Assessment of Information Literacy Programs: Lessons from the Higher Education Assessment Movement

Abstract

Assessment in institutions of higher education is being driven by demands for accountability from legislators, trustees, and accrediting agencies. These assessment efforts are now expanding to library instruction programs. The library literature, however, reveals few rigorous efforts to evaluate the teaching of information literacy concepts and skills. Objective methods are being developed in many teaching disciplines, resulting in a body of research and descriptions of effective evaluation methods. Instruction librarians need to investigate these to determine which of them might be adopted/adapted for use in libraries. This paper reviews higher education assessment methods; identifies useful theories and practices; describes assessment programs in academic libraries; and makes recommendations for changes in library education and for future research.