LIBR 220-13: Embedded Librarianship
Assignment #1 Environmental Scan
Student: Patricia Ayame Thomson

Successful Faculty and Liaison Librarian Collaboration: Embedding Information Literacy in Asian American Studies at California State University Northridge

Question # 4: Curriculum mapping – Interview a faculty member or department chair in a specific major to understand 1) what courses in the major are core, required courses; 2) what courses are research-intensive, and 3) what the needs of students are regarding the development of research skills so that you can determine how to best integrate library instruction into the curriculum.

Successful Faculty and Liaison Librarian Collaboration: Embedding Information Literacy in Asian American Studies at California State University Northridge

Introduction: Background

The professor of Asian American studies I interviewed, Dr. Teresa Williams-Leon is a faculty member at the California State University Northridge (CSUN). As it happens, the California State University Northridge (CSUN) and California State University Los Angeles (CSLA) are pioneers in the information literacy advocacy movement. In 1995, California State University (CSU) published a report called Information Competence in the CSU. The report includes a definition of information competency (or information literacy) and describes California State Universities’ (CSU) system-wide adoption of information literacy within the curriculum.

In the year 2001 and 2004, CSUN received grants to promote and integrate information literacy into the students’ curriculum. “The goal of the 2001 grant was to develop learning outcomes; that of 2004 was to assess information literacy at various stages within the curriculum” (Brasley, 2008, p. 80). Both grants were awarded to conduct research intended to discover the most effective placement of information literacy instruction and the point it should be inserted within the curriculum.

The faculty and proponents of information literacy at CSU describes the IC student learning outcomes as follows: “Information competence along with online researching skills and knowledge about databases, information literacy also teaches critical thinking” (Brasley, 2008, p. 72). The system-wide CSU program is intended to “produce well-rounded, highly qualified professionals” (Brasley, 2008, p. 80). In contrast, the results from the research also formed a consensus during the analysis stage stating: “students lacked critical information-seeking and evaluation abilities” (Brasley, 2008, p. 80). This calls for a teaching moment in order to instill critical thinking skills into the IL program.

During 2003 to 2005, further progress was made during the General Education Reform. Based on dedicated efforts of librarians and faculty collaboration on two CSU campuses, along with the General Education Reform Task Force was able to revise the General Education Policy to include information competency as a course requirement. The movement towards progress yielded two required credit-bearing courses that infuse information literacy into the curriculum.

Most importantly, Brasley’s (2008) article mentions that “’intensified faculty and librarian collaboration and intensive planning throughout the academic year’ as the primary stimulus for the successful campus-wide revisions that took place” (p. 79).

Method

I interviewed Teresa Williams-Leon who is a Professor of Asian American Studies at California State University Northridge. Dr. Williams has a PhD. in Asian American Studies and her “Research has focused on the complex and dynamic nature of multiple identities among Asian-descent Americans. Her teaching and research specializations are in ethnic and multiethnic/multiracial identity development, communities and institutions, race and ethnic relations, popular culture, language, gender, and sexuality”. (Teresa Williams-Leon on the AAS website:  http://www.csun.edu/aas/faculty/faculty-homepages/TeresaWilliamsLeon.html).
Results

After interviewing Dr. Williams, I found Asian American Studies (AAS) to be a fascinating major. The CSUN website describes Asian American Studies as a multidisciplinary field that explores experiences and accomplishments of people in the United States with Asian ancestry. The website also mentions that the primary objective of the AAS curriculum is designed for students learning outcomes that aim to “gain appreciation for the complexities and diversities of other people’s experiences and apply what they learn to various professional disciplines such as: education, humanities, business, social sciences and other related areas” (Brasley, 2008, p. 72).

In order to prepare for the first part of the Assignment, I did some research before I met with Dr. Williams. I found the Asian American Studies (AAS) Curriculum Guide on the California State University Northridge’s website readily and easily.

Question #1) What courses in the major are core, required courses?

When I first perused the AAS curriculum guide online, I was encouraged and delighted to read the following in the College of Humanities: “One course must include Information Competency (IC) components”. As stated in the introduction, Dr. Williams confirmed CSUN as one of the forerunners of system-wide information literacy implementation. It is apparent. Dr. Williams, the CSU administration, faculty members, and subject librarians at CSUN are all well aware of the importance of information literacy.

In order to facilitate the faculty librarian collaboration, I followed up on Brasley’s (2008) recommendation that “librarians can offer curriculum maps to aid in this complex process” (p. 79). I created two curriculum maps to take to the meeting. Since Asian American Studies is under the “College of Humanities” department, the first curriculum map shows the general education requirements. The second map depicts all of the core courses and electives required to graduate as an Asian American Studies (AAS) major.

