Incorporating Undergraduate Advising inTeaching Information Literacy: Case Study forAcademic Librarians as Advisorsby Courtney L. Young

The National Academic Advising Association(NACADA) Council for the Advancement of

Standards (CAS) provides program guidelines forstudent learning and development outcomes.

These recommended academic advisingguidelines parallel those of the Association of

College and Research Libraries (ACRL)Information Literacy Competency Standards For

Higher Education. Both standards focus onstudent behaviors and outcomes in highereducation. The parallels that exist between

academic advising and academic librarianshipare confirmed by the case study described in thispaper, in which an academic librarian served as

an undergraduate academic advisorfor one year.

Courtney L. Young is Reference Librarian andAssistant Professor of Women's Studies,

Penn State University Libraries, Beaver Campus Library,100 University Drive, Monaca, PA 15061, USA

<cly11@psu.edu>.

The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 34, Number 2, pages 139–144

INTRODUCTION

The parallels that exist between academic advising and aca-demic librarianship are evident in national standards for studentoutcomes developed by the relevant professional organizations.The National Academic Advising Association (NACADA)Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) providesprogram guidelines for student learning and developmentoutcomes.1 This Academic Advising Program (AAP) assists“students in the development of meaningful educational plans”by incorporating student learning, student development, andenhancement of “overall educational experiences.” The AAPcan consist of up to sixteen “Desirable Student Learning andDevelopment Outcomes” (see Supplementary Table 1). Theserecommended academic advising guidelines for higher educa-tion parallel those of the Association of College and ResearchLibraries (ACRL) “Information Literacy Competency Stan-dards for Higher Education” (see Supplementary Table 2).These standards, comprised of five standards and twenty-twoperformance indicators, support the development of lifelonglearners.2 The information literate person can “recognize wheninformation is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate,and use effectively the needed information.”

The building blocks for these behaviors and outcomes areaccomplished via advising sessions, semester course assign-ments, bibliographic instruction, or reference service. Both theACRL and CAS standards focus on student behaviors andoutcomes in higher education (Table 1). These standards alsorecognize that the advisor and the librarian have a role in thestudent's development of these outcomes. In these processes,students are assisted in making decisions based on goals deve-loped and revised in collaboration with the advisor or librarian.Both recommend strategies for gathering, examining, and inter-preting information related to the students' educational expe-rience. Both rely on institutional policies and procedures andrefer students to other campus services and resources whenappropriate. Both are invested in student development of short-term and long-term goals resulting in an information literatemember of a global society.

Academic advisors teach students about various courses ofstudy, provide strategies for selecting an appropriate major, andapply those academic goals to course work and future careers.Academic advising introduces students to services at theirinstitution designed to help them be successful. Academic lib-

March 2008 139

Table 1The Correspondence of Information Literacy Competency Standards and Outcomes and CAS Academic Advising

Standards and Outcomes

ACRL Information Literacy CompetencyStandards Performance Indicators

CAS Standards For Academic Advising Program“Desirable Student Learning and Development

Outcomes and Achievement Indicators”

Standard One: The information literate studentdetermines the nature and extent of theinformation needed.

Intellectual growth

Effective communication

Career choices

Achievement of personal and educational goals

Outcomes include developing a thesisstatement and formulating questions basedon information needs; defining a realisticoverall plan and timeline to acquire the neededinformation; reviewing the initial informationneed to clarify, revise, or refine the question.

Outcomes include employing critical thinking inproblem solving on selection of major and courseselection; describing career choice and choices ofacademic major and minor based on interests, values, skills,and abilities; using personal and educational goals toguide decisions.

Standard Two: The information literate studentaccesses needed information effectivelyand efficiently.

Intellectual growth

Effective communication

Independence

Career choices

Outcomes include using specialized onlineor in person services available at the institutionto retrieve information needed; using surveys,letters, interviews, and other forms of inquiryto retrieve primary information; using varioussearch systems to retrieve information in avariety of formats.

Outcomes include using complex information from avariety of sources including personal experience and observationto form a decision or opinion; demonstration of ability to usecampus technology resources; documenting knowledge, skills,and accomplishments resulting from formal education, workexperience, community service and volunteer experiences.

Standard Three: The information literate studentevaluates information and its sources criticallyand incorporates selected information into hisor her knowledge base and value system.

Intellectual growth

Effective communication

Enhanced self-esteem

Clarified values

Collaboration

Healthy behaviors

Independence

Satisfying and productive lifestyles

Appreciation of diversity

Career choices

Outcomes include extending initial synthesis,when possible, at a higher level of abstractionto construct new hypotheses that may requireadditional information; recognizing the cultural,physical, or other context within which theinformation was created and understands theimpact of context on interpreting the information;participating in classroom and other discussions;

Outcomes include applying previously understoodinformation and concepts to a new situation or setting;demonstrating an appreciation for diversity and theimpact it has on society; making connections betweenclassroom and out-of-classroom learning

Standard Four: The information literate student,individually or as a member of a group usesinformation effectively to accomplish aspecific purpose.

Effective communication

Collaboration

Enhanced self-esteem

Independence

Meaningful interpersonal relations

Spiritual awareness

140 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

Table 1 (continued)

ACRL Information Literacy CompetencyStandards Performance Indicators

CAS Standards For Academic Advising Program“Desirable Student Learning and Development

Outcomes and Achievement Indicators”

Satisfying and productive lifestyles

Appreciation of diversity

Leadership development

Healthy behaviors

Social responsibility

Career choices

Outcomes include articulating knowledgeand skills transferred from prior experiencesto planning and creating the product orperformance; communicating clearly and witha style that supports the purposes of the intendedaudience; choosing a communication mediumand format that best supports the purposesof the product or performance and theintended audience.

Outcomes include developing relationships withacademic advisors, faculty members, students, andother institution staff to be engaged with the institutionin meaningful ways; exhibiting ability to visualize agroup purpose and desired outcomes; articulatinