RCL Blog

Information Literacy in the CORE

Ben De Biasio Community Learning & Outreach Librarian

New Beginnings:

It was a well-timed coincidence that in my first year as the Community Learning & Outreach Librarian at Dominican University, a framework for a new core curriculum was passed. Because this framework includes information literacy as a required component, the RCL Instruction Team was tasked with generating assignments and activities that both incorporate and assess information literacy skills. We used the summer of 2023 to research and design the assignments, fall of 2023 to run a pilot program with 10 faculty members, and are currently using Spring 2024 to analyze the results and iterate on our materials.

You can find our materials here: Information Literacy CORE Documents 

Moving Beyond the Traditional Research Paper:

Our initial research confirmed that the podcast and infographic assignments require valuable research skills. They find, critically evaluate, and incorporate the work/voices of others. To highlight this to faculty (and students), we decided to include a "Research Brief" component of the assignments which could serve as a traditional annotated bibliography or something much less formal (hyperlinked show notes, infographic references). In addition to the skills that are required to complete a traditional research paper or annotated bibliography, these assignments also require students to engage with emerging technologies and develop potentially important job readiness skills. After meeting with the Director of the Core Curriculum and proposing our ideas, we were given the go-ahead to begin planning the assignments. 

Establishing an Information Literacy Rubric and next steps:

We knew that flexibility was going to be key - some faculty would work on these assignments for a week, while others had decided to devote much of their semester. Some sections would use the podcast assignment while others favored the infographic - some used both. Asynchronous sections of the course would require additional planning. For each assignment, we created a modifiable lesson plan, student/faculty checklists, and an Information Literacy Rubric. We created online learning modules and research guides to supplement our instruction. While this rubric is certainly a work in progress, our team has found it to be a useful tool outside of this pilot program. It has given us shared language/criteria in thinking about information literacy and has hopefully helped unify our assessment efforts as we reintegrate information literacy into the core curriculum.

Additional Resources:

ACRL Framework

AAC&U Information Literacy Rubric

“Backward Design: The Basics.” Cult of Pedagogy, 22 June 2020, https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/backward-design-basics/.

Infographics Resources (RCL Guide)

Podcast Resources (RCL Guide)

Ana Hernandez, Instruction Intern

In the Fall 2023 semester, I created a research guide on navigating government databases. This idea came from a research consultation with a student who was looking for demographic data on one of Chicago’s 50 wards. I did not know our wards and struggled to find the information the student needed. I recalled the many research projects I have worked on, both as a student and a professional research assistant, that required government data. These statistics are frequently useful for academic study but are not integrated into the library catalog that students typically consult for research. Instead, they are a public good that is freely available online. While an abundance of statistical information is legally required to be released by our governments, it is not always easy to find, understand, or interpret.

Neighborhoods:

The first thing I needed to understand was how Chicago’s wards, neighborhoods, and community areas relate to each other. I learned that the neighborhoods (i.e.: River North, Logan Square, Humbolt Park) were first formally established by the Office of Tourism in 1993, but are not used for any official purposes (Malon). These boundaries are culturally constructed and relative. Residents may differ in the names given to each area or the exact geographic distinctions between neighborhoods. For these reasons, data collection by neighborhood is not as reliable or consistent as by community area.

Community areas:

Community areas are 77 distinct geographic areas first established in the 1920s by University of Chicago sociologists (Chicago Community Areas). These boundaries do not change over time, allowing for thorough and trackable data collection. They correspond with Census tracts, with the first two digits of each four-digit tract number generally lining up with each community area number. These boundaries are where the student found most of the demographic data they were looking for, particularly through the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) Community Data Snapshots.

Wards:

Wards are political districts that divide City Council representation. 50 wards have one alderman each. The boundaries change about every 10 years, intending to reflect population shifts and balance out the number of residents per ward. Due to these changes, the wards are not a consistent representation of communities but instead a contentious political tool.

The last redraw of ward districts was in 2022, which came with controversy and increased scrutiny of redistricting practices. The decision to redraw the wards came “days before a deadline that would have sent the issue to voters in the June 28 primary" (Malon). An anonymous author from the University of Chicago states that a significant cause for concern was “the disproportionate growth of different racial populations in the city and, according to the Latino Caucus of the Chicago City Council, the lack of equal consideration in redistricting" (Gerrymandering of Chicago Wards, 39). To read more about these issues, consult the “Chicago” and “Wards” sections of the LibGuide.

The issues of gerrymandering have much larger and more detrimental effects than their disruption to public data collection. The press release from the Change Illinois Action Fund following the redistricting states that it robbed “voters of the ability to choose their own futures" (Change Illinois Action Fund). These boundaries are strictly political and chosen by policymakers, not by the people. The most democratically and organically organized geographic distinction is neighborhoods, but community areas are the most consistent and open to analysis. 

Works Cited: 

Anonymous. “Gerrymandering of Chicago Wards.” Chicago Through a Policy Lens: Essays By Class of 2023 Students Majoring in Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago, University of Chicago, https://harris.uchicago.edu/files/inline-files/Chapter%203%2C%20Anonymous.pdf.

Chicago Advisory Redistricting Commission, 17 May 2022, chicagoswards.org/.

Chicago’s Community Areas, www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1760.html#:~:text=Chicago’s%20Community%20Areas&text=Established%20in%20the%201920s%20by,at%20this%20generalized%20geographical%20scale. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

“Community Data Snapshots.” CMAP, 2023, www.cmap.illinois.gov/data/community-snapshots.

Malon, Claire. “Search to Find out What Chicago Neighborhood, Community Area and Ward You Live In.” Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2023, www.chicagotribune.com/data/ct-chicago-boundaries-map-20230126-6kkjxp76cfgfbindv44xycevqy-htmlstory.html.