the FGC Skunk Ape Tutorialand as- sesses knowledge of outcomes 1.3.a and c.
What is the most realistic expectation for your library research?
a. I must realize that I am limited to materials in the FGCU Library or those libraries that I can drive to.
b. The current catalog is limited and can only search for mate- rials owned by the FGCU Library.
c. If I want to read older material, I am going to have to use microfilm.
d. If it does not have what I need, the FGCU Library will get photocopies of materials for me from other libraries.
Assignments
It is clear that many college-level students do not use resources beyond what is housed in their academic libraries. Though some students have discovered the value of using interlibrary loan services, many others are unfamiliar with the process of ordering material owned by another institution. It is useful to show students how to order something through the service and then require them to use the service at least once so they can become familiar with the process. One useful exercise is to have students locate a book or journal ar- ticle not owned by their home institution and then request the item through ILL. Students should write a short summary of how they identified the book or article; they should include a citation of the item and provide a short eval- uation of the service. This assignment is best used in conjunction with a larger research project, such as a paper or presentation. Students should re- quest items they can use for that project in order to make the assignment purposeful, useful, and economical for the student as well as the institution.
40 Developing a Topic and Identifying Sources
Some institutions may charge students for ILL services. For this type of as- signment, students need to have a basic understanding of the library catalog and must be able to use it to see which periodicals and other materials are owned by their institutions and which are not.