Library Instruction West 2018

Objectives
Data-driven outreach is essential to ensure efficient curriculum-integrated instruction. Haphazard information literacy instruction is an inefficient use of everyone’s time. With a syllabus analysis study librarians can plan strategic, evidence-based instructional outreach and work with teaching faculty to integrate a scaffolded information literacy instruction program.
Methodology
This study examined 369 syllabi from three departments at a global university. The authors developed and normed a rubric based on ACRL’s 2015 Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to analyze the syllabi for information literacy learning outcomes. The rubric rated syllabi for the presence of these six themes using a three-indicator scale: not present, implied, or explicitly stated. Coding on these themes was completed using the qualitative software analysis tool NVivo, which allowed for a nuanced textual analysis. Interrater reliability was calculated from 25 randomly selected syllabi; Cohen’s kappa calculations for interrater reliability were .92, which indicates that the raters had a high level of agreement, and that the rubric is a reliable and valid instrument which can be used to replicate and scale the study.
Findings
The analysis revealed strategic opportunities for information literacy instruction, particularly among syllabi that contained “explicitly stated” information literacy learning outcomes on several dimensions of the rubric. This presentation will discuss the process of developing an analytic rubric, as well as best practices in gathering, organizing, and coding data in order to engage in qualitative research.