Preliminary results from a study investigating the resources and perspectives about information literacy at Illinois High Schools. For an updated presentation with additional data and findings, view "Information Literacy in Illinois High Schools: Budgets, Staffing, Perceptions, and Pedagogy" By: Kelly Grossmann & Michelle Guittar

1. Resources for
Information Literacy in
Illinois High Schools
Kelly Grossmann
Michelle Guittar
Illinois Library Association
Oct. 23, 2015

2. Background & Motivation
- Findings from the Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries project
show a gap in college readiness and expectations for students at the college
level.
- Additional research shows a discrepancy between the level that students
perceive their own competencies and their displayed competencies.
- College students struggle with: evaluating sources, conducting effective
searches, differentiating primary and secondary sources, and exploring and
identifying value of sources in different formats.

3. Research Questions
How is information literacy currently perceived, promoted, and
taught by instructors at the high school level?
How does the school’s administrative culture and physical
environment promote, enable, or dismiss information literacy in
instruction?

4. Research Activities
- Survey to collect quantitative data
- Focus groups and site visits to collect qualitative data
- Analysis of datasets from Illinois State Board of Education
and Chicago Public Schools
- Northeastern Illinois University IRB
- Chicago Public Schools RRB

5. Goals of Research Activities
Short-term
- Update the NEIU information literacy program for incoming students to
reflect the diversity of information literacy preparation in different high
school environments
Long-term
- Design interventions and explore collaborations between secondary
schools and academic librarians to better prepare students for college
research

6. Today
1. How do school librarians perceive support for information
literacy resources?
2. How have library budgets, staffing, and facilities changed
in Illinois high schools in recent years?
3. What information literacy skills are addressed at the high
school level?

7. Methods

8. Data Mining: ISBE and CPS Publicly Available Datasets
- Budgets (Illinois school districts)
- Staffing (Illinois high schools)
- Staffing and Facilities (CPS high schools)

9. Focus Groups & Site Visits
- 7 librarians, 1 teacher, 2 administrators participated in
interviews/site visits, and focus groups.
- Conversations lasted 1 - 2 hours.
- Cross-section of varying school sizes & types of communities
surrounding Chicago.

10. Survey: Sample Size
- 78 total responses, 17 removed for incompleteness or
duplication
- 61 self-reported full-time librarians and media specialists at the
high school level from 61 different schools
- 95% Public Schools, 5% Private Schools

11. Survey: Sample

12. Findings

13. Perceptions of support for information
literacy resources

14. 43% of librarians reported collaborating with teachers daily or weekly.
“My teaching varies with the needs of the class and the desires of the
teacher. Some teachers want me to be a support role, while others prefer
that I take a more dominant position in instruction.”
“As a librarian, my teaching to STEM classes occurred through a
department meeting with the science teachers. Then the teachers utilized
the library resources with their students.”
Survey: Collaboration with Teachers

15. “We have a new assistant principal... and he’s been really supportive about
what can I do in the library… But I’m trying to push to get a lot more. He’s
been very supportive... I think they’re excited to see somebody in there
that knows what they’re doing. You’ve got to figure out the right way to ask
for stuff.”
“At the high school level, I can’t see that [downsizing] would happen so
much, because Common Core [has] that college/career readiness track.
And so, if you are ‘college-readying students,’ libraries are just going to still
be essential in preparing students for colleges.”
Focus Groups: Administrative Support

16. Survey: Sufficient access to Technology?
Yes:
All students in my school have iPads.
We have laptop lab, desktop
collaboration lab, projector and tv for
group work, Mac computers, and iPad
lab.
Our school went 1:1 almost 2 years ago.
In addition, the library provides desktop
computers that teachers can reserve if
needed.
No:
There is a divide created by those who
have home access and those who do not.
We are not a 1:1 district.
We do not have enough computers in the
library for instruction. The adjacent lab is
used 3 hrs a day by regular, daily classes.
Our connection bandwidth is spotty, and
our district does not pay for databases at
the high school level.

