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Information Literacy

Hartness Library is committed to supporting information literacy at the Community College of Vermont and Vermont Tech.

What is the Information Literacy Graduation Standard?

The Vermont State Colleges have instituted graduation standards for all Associates and Bachelor’s degree candidates in order to assure that VSC graduates attain essential skills for success in the workplace and beyond. These standards include Oral Communication, Quantitative Reasoning, Writing, and Information Literacy.

How is Information Literacy Defined

Information literacy is defined by the Association for College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education as “…the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.” (ACRL, 2015. Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.)

An information literate individual is able to determine an information need and understand how to use that information to solve a problem. Upon graduation, Vermont State College students will be able to:

1. Define a research topic and the information needed.

  • Understand the process for stating a research question.
  • Differentiate between types and depth of information sources.
  • Understand the limitations of information availability.
  • Define information producers, providers, and formats of information required for a topic.

2. Use a variety of traditional and electronic resources to collect and organize that information.

  • Select appropriate resources (experts, printed, online) to navigate the information environment.
  • Formulate a research strategy.
  • Use a variety of techniques to search catalogs, indexes, and full text databases.
  • Record and synthesize results of search as evidenced in written work.

3. Evaluate the information and its sources critically.

  • Identify the purpose for which the information was produced and its intended audience.
  • Investigate qualifications and reputation of authors and publishers. Verify information.
  • Locate and examine critical reviews of information sources.
  • Recognize cultural, physical, temporal, or other contexts within which information was created, and consider those contexts in evaluation of sources.

4. Acknowledge and document the sources needed.

  • Differentiate between one’s own and others’ ideas.
  • Properly acknowledge and assign authorship.
  • Select an appropriate documentation style and use it consistently.
Information Literacy at the Community College of Vermont
Essential Objectives related to information literacy skills are included in the First Semester Seminar, English Composition, Research & Writing Intensive courses, and Seminar in Educational Inquiry (SEI). These skills are intended to be scaffolded across the curriculum. Hartness Librarians help reinforce these skills by making tutorials and teaching resources available to faculty, and by supporting research-heavy courses through the Embedded Librarian Program. The Information Literacy Tutorial  (TILT) is recommended for English Comp or the Research & Writing Intensive courses, and can be loaded into Canvas course pages via Canvas Commons. The Information Literacy Graduation Standard is assessed within the final research paper as part of the SEI capstone course.
Information Literacy at Vermont Tech
Vermont Tech Hartness Librarians visit PN and ADN Nursing and English 1060/1061 classes to introduce information literacy concepts during the fall semester. Hartness Librarians help reinforce these skills by making tutorials and teaching resources available to faculty, and by supporting research-heavy courses through the Embedded Librarian Program. The Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT) is recommended for basic English classes and can be loaded into Canvas courses. The VSC Information Literacy Graduation Standard is assessed in required English 1060/1061 courses as part of the overall course assessment.

The Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT)

TILT is a tutorial designed to help students become familiar with concepts and terminology related to search strategy, evaluating and citing sources, and understanding how to use information for academic work. The tutorial is interactive and consists of modules covering each of the four standards outlined in the VSC Information Literacy Graduation Standard. Learn more about using TILT and Canvas-based TILT quizzes.

Note: If you are a student who has been assigned to complete TILT as part of a course, please check Canvas before accessing it here. There may be links to specific TILT modules and accompanying quizzes to test what you have learned on your course page.

ACCESS TILT TUTORIAL

Faculty can consult their Library Liaisons at CCV or Vermont Tech for more information about using TILT and other Hartness Library tools in their courses.