Information Literacy Assessment

You are participating in an innovative and collaborative project that is designed to measure the
information and computer literacy skills of Virginia Community College students who are required to
find and use information to complete a class assignment. The results of this assessment will help
us further develop our teaching program to meet the needs of RCC and VCCS students.

Student Name_____________________________________

Course Number___________ Instructor_________________

1. Describe the research assignment in your own words.

2. As you worked on this project was there anything in the assignment that was unclear or confusing?

3. What was your first topic idea for your research paper?

4. What was the final topic of your research paper?

5. If your topic changed or you narrowed it over time what influenced the change?

Check as many of these as apply to you:

    ___Something you read.
    ___Couldn’t find enough information on original topic.
    ___Found too much information on original topic
    ___Your interests changed.
    ___Instructor suggestion
    ___Librarian suggestion
    ___Friend or classmate suggestion.
    ___Other influences, please describe____________________________________

6. Did you ask for help in completing your project? If so, from whom?

     ___Instructor
     ___Classmate or Friend
     ___Librarian/ library staff member
     ___Family member
     ___Success Lab
     ___Other person, please identify__________________________________________

7. Which information resources/services did you use to complete your assignment?

    ___RCC library catalog
    ___WorldCat (worldwide library catalog)
    ___ ILL (interlibrary loan service)
    ___Local public library catalog(s)
    ___Other college library catalog(s)
    ___RCC full text book databases (Electric Library/NetLibrary)
    ___RCC magazine/journal/newspaper databases (Infotrac, Factiva, SIRS, etc.)
    ___Other college library databases
    ___Internet sites suggested by the instructor
    ___Internet sites suggested by the instructor
    ___Magazine and journal articles
    ___Newspaper articles
    ___Books
    ___Reference materials( Encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, etc.)
    ___Videos
    ___Government Documents
   ___Personal interviews
   ___Other, please specify.___________________________________________________

8. How did you decide which indexes/databases to use?

     ___I used the library research guide on the RCC library web page
     ___Suggestion by librarian
     ___Suggestion by instructor
     ___Suggestion by classmate or friend
     ___Other, please specify ________________________________________________

9. Think of one of your successful searches on your topic. Think of the keywords or concepts that you used.

Please write that search in the boxes below...

10. Were there other searches -- other combinations of keywords or concepts -- that you used to find articles for your topic? Please list them:

___________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

11. You chose articles, books, and web sites about your topic. How did you choose the most relevant sources?
In other words, how did you choose which sources to use?

12. You learned how to evaluate books, articles and web sites in your library session.
How did you apply what you learned for your project?

13. Did the library session make it easier for you to complete your project? If so please explain.

14. Would you recommend similar instruction sessions for future students in this class?

15. At any time during this project/assignment, were you frustrated or confused and if so,
what did you do about it?