17. Survey: Technology Policies
28% One-to-one device policy
16% Bring-your-own device policy
10% Plans or piloting of new 1:1 or BYOD policies

18. Library budgets in Illinois school districts

19. ISBE - Budgets by School District
2220 Educational Media Services
2221 Service Area Direction
2222 School Library Services
2223 Audio-Visual Services
2224 Educational Television Services
2225 Computer-Assisted Instruction Services
ISBE budgets for school districts, http://www.isbe.net/sfms/html/financial_archive.htm

20. Within Educational Media Services
300 PURCHASED SERVICES
314 "Professional Services - Instructional" - Services provided in support of instructional
programs or activities. Included would be library and media support services, curriculum
improvement services, and any other contracted services related to the enhancement of the
teaching or instructional process. Also includes travel, printing and binding, anything that may
be contracted out.
400 SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS
430 "Library Books" - Expenditures for regular or incidental purchases of library books
available for general use by students, including any reference books, even though such
reference books may be used solely in the classroom. Also recorded here are costs of
binding or other repairs to school library books.
440 "Periodicals" - Expenditures for periodicals and newspapers for general use.
Illinois Program Accounting Manual for Local Education Agencies, http://www.isbe.net/sfms/pdf/ipam.pdf

21. 22 School Districts
Chicago Public Schools SD#299
Waukegan CUSD#60
Peoria SD#150
Springfield SD#186
Aurora East USD#131
Aurora West USD#129
Champaign CUSD#40
Decatur SD#61
East St. Louis SD#189
Rock Island SD#41
Quincy SD#172
Lake Zurich CUSD#95
Danville CCSD#118
Kankakee SD#111
Marion CUSD#2
Effingham CUSD#40
East Richland CUSD#1
Macomb CUSD#185
Mt Vernon Township HSD#201
La Salle-Peru Township HSD#120
Dakota CUSD#201
Grant Park CUSD#6

23. Educational Media Services Budgets, by district, 2009 and 2014

24. Educational Media Services Budgets, by district, 2009 and 2014
2009 2014 Percent change
Non-CPS
District avg
$806,349 $596,253 - 26%
-32% Non-personnel
-23% Personnel
CPS $48,048,977 $36,980,594 -23%
(-98% Personnel)

25. Enrollment # Students and Dollars Spent per Student on Library Collections,
by district, 2009 and 2014
$perStudent

26. Library staffing at Illinois high schools

27. - How are “librarians/media specialists” defined?
- All data is self-reported by principals
- How many high schools are in the state?
- Is there overlap between positions?
ISBE: Staffing at High Schools

28. ISBE: Library Staffing at Public High Schools (not CPS)
2013
- 468 librarians reported at 368 schools, avg 1.25 employees at 1.17 FTE
- 47% high schools had library staff
2014
- 445 librarians reported at 352 schools, avg 1.26 employees at 1.16 FTE
- 45% high schools had library staff

29. CPS: Library Staffing and Facilities at Schools
2014
- 76 library employees reported at 59 schools, avg 1.28 employees at 1.04 FTE
- 57% of CPS high schools had library staff… or do they?
- 84 CPS high school buildings (82%) had library facilities

30. CPS: Library Facilities and Staffing at Schools

31. Left:
All CPS
HS
Right:
CPS HS
with
library

32. Left:
CPS HS
with
library
Right:
CPS HS
with
library
and staff

33. Left: CPS HS
with library
and no staff
Right: CPS
HS with staff
and no
library

34. CPS HS with no library or staff
- primarily charter schools or
alternative high schools
- enrollment avg of 720
students

35. Survey: Student-to-Librarian Ratio
Average number of students per librarian: 1190
Community Mean average of
students per librarian
Rural 1077
Suburban 1522
Urban 1795

36. Summary of research findings
Finding 1: There are big gaps in structural supports for information literacy
education.
- Budgets for school libraries are trending downward: 26% loss from 2009-2014
- Only 50% Illinois high schools have library employees, including at CPS
- Library facilities may be less common in charter or alternative high schools
Recommendation: Curriculum support materials and outreach should take into
account decreased budgets, staffing, and non-traditional learning
environments to accommodate as many high schools as possible.

