What Do Undergraduate Course Syllabi Say about Information Literacy?

What is it about?

The content of a syllabus can reveal much about an instructor’s intentions, goals, and teaching strategies. We explain how to conduct a content analysis of course syllabi. We describe the rubric we used and how we trained reviewers. Our findings describe a recent review conducted for reference librarians. We examined how well the course student learning outcomes and assignments described on syllabi aligned with the five information literacy standards articulated by the Association of College and Research Libraries. The review produced inventories of courses that promote information literacy learning outcomes that librarians will use to develop collaborations with faculty.

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Why is it important?

This article will help reference librarians and academics develop rubrics and procedures to answer questions about teaching strategies represented in the content of course syllabi.