“Excuse Me, but What Is a Research Paper?”: Embedded Librarian Program and Information Literacy Skills of Community College Students

Information literacy needs of community college students in transition: a literature review

“…Silverman and Williams (2014) also suggest that embedded librarians can be helpful to librarians and students, as they can be used effectively even when there are staff or space limitations. Additionally, assessment results have pointed to the efficacy of increasing the number of sessions or interactions with librarians, which validates the idea that more interactions with students can lead to greater student success (Stiwinter, 2013; Henry et al , 2015; Kim and Dolan, 2015).…”

“…Given sometimes limited resources, community college librarians have to decide where to focus their information literacy instruction efforts. Many of the articles written by community college librarians on this topic detail their involvement in English courses (Groce, 2008; Stiwinter, 2013; Howard et al , 2014; Burgoyne and Chuppa-Cornell, 2015; Henry et al , 2015; Kim and Dolan, 2015). While English composition is generally a course that many students will be required to take, it also presents a challenge as: Community college librarians often find themselves caught in a tug-of-war between the mandate to teach basic research and information literacy skills to students and the realities of fixed staff, limited resources, and reluctant faculty who do not want to give up class time to come to the library (Stiwinter, 2013, p. 15).…”

“…While one-shot sessions are quite common, embedded librarians have also been used as a way to create more meaningful relationships with students and faculty and to “have a better understanding of the impact that library information literacy instruction has had on student learning” (Kim and Dolan, 2015, p. 54). Embedded librarians are able to provide more support to students, as they are more involved throughout the semester.…”

The Research 101 certificate program at a community college: Giving all students the chance to learn basic information literacy skills

“…At our institution, over 70% of incoming freshmen need some form of remediation (Q** Factbook, 2016). A study about the information literacy (IL) skills of community college students indicates that while 60% of English 101 students have never taken a library class, 68% are required to submit a research paper assignment (Kim and Dolan, 2015). The authors conclude that "first-year college students generally lack basic information literacy skills and find it difficult to understand not only every aspect of the research process, but also the initial stage of the research process" (p.62).…”

“…Ironically, many faculty members in private conversations lament about the low level of sources utilized for assignments, and the challenges in getting students to properly cite their sources. As Kim and Dolan (2015) state: "College instructors assume that incoming students would have basic writing skills when they enter college. In reality, they have little prior knowledge of the research process and soon realize that they have to do everything" (p.56).…”