Frame by frame: Using the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy to create a library assessment plan

Abstract

Inspired by the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, librarians at the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library at Concordia College-Moorhead decided to scrap our old information literacy assessment plan and start from scratch. We began by digging into the library’s past assessment plans in an attempt to gain insight into how the organization’s priorities have changed over time. The earliest assessment notes we uncovered were from 2005 and featured a new student orientation pre- and post-test, administered to a random sample of library users. The focus then was on incoming students’ information literacy abilities and how much they learned during library orientation. A sketch of an abandoned assessment plan from 2010 marked a turn to assessing the library’s instruction program and featured the use of focus groups along with a survey in which alumni were asked how the instruction program may have impacted their life after college. With this pivot towards instruction, the library developed a list of learning outcomes and tracked them to the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. This list was used in-house for designing assignments and linked on our library web page to provide faculty with an overview of the program.