Kaua‘i community college

Computer Services

As the number of computer systems and peripherals have increased every year, it is becoming more difficult to stretch the budget and stay on the 4-year equipment replacement schedule. Although a tracking system has been implemented, in order to obtain more accurate data, the system must be used consistently. Results from a recent survey of faculty and staff showed that 82 percent of the respondents were “happy” with services (Computer Services Program Review and Computer Services APRU).

Media Services

The average age of the majority of the audio and videocassette devices is approximately 12 years old. The equipment used to support the interactive television courses (HITS) are beyond their useful life expectancy and have been out of production for over 10 years which makes parts difficult to locate (Media Services Program Review).
Instructional Technology
The Information Technology Advisory Council (ITAC) that was created in 2004 oversees the implementation of the campus’ information technology plan. In support of the plan, the Instructional Technologist, who is a member of the Council, has developed tutorials and use of instructional technology for faculty. During the past two years of the LEI Aloha project, a total of 46 faculty members were provided technological assistance. Projects ranged from the complex that involved developing a statewide online course in news writing to routine tasks such as entering student grades in Banner (Instructional Technology Program Review).
Planning Agenda

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  Implement the collection development plan to guide the selection and de-selection process in the library.
  

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  Include appropriations in the budget to regularly update the library’s book and A-V collections based on the collection analysis statistics and faculty recommendations.
  

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  Conduct a student focus group for the library to explore issues of dissatisfaction with the library’s book collection.
  

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  Insure that computer resources in the learning support units are taken care of by the campus technology plan.
  

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  Update the audio-visual equipment on campus.
  

II.C.1.b. The institution provides ongoing instruction for users of library and other learning support services so that students are able to develop skills in information competency.
Descriptive Summary

Library

Library instruction is a major component of the college’s efforts in developing information competency skills among students. Librarians teach classes and individuals in the information literacy skills of defining an information need and locating, evaluating, and using information effectively and ethically. Information competency is one of the 5 campus-level Student Learning Outcomes that were developed through all-campus dialogues held during 2003. As defined by the college, information competency is the ability to “conduct, present, and use research necessary to achieve educational, professional, and personal objectives” (Student Learning Outcomes). This outcome has two components. The first is information literacy, which is defined as the ability to “use print materials, personal communications, observations, and electronic media to locate, retrieve, and evaluate information and understand the ethical, social and legal issues surrounding the use of information.” The second component is technological competency, which is the ability to “apply technology effectively to locate, interpret, organize and present information.”

Over the past two years, the library has been developing an instructional program based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, as defined by the American Library Association’s Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

Following the standards, students are taught how to use the Hawai‘i Voyager catalog, online databases and the Internet to locate information related to their specific topics, how to locate materials in the library, how to construct effective search strategies, how to evaluate information, and how to use information ethically by citing sources. This is a change from the old form of bibliographic instruction, in which librarians basically taught students where to locate materials on a library tour. Information literacy requires a closer collaboration with teaching faculty in working toward the development of students’ critical thinking skills in locating and evaluating information.

The library markets its library instruction and tour program to all interested faculty through forms placed in instructors’ mailboxes, through email announcements and through presentations at Division meetings. All library instruction classes are held in The Learning Center because of its classroom setting and the 22 computers, and the multi-media equipment that includes a 36-inch TV monitor and a projector. The Library does not have a facility large enough to accommodate classes that have over 8 students. Classes are either 45 minutes or 1 hour and 15 minutes, depending on the times the classes are scheduled. Some instructors request more instructional time in additional sessions, but the norm is for one session only. Although the majority of classes are for students in English courses, the librarians regularly customize instruction for specific subjects and for particular needs and requests, such as for Microbiology, Science, Botany, Biology, Food Services and Hospitality courses. Students are actively engaged by visually following the searches on the projector screen, by hearing the librarian explain the research process, and by kinesthetically conducting the searches at their computers. Students also are given handouts describing the various resources that are covered in the class.
To evaluate students’ understanding of the research skills introduced in the library instruction session, the librarians developed a pre-test and a post-test to administer to a sample group of students in English 100 and English 21/22 level courses. Scores are not compared for individual students, but for each class. Up until 2003, library surveys contained questions dealing predominantly with satisfaction questions on library services and resources. With the incorporation of questions dealing with information literacy, the library survey has evolved to a composite of a test and a survey.
For several semesters, the instructional librarians have conducted a pre-test and post-test to students in sample English 100 and English 22 classes prior to instruction and again at the end of the semester as a means of assessing the instructional sessions and student knowledge of information literacy skills. For the English 100 test there are 10 questions and for the English 21/22 tests there are five questions. The 10-question test covers several information literacy skills including search strategies, evaluation of resources, steps in the research process, and plagiarism. The shorter test covers basic skills of locating books and articles and evaluating resources. The librarians have used the results to target their instruction to areas that needed improvement, such as evaluation of information on the Internet (Library Program Review – Appendix 31). Students show improvement in most areas from the pre-test to the post-test results, but the instructional librarians are still developing and refining the testing instrument and will be working with the Institutional Researcher to further develop a valid and reliable test. The results from these tests support the library’s role as a contributing factor to literacy and technology skills that students acquire at Kaua‘i Community College. Also, the results point to a direct contribution to the campus SLOs (Library Program Review – Appendix 32 – Pre-test – Post-Test Scores).

Librarians are working collaboratively on information literacy initiatives at the UH System level. The Distance Education Librarian is a member of the University of Hawai‘i Libraries Information Literacy Committee (UHLILC), which has representatives from all 10 campuses of the UH System. The Committee, in collaboration with writing faculty from several UH campuses, including English faculty from Kaua‘i Community College, developed an interactive, online tutorial based on the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) information literacy standards. The tutorial, Learning Information Literacy Online (LILO), engages the student in thinking critically about a research topic, and how to locate and evaluate resources needed to support a thesis statement. It is designed to be used in any course that requires research projects or papers. LILO develops students’ research skills in six modules: The Research Process, Understanding Your Assignment, Developing a Research Strategy, Conducting the Search, Evaluating Resources, and Using Resources. It includes an online student journal that records student responses to questions in the tutorial as they progress through the research process. The journal can be emailed to instructors and/or librarians for assessment. It was piloted on all UH System campuses during the Fall 2005 semester and was promoted on the KCC campus to the faculty through announcements and promotional brochures given to faculty at division meetings and in an English faculty meeting (LILO and Exhibit II-13: LILO Flyer). In addition to the LILO tutorial, the Library Distance Learning website provides links to other online tutorials on using the UH Voyager Catalog, How to Use Journal Article Indexes and Databases, the World Wide Web, Evaluating Information Sources, and Citing Sources. The Distance Librarian notifies distance faculty and students of these online resources through email announcements each semester, through print and electronic brochures, and through the Distance Learning orientations held in The Learning Center.