Assessing student information literacy skills and the effectiveness of an evolving faculty-librarian collaboration in a first year design course

Engineering students need research skills to effectively complete research and design projects; information literacy education during the first year of college positions future engineers to complete projects both during their college years and when they move into their careers. This study provides evidence that faculty-librarian collaboration is an effective method to train students in these critical skills, and proposes an efficient model that can be adapted to other courses. This work-in-progress, in the third year of a four year analysis, assesses and develops a method of sustainable faculty-librarian collaboration that improves information literacy outcomes in a first-year, project-based engineering design course at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). To assess the effectiveness of information literacy instruction methods, citation analysis of group project bibliographies, faculty feedback, and student opinion survey data will be used. Preliminary citation data and faculty feedback suggest that increased librarian contact with students, development of resource guides, and design of grading rubrics to incorporate reference list requirements improve student projects and information literacy outcomes. The end result of this four year study will be a recommendation of a sustainable and effective faculty-librarian collaboration that improves information literacy outcomes among students and can be easily adapted to other courses.