Library Instruction Philosophy

SDSU Library Instruction Mission, Goals, and PLOs

Approved Fall 2020

SDSU Library Instruction Program Mission

The SDSU Library Instruction Program furthers SDSU’s mission of research-oriented high-quality education and student success initiatives. The SDSU Library Instruction Curriculum is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students with information literacies and other meta-literacies. SDSU Library instruction strives to transform users into independent researchers, and provides the research capacities necessary to support lifelong learning that prepares students to navigate an information-rich 21st century and impact the future of the San Diego region and the world.

The Library Instruction Program scaffolds information literacy thoughtfully throughout a student’s college experience by increasing coordination and collaboration among librarians and by growing our partnerships with campus and the community.

Goal of Library Instruction

The goal of library instruction is to teach students to seek, analyze, contextualize, and incorporate information to enrich their understanding of the world. Students who graduate from SDSU will apply these skills to be thoughtful Consumers, Creators, Evaluators, Explorers, and Engaged Professional Specialists.

The Library Instruction Programmatic Learning Objectives (PLOs) map directly to the SDSU Institutional Learning Outcome:

• Seek, analyze, contextualize, and incorporate information to expressly enrich understanding of the world. (WASC Information Literacy)

In addition, the PLOs are mapped to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy.

Library Instruction Programmatic Learning Objectives

• SEEK: Students will craft purposeful research strategies that allow them to effectively discover information that speaks to their research questions and flexibly apply these strategies in a variety of information seeking contexts.
  • ACRL Frames: Research as Inquiry, Searching as Strategic Exploration
• ANALYZE: Students will learn to recognize bias, distinguish expertise and authority, and critically appraise the appropriateness of sources of information relevant to their research needs.
  • ACRL Frames: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Scholarship as Conversation
• CONTEXTUALIZE: Students will build professional and scholarly expertise in their field of study and will be able to identify the information channels, authoritative sources and research techniques of their field and how that fits into the larger information economy/ecosystem.
  • ACRL Frames: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information has Value, Scholarship as Conversation
• INCORPORATE: Students will develop their own expertise by articulating and sharing their ideas through synthesizing and citing/attributing the sources/ideas they discover and select.
  • ACRL Frames: Information Creation as a Process, Information has Value, Scholarship as Conversation

Standards and Framework from Professional Library Organizations:

• http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
• https://www2.archivists.org/standards/guidelines-for-primary-source-literacy
• https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/information-literacy