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ACRL's Information Literacy Standards with Goals and Outcomes for Knox College Students

Standard I: The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.

  1. The information literate student defines and articulates the need for information.

    2. Outcomes

    • Identifies a research topic or other information need by conferring with instructors and peers, and exploring online and print resources.
    • Explores in greater detail general information sources to increase familiarity with key concepts and terms that describe the information need.
    • Understands how existing information can be combined with original thought, experimentation, and/or analysis to produce new information.
    • Defines or modifies the information need to achieve a manageable focus and to develop a thesis statement or appropriate research question.
  2. The information literate student identifies a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information.

    3. Outcomes

    • Distinguishes among publication formats commonly found in academic libraries (e.g., journal, multimedia, database, website, data set, audio/visual, book).
    • Distinguishes the purposes of different types of resources (e.g., popular vs. scholarly, current vs. historical, primary vs. secondary)
    • Recognizes how different formats and types of resources vary in use and importance with each discipline.
    • Recognizes that knowledge is organized into disciplines that influence the way information is produced, organized, disseminated, and accessed.
  3. The information literate student considers the costs and benefits of acquiring the needed information.

    4. Outcomes

    • Defines a realistic overall plan and timeline to acquire the needed information.
    • Determines the availability of needed information and makes prudent decisions between using local and off-site resources.
    • Assesses one?s existing skills and knowledge in relation to the information available, and determines the feasibility of acquiring new skills and knowledge in order to use the information.
    • Recognizes and exploits the efficiencies of research tools such as indexes, library catalogs, etc.
  4. The information literate student reevaluates the nature and extent of the information need.

    5. Outcomes

    • Uses acquired information to redefine the research topic or question.