37. Information literacy skills addressed at the high
school level

38. Focus Groups
- How do you define information literacy?
What does it mean to you? To your students?

40. Survey: Information Literacy Skills - AASL/ACRL
a. Developing a thesis statement. 1.1.3/1.1
b. Exploring and identifying resources in a variety of formats (e.g., books,
journals/magazines/newspapers/periodicals, websites, videos, podcasts). 1.1.6/1.2
c. Correctly identifying the function and value of different kinds of information resources
(e.g., abstracts, bibliographies, book chapters, databases, dictionaries, encyclopedias,
indexes, journal articles, search engines). 1.1.6/1.2
d. Differentiating between primary and secondary resources. 1.1.6/1.2
e. Selecting appropriate resources in scope and content to satisfy a specific information
need or task. 1.1.4/2.1
f. Identifying keywords, synonyms, and related terms connected with a topic. 1.1.8/2.2
g. Using advanced search strategies (such as Boolean operators, wildcard symbols,
following citations to additional articles) to conduct a query in an online search engine or
database. 1.1.8/2.2

41. Survey: Information Literacy Skills - AASL/ACRL
h. Identifying gaps in search results and revising search strategies as needed. 1.2.5/2.4
i. Recognizing the authority, accuracy, timeliness and bias of a wide variety of sources.
1.1.7/3.2
j. Consulting resources representing a wide range of viewpoints. 1.2.7/3.5
k. Using technology to manipulate various media (images, text, audio, video) in physical
and digital formats. 2.1.4/4.1
l. Synthesizing information to create a final product or presentation that communicates
effectively to its intended audience. 2.1.6/4.3
m. Defining and analyzing issues related to freedom of speech, censorship, and privacy.
1.3.3/5.1
n. Applying copyright and fair use guidelines to the acquisition, use, and distribution of
information. 1.3.5/5.2
o. Avoiding plagiarism and documenting sources using an appropriate citation style.
1.3.3/5.3

42. Top Skills Identified as “Taught” or “Co-taught”

43. Top Skills Identified as “Not Taught”

44. Subjects:
Most taught Least taught
Subject n %
English Language Arts &
Literature
57 98
History & Social sciences 38 66
Science 6 10
Physical education, health &
wellness
6 10
Technology & Computer
Science
3 5
Fine Arts and Music 1 2
Math 0 0
World Languages 0 0
Subject n %
Math 41 75
Fine Arts and Music 24 44
Physical education, health &
wellness
14 25
Technology & Computer
Science
14 25
World Languages 13 24
Science 10 18
History & Social sciences 5 9
English Language Arts &
Literature
1 2

45. Subjects:
Most taught Least taught
Subject n %
English Language Arts &
Literature
57 98
History & Social sciences 38 66
Science 6 10
Physical education, health &
wellness
6 10
Technology & Computer
Science
3 5
Fine Arts and Music 1 2
Math 0 0
World Languages 0 0
Subject n %
Math 41 75
Fine Arts and Music 24 44
Physical education, health &
wellness
14 25
Technology & Computer
Science
14 25
World Languages 13 24
Science 10 18
History & Social sciences 5 9
English Language Arts &
Literature
1 2

46. Summary of research findings
Finding 2: Librarians focus on teaching how to find, identify, and evaluate sources,
not developing a thesis or synthesizing information.
- Librarians most often work with English/Language Arts and History/Social
Sciences, and rarely for other subjects.
Recommendation: Curriculum support materials and outreach could be
developed for skills and subjects not currently addressed.

47. Conclusion

48. Next steps...
- School library staff: Take the survey! Tell teachers too!
- www.facebook.com/ILinILHS
- More data analysis for state-wide ISBE data
- Exploring possible interventions

49. Special thanks to...
- Our study participants
- James Rosenzweig, in-absentia research partner,
Education Librarian, Eastern Washington University
- Elizabeth Clarage, Director, Collection Services, and
Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois
- Committee on Organized Research,

50. References
Duke, Lynda M. and Andrew D. Asher, eds. College Libraries and Student Culture: What we now know.
Chicago: American Library Association, 2012. http://www.erialproject.org
Bandyopadhyay, Aditi. “Measuring the Disparities between Biology Undergraduates Perceptions and their
Actual Knowledge of Scientific Literature with Clickers.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 39.2 (2013): 194-
201.
Islam, Ramona L. and Lisa Anne Murno. “From Perceptions to Connections: Informing Information Literacy
Program Planning in Academic Libraries Through Examination of High School Library Media Center
Curricula.” College & Research Libraries 67.6 (2006): 492-514.
Kovalik, Cindy. “Information Literacy and High School Seniors: Perceptions of the Research Process.”
School Library Research 16(2013): 1-26.

51. Questions?