When I met with Dr. Williams, she said she liked the curriculum maps because they were great visual aids and helped make the insertion points for information literacy easier to locate. The general education courses required for the College of Humanities include 48 units of Natural Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Lifelong Learning and Comparative Culture Studies for undergraduate AAS majors.
[The Core Courses required for a full Asian American Studies major are as follows:]
AAS

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

OPTION A: STANDARD MAJOR [~14 classes]

AAS CORE COURSES: (18 UNITS)
AAS 100: Introduction to Asian American Studies (3 units)

• AAS 201: Race, Racism, and Critical Thinking (3 units)
• AAS 210: History of Asians in America (3 units)
• AAS 220: Survey of Asian American Literature (3 units)
• AAAS 311: Research Methods in Asian American Studies (3 units)
• AAS 390/F: Asian American Communities: Field Practicum (2+1 units)

The learning outcome for AAS majors is stated as follows: “Students will develop and demonstrate basic research skills as they learn about the particular dynamics of working with Asian Pacific American communities.”

2) What courses are research-intensive?

Dr. Williams and I discussed the fact that most general education courses require some component of information literacy, but only certain courses at CSUN are designated to fulfill the Information Competency (or information literacy) requirement for course credit.

I was extremely impressed when Dr. Williams told me CSUN has their own Research Database called CSUN by the Numbers,“a data inventory created and maintained by the University’s Office of Institutional Research”.

The caption on CSUN by the Numbers database states: (insert caption link) “The Inventory houses information about key characteristics of CSUN’s students, faculty members, and course sections.” Dr. Williams explained the database, CSUN by the Numbers is a compilation of research conducted by Northridge undergraduates and higher education (e.g., masters, doctorate degree) students. Consequently, she explained that CSUN’s database is constantly updated with information from the latest research.

Furthermore, Dr. Williams explained that information literacy is embedded within the general education requirements, and designed so the students receive IL instruction early in their academic career. Most students take general education courses during the first two years of college. One issue was raised. Dr. Williams explained the down side of picking only “one core course” to embed information literacy is that the faculty members and librarians do not know which general education course the student will take first.

3) What the needs of students are regarding the development of research skills so that you can determine how to best integrate library instruction into the curriculum.

In answer to the question, Dr. Williams stated: “If you look at the profile of CSUN students they are primarily first generation college students. A high percentage of them are immigrants and students of color. A majority of them work, commute, and go to school. They are working class and come with ‘remedial’ skills so the level of research skills for AAS students is even often further lacking than the norm.” Based on the above profile, Dr. Williams mentioned that “The general CSUN students, as well as Asian American Studies (AAS) students, are in need of writing programs and labs as well as a section librarian that can focus on the ASS student needs and the AAS collection.”

At the end of the interview, Dr. Williams added that she is so focused on the AAS curriculum and her students that she does not have extensive knowledge about the information literacy developments or the information infrastructure at CSUN. Having said the above, Dr. Williams strongly believes in the overall importance of providing information competency skills to enhance student learning outcomes.

Discussion

As Dr. Williams pointed out, most subjects in liberal arts carry a heavy load in reading and writing assignments. Due to extensive research inherent in most courses in humanities, Dr. Williams and I agreed that the placement of information competency instruction is flexible and can be inserted in any of the general education requirements. More specifically, Dr. Williams explained: “All upper division courses designated with an SI are reading, writing, and research intensive.” We agreed that information literacy instruction should be placed at the beginning of the students’ academic experience, preferably during their freshman year.

In addition, I found that CSUN incorporates multiple models outlined by Curzon in Brasley’s (2008) article, and they include “The General Education (GE) Model,” “The Introduction Model,” “The Faculty Librarian Collaboration Model,” and “The Learning Outcomes Model” (Brasley, 2008, pp. 77-79). Integrating a combination of models at CSUN appears to be an effective strategy and CSUN stands out as a stellar example of best practices.

Based on the qualitative research method of interviewing a faculty member for Asian American Studies, I found that California State University (CSU) is a pioneer and way ahead of the game in terms of system-wide implementation of information literacy. Since the information literacy program was implemented in 1995, CSUN has had plenty of time to embed subject specific liaison librarians. Based on the profile of the AAS students, I also conclude that the majors are in desperate need of information literacy and critical thinking skills instruction. Although progress has been made in strides, I conclude CSU still has work to do in order to realize the ultimate goal of embedding subject liaison librarians as Dr. Williams expressed.

Reference:

Brasley, S. S. (2008) “Effective librarian and discipline faculty collaboration models for integrating information literacy into the fabric of an academic institution.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 114, 71-88.