Presented at CONUL conference, June 2016, Athlone, Ireland by Margaret Waldron, Bernie Lally, Maura Stephens, Kathryn Briggs, Helen Flatley, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology

1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015
www.PosterPresentations.com
This poster will chronicle almost a decade of independent and collaborative efforts
with academic staff in delivering information literacy skills training in Galway Mayo
Institute of Technology (GMIT).
Information literacy sessions were designed by a library team in 2007 and initially
launched in GMIT Letterfrack. Collaboration with academics led to the embedding
of the sessions into the Learning and Innovation Skills (LIS) module, a mandatory
component of all first year programmes. The most recent collaboration involved the
direct liaison with the School of Business to link specific assignments with tailored
information literacy classes. It now looks to the future with further associations
with academics to determine the impact of information literacy.
ABSTRACT
EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION LITERACY GMIT
GALWAY MAYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
MARGARET WALDRON
THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION LITERACY IN GALWAY MAYO INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY (GMIT) LIBRARY: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE LIBRARY AND
ACADEMIC STAFF
OBJECTIVES
To determine if collaboration between library staff and academic staff improve
the information literacy learning outcomes of first year students.
FRAMEWORK CHOSEN: SCONUL SEVEN PILLARS
Year Initiative Collaboration Outcome
2006 Library Strategic Plan All staff Information Skills Module
developed
2007 Proposal for fully accredited
Information Skills Module led by
Library
Head Teaching & Learning (T&L)
Registrar
Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI)
TUI objected to Library
assessing Information skills
module and delivering as
standalone module
2007 Voluntary delivery of module Letterfrack Academic staff
champion
Evaluation report: Student
feedback
• Practically based
• Use more course
specific examples
• Tailor make module to
each year of course
2008/2009 Learning and Innovation Skills (LIS) Registrar
College of Tourism and Arts (CTA)
• Formal collaboration
with design of LIS
module
• Information skills
embedded in LIS
2015 Research Cycle Conference Library staff presents at
conference
• Peer reviewed article
• Approach by Business
Studies academic staff to
work on a specific
assignment
2015-16 Business Studies Assignment Business Studies Academic Staff • Average score increased
• Larger % of students
undertook assignment
• Increase % students
achieved learning
outcomes
• 9% improvement in pass
rate
STATISTICS 2009-2016
Number of Information literacy sessions 2009-2016
Learning & Innovation Skills
Description 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016
Introduction to the Library/Information Sources 10 26 18.5 9 30 23 24
Webpac 23 18 28 25
Databases 16 22 9.5 5
Citation/Referencing 11 15 17 16 27 19 27
Copyright/Plagiarism 11 16 20 15 9 18 20
Online Library 38 26 35
Total 71 97 93 71 104 86 106
Number of sessions by School 2009-2016
School 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 Total
Business Studies 2 12 25 5 13 5 30 92
Engineering 33 35 19 22 21 31 22 183
Film & TV 2 2 6 3 2 1 17
Hotel & Catering 30 37 49 34 35 35 33 253
Humanities 1 3 4
Science 3 11 3 25 6 20 68
Springboard 3 3
Letterfrack 3 3
Drop in sessions 1 4 5
Total 71 97 93 71 104 86 106 624
BUSINESS STUDIES ASSIGNMENT 2015
Assignment in three parts:
1. Find information sources on a topic and reference them (in Harvard style).
2. Cite and paraphrase information sources correctly.
3. Evaluate the information sources.
Results:
• Average score increased.
• Larger percentage of students undertook the assignment.
• Increase in the percentage of students achieving the learning outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS
Evolution of information skills in GMIT clearly demonstrates very tangible
collaborations between library and academic staff; the result of which is improved
information literacy learning outcomes. By working collectively on a specific
learning activity tailored to students needs and based on the expectations of
academic staff, the evidence directly shows an increase in information literacy
outcomes.
The team: Bernie Lally, Helen Flatley, Kathryn Briggs, Maura
Stephens, Margaret Waldron
I would like to acknowledge the library team for all their work and dedication and
to CONUL for giving me the opportunity to showcase the work of GMIT Libraries
and to all the organisers of CONUL 2016.