Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Courses in Academic Libraries: Comparing Peers

Abstract

This article identifies variations that are within the credit-bearing information literacy (IL) programs of a group of similar libraries: Idaho State University’s peer institutions that have been formally designated by the Idaho State Board of Education. This group of institutions shares two common characteristics, i.e., they are public and are doctoral granting schools, and vary in many others, according to Carnegie classification system data. Motivated by a desire to evaluate the current status of their own instruction program within the context of the university’s official peer institutions, the authors gathered reported data from their peers and coupled this data with information from personal interviews with the coordinators of instruction at peer institutions. This method of collecting the data provided context for the interview questions that would follow and revealed nuanced qualitative ideas and issues such as best practices within this cohort. The process of scoping the study, identifying comparisons with peers and analysis of results will be useful to other libraries making decisions about the impact and directions of their instruction programs.