Library Class and Subject Guides: Library Services Educational Competencies & Student Learning Outcomes: Home

The following five competencies and related student learning outcomes outline Library Services’ educational commitment to students and academic programs. In this document, we articulate what MSU students can learn when interacting with our information sources, personnel, and physical spaces. Information literacy principles underpin our educational work and support our collective goal to “prepare students for careers and for life-long learning” by “facilitating discovery, study, learning and scholarship.”

The competencies and learning outcomes provide:

Course instructors and academic programs with ideas to teach students elusive critical thinking skills in this information age
Instructors and librarians with conversation points about enhancing students’ information skills
Librarians with educational benchmarks for library services and resources

Understanding the Competencies

Achievement in each competency is outlined by incremental learning outcomes for students from first year through graduate courses. Progressing via the learning outcomes is multidimensional. The chart below shows learning benchmarks:

At the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels to determine competency in general
–or-
Shaded cells that represent demonstrated competency in:
- First year and general education courses
- Lower level undergraduate disciplinary courses
- Upper level undergraduate and graduate disciplinary courses

Level	Introductory	Intermediate	Advanced
Students in...	First year and general education courses	Lower level undergraduate disciplinary courses	Upper level undergraduate and graduate disciplinary courses

These benchmarked outcomes are fluid and modifiable.

Depending on course and/or program, it may be more suitable to benchmark student progress at a different level than suggested by the chart.
Other information skills may not be represented in our general program competencies.
We hope these competencies do not hinder librarians and course instructors with their program collaborations, but provide a starting point to teach any information skills needed to successfully complete a course or program.

Competency 1: Use information and your library in order to succeed academically

	Introductory	Intermediate	Advanced
1.a	Identify various forms of study, physical information sources, and technology use	Choose among various forms of study, physical information sources, and technology use in the library	Propose improvements to library services in terms of studying, access to physical information sources, and using technology in the library
1.b	Match information needs to information types	Match information needs to information types in the discipline	Adapt to emerging information processes and formats in a particular discipline
1.c	Identify challenges (finding "perfect source," fake news, confirmation bias) when interacting with information	Apply strategies to resolve or minimize information challenges	Demonstrate persistence, adaptability, and reflection while interacting with information
1.d	Identify various sources of research help (e.g. library and classroom faculty, library staff, peers, class & subject guides)	Use various sources of research help (e.g. library and classroom faculty, library staff, peers, class & subject guides, etc.)	Use various sources of research expertise (subject experts, subject librarians, etc.)

Competency 2: Articulate the specific information needed in order to begin academic inquiries and avoid information overload.

	Introductory	Intermediate	Advanced
2.a	Identify gaps in their knowledge base	Identify gaps in their disciplinary knowledge base	Identify gaps in a discipline's body of knowledge
2.b	Define the topic	Define the topic within the context of discipline	Develop an original research question that contributes to the body of knowledge in the field
2.c	Identify search words related to topic	Identify discipline-specific search words related to topic	Break down complex research questions to help facilitate searching
2.d	Revise search words (i.e. narrow/broaden) for an appropriate research scope	Revise discipline-specific search words for an appropriate research scope	Revise research question(s) to manage an appropriate research scope

Competency 3: Access information using appropriate search tools in order to gather evidence on an inquiry

	Introductory	Intermediate	Advanced
3.a	Utilize the library website to access information	Utilize the library website to access academic research	Utilize the library website to access academic research in a discipline
3.b	Conduct basic keyword searches using search filters	Apply different types of searching (e.g., controlled vocabulary, keyword, natural language, search filters, etc.)	Use appropriate search techniques for the task/search tool
3.c	Identify known sources online or physically from MSU collections	Access sources online or physically from MSU collections	Access sources outside of MSU collections (e.g. Interlibrary Loan, Google Books, Open Access Materials, etc.)
3.d	Recognize citations can be used to find additional sources	Interpret and use citations to find additional sources	Critique quality of citations used in a source
3.e			Use current awareness technologies (e.g. apps, social media, blogs) to stay informed with research
3.f	Choose a strategy for keeping track of gathered information	Use a citation management system (e.g. Zotero)	Adopt data management practices
3.g	Identify the need for specialized information (via travel, collecting original data, etc.)	Determine whether to gather specialized information	Develop strategy to gather specialized information

Competency 4: Evaluate the quality, usefulness, and relevance of the information in order to determine the appropriateness of a source

	Introductory	Intermediate	Advanced
4.a	Differentiate between scholarly (research-based) and popular (informational, summary, or opinion-based) sources	Identify peer-reviewed research	Critique the peer-review process and the use of grey literature
4.b	Apply evaluation criteria such as currency, authority, bias, level, & exploration (i.e. CABLE/s)	Compare/contrast sources (including scholarly articles) using evaluation criteria such as currency, authority, bias, level, & exploration (i.e. CABLE/s)	Evaluate quality of research (including argument, methods, findings, and analysis) within studies
4.c	Select sources based on relevance to topic and assignment	Select sources that best meet an information need based on the audience, context, and purpose of various formats	Select sources that best explain the research question(s) and impact in the discipline

Competency 5: Ethically communicate synthesized and new knowledge in order to complete an academic inquiry

	Introductory	Intermediate	Advanced
5.a	Define plagiarism and academic honesty	Explain Ethical and legal considerations (such as academic honesty, IRB, and copyright) specific to discipline	Demonstrate ethical and legal considerations of attribution, academic honesty, IRB, and copyright (including basic knowledge of fair use, open access, and the public domain)
5.b	Describe how citations relate to academic honesty (i.e. why do we cite?)
5.c	Identify multiple sources and/or perspectives to support an argument	Select appropriate information to sythesize from multiple sources and/or perspectives	Propose need for new knowledge based on multiple sources and perspectives
5.d	Cite sources accurately and consistently using appropriate citation style	Cite sources accurately and consistently using a discipline-specific citation style
5.e	Observe use of knowledge in scholarly conversations	Use knowledge to participate in scholarly conversations	Identify opportunities to share findings (social media, open access journals, etc.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Adapted from

Information Literacy Core Competencies by Grand Valley State University Libraries, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and its derivative by Bethel University Libraries. This document is also informed by the ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, SMU Libraries Information Literacy Program, and USC Libraries Information Literacy Outcomes for Undergraduates.