Building Success with the NILRC/IMLS Needs Assessment Instrument: A leadership workshop sponsored by the Illinois Center for Information Literacy

Mark your calendars for the Assessment for Information Literacy workshops! Registration is now open for two of the workshops taking place in partnership with the Metropolitan Library System on August 7 (at the Burr Ridge Center) and August 8 (at the Chicago Center). Sponsored by the Illinois Center for Information Literacy with the generous support of an LSTA grant from the Illinois State Library, these workshops are designed especially for school and academic librarians.

The Assessment for Information Literacy Learning workshop is designed to create a unique cadre of librarian leaders who will use, and facilitate the continuing use of, the powerful needs assessment instrument developed through the NILRC/IMLS grant project called “Information Literacy for the 21st Century Learner.” This day-long workshop will bring together groups of self-selected librarians to participate in learning to use the instrument to facilitate student learning of information literacy skills.

Appropriate for academic and school librarians and educators, the workshop will introduce participants to the assessment instrument followed by a systematic exploration and discussion about using it effectively and meaningfully in educational settings. The workshop will emphasize the following topics:

• nature of needs assessment for learning
• partnership strategies
• administration of the assessment instrument
• interpretations of the results
• using results to inform further student learning
• building broader participation in assessment for information literacy learning

Workshop participants are asked to register for either the Burr Ridge or Chicago center workshop and complete the needs assessment instrument prior to the program. One of the benefits of this instrument is its ready availability. After the workshop, librarians will be able to use it in building valuable teaching/learning collaborations. Through the widespread application of this tool, Illinois librarians will make a significant difference in raising the information literacy skills of students throughout the state. The workshop will provide tools to talk knowledgeably about assessment and to follow up with lessons that reinforce student learning.

Facilitators will be Dr. Dianne Gardner and Dane Ward, with the help of the creators of the original needs assessment instrument. Gardner, a professor in Illinois State University’s Department of Educational Administration and Foundations, conducts research and teaches in the areas of student learning and assessment, leadership and organizational theory in education. Ward, Associate Dean for Public Services at Illinois State University, is the Director of the Illinois Center for Information Literacy.

Plans are in the works for two more workshops, one in central Illinois, and one in southern Illinois.  For more information, please feel free to contact Dane Ward.