The Lasting Value of an Embedded, First-Year, Biology Library Instruction Program

Abstract

Discipline-specific library instruction has been embedded in our first-year general biology laboratory course since 2006. In 2009 students in advanced biology courses completed a survey that assessed their proficiency at using the library resources. We found that those who took the discipline-specific library instruction were more confident in their library skills, had a more scholarly approach toward biology library research, made better library database choices, and were better able to meet the expectations of their professors. The results also indicate that the first-year skills need to be reviewed and scaffolded in upper-level courses. INTRODUCTIONThe National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) (2008) recently issued guidelines for evaluating undergraduate programs in biology. As part of those evaluation criteria requirements for biology curriculums, NABT states the need for students to learn how to do library research. The importance of information literacy for science and engineering students is also recognized by 255 the National Research Council (2003) report of proposals to improve undergraduate training of future researchers in biology underscores the value of learning library research skills. Logically, an ideal time to initiate good research skills is early in a career. First-year biology students need to begin learning how to find and evaluate information so they can adequately utilize it when researching topics of interest in their biology courses. They should expand their initial skills throughout later courses. These lifelong library research skills help students through undergraduate and graduate programs and in their professional careers. LITERATURE REVIEWSubject-specific information literacy and its integration into curricula, especially in the sciences, benefit students (Manuel 2004;Manuel, Beck, and Molloy 2005). Discipline-specific library instruction is part of biology education in many colleges and universities. Among the trends reported by Sinn (1998) in her literature review of library instruction for biology were that most classes were one-shot sessions, mainly covering the library online catalog and Biological Abstracts, with collaboration between biologists and librarians, and without student testing or assessment of the instruction. With the onset of the new millennium, assessment for improving information literacy became paramount. In addition, many different approaches to delivering library instruction are in use now. Collaboration between biology faculty and librarians continues to be viewed as essential for information literacy to be successful.Researchers reported different methods and findings for assessment of library instruction in biology. Spackman (2007) used focus groups to assess biology library instruction at her institution. She found that students have poor library research skills; teaching assistants do not have the time or proficiency to teach these skills; and collaboration is vital. Dinkelman (2010) analyzed biology syllabi at her institution and found that mos...

Enhancing Information Literacy Using Bernard Lonergan's Generalized Empirical Method: A Three-year Case Study in a First Year Biology Course

“…Bowden & DiBenedetto, 2001;Firooznia & Andreadis, 2006;Jacob and Heisel, 2008;Winterman, 2009;Ferrer-Vinent & Carello, 2011, Fuselier & Nelson, 2011Gregory, 2013;Hartman et al, 2014;Kim & Shumaker, 2015;Brancato et al, 2016). Collaborations between librarians and faculty have a long history (Drewes & Hoffman, 2010).…”

Teaching Information Literacy Skills to Sophomore-Level Biology Majors

“…Courses that train and provide students with practice in using information literacy and science writing skills offer the most impact to students early in their academic careers ( 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ). At the University of North Alabama, Biological Literature is a pre-requisite for advanced biology courses.…”

“…Undergraduate students who received the training that Biological Literature or similar courses provide were more confident writers and retained better research skills in upper-division science courses ( 7 , 13 , 22 ). Science writing is an essential skill for biology students who go on to graduate or professional programs ( 21 , 25 ).…”

“…Students who fall prey to the “I already know that” (IAKT) syndrome are less likely to pay attention during library instruction sessions ( 5 ). Students who receive discipline-specific library instruction make better database choices for literature searches and produce more scholarly work ( 13 ). A study by Cronje et al ( 8 ) also supports the use of discipline-specific library instruction, and the authors found that their freshmen-level students were better able to logically support conclusions drawn from laboratory experiments with data from the primary literature.…”

“…Fuselier and Nelson ( 16 ) found that one session of library instruction with several writing assignments throughout the semester is enough to help students differentiate between primary and secondary sources and improve citation usage and format. Other studies indicate students improved their communication, writing, and analytical skills ( 24 ), formed important relationships with course or university librarians that would be beneficial in upper-division science courses ( 13 ), and were better able to identify and avoid plagiarism ( 15 ). Libarkin and Ording ( 22 ) demonstrated that writing assignments improved communication skills and the ability to support experimental findings and predict future outcomes in experimental situations in a non-majors entry-level biology course.…”