Information Literacy @ CUNY

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STANDARDS

[Accreditation]  [Discipline Specific Standards]

Accreditation

Middle States Commission on Higher Education
CUNY's accrediting body. Useful documents include:

• Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education (.pdf)
  The standards for accreditation require information literacy embedded and assessed in the higher education curriculum, see standards 11 and 12 in particular.
• Developing Research & Communication Skills: Guidelines for Information Literacy in the Curriculum
  This publication offers guidelines and specific suggestions for integrating information literacy throughout the curriculum. For purchase only, or download the useful and comprehensive executive summary (.pdf). Of particular use: "Profile of an Information Literate Student" (.pdf), a list of student learning outcomes (p. 8), and "Information Literacy Assessment Rubric" (.pdf), a chart of Learning Goals across Academic Levels (p. 11 & 12).
   

Information Literacy and Accreditation Agencies (ACRL)
Reviews the presence of information literacy in various accreditation standards.

Discipline Specific Standards
 

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (ACRL, 2000)
A "framework for assessing the information literate individual," and an outline of the process by which "faculty, librarians and others can pinpoint specific indicators that identify a student as information literate."

Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians (ACRL, 2001)
Includes information about the development of the objectives, the relationship between the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and the IS Objectives, and ideas for Using the IS Objectives.

Research Competency Guidelines for Literatures in English (ACRL, 2004)
Based on the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, these guidelines are meant to address the "more specific and source oriented approach to information within the discipline of English literatures, with a concrete list of research skills."

Information Literacy Standards for Science and Technology (ACRL, 2005)
Based on the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, "each performance indicator is accompanied by one or more outcomes for assessing the progress toward information literacy of students of science and engineering or technology at all levels of higher education."

Information Literacy Instructional Objectives for Undergraduate Music Students (MLA, 2004)
Based on the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, these objectives have been "reframed as instructional objectives, which allow the music-specific elements to stand out more prominently."
 

Information Literacy Objectives for Psychology Undergraduates

1. Connections between the APA Undergraduate Psychology Learning Goals and Outcomes and the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education Undergraduate Psychology Majors Learning Goals and Outcomes 2002 (.pdf). Lawrence University (WI) has mapped the ACRL Standards to the American Psychological Association, Board of Educational Affairs designated learning goals and outcomes for undergraduate psychology majors.
2. Goals and Objectives for the Undergraduate Psychology Major: Recommendations from a Meeting of California State University Psychology Faculty (N.D.) (.pdf). Identifies 8 goals and objectives for undergraduate psychology majors. Goal 4 specifically deals with information competence although it is also included elsewhere in the document.
3. Curriculum Integrated Instruction in Psychology. This site identifies the APA Standards which address information literacy. See APA, Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology.
    


Information Literacy for Chemistry

1. Information Literacy for Students of Chemistry (.pdf) by Dr. Philip Barnett, City College of New York (CUNY, 2005)
2. Undergraduate Professional Education in Chemistry: Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures: Spring 2003 Guidelines (.pdf)-- Pages 14 and 17 contain useful information for information literacy. See also Topical Supplements to the Guidelines.