Standard I
Standard II
Standard III
Standard IV
Standard V

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

Standard II: The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.

1. The information literate student selects the most appropriate investigative methods and information resources for accessing the needed information.

Outcomes

• Identifies various investigative methods (e.g., laboratory experiments, simulation, fieldwork) and information resources.
• Determines the scope, content, and organization of information resources.
• Evaluates benefits and applicability of appropriate investigative methods and information resources.
2. The information literate student constructs and implements effectively designed search strategies.

Outcomes

• Sequences the steps necessary for completing the research goal.
• Identifies keywords, synonyms, and related terms and selects controlled vocabulary, for the information needed.
• Constructs and implements a search strategy using accurate commands for the information retrieval system(s) selected (e.g., Boolean operators, truncation, and proximity for search engines; internal organizers such as indexes for books).
3. The information literate student retrieves information in a variety of formats using a variety of methods.

Outcomes

• Understands and uses various classification schemes and other organizing systems (e.g., call number systems, catalogs, or indexes) to locate information resources.
• Uses specialized services available to retrieve information needed (e.g., interlibrary loan, document delivery, community resources, experts and practitioners).
• Uses surveys, letters, interviews, and other forms of inquiry to retrieve primary information.
4. The information literate student refines the search strategy if necessary.

Outcomes

• Assesses the quantity, quality, and relevance of the search results to determine whether alternative information retrieval systems or investigative methods should be used.
• Identifies gaps in the information retrieved and determines if the search strategy should be revised.
• Examines footnotes and bibliographies from retrieved sources to locate additional sources.
• Repeats the search using the revised strategy as necessary.
5. The information literate student extracts, records, and manages the information and its sources.

Outcomes

• Creates an efficient and useful system for extracting, recording and organizing the needed information.
• Recognizes the elements of a citation and records all pertinent citation information for a wide range of resources.
• Uses various technologies to manage the information selected and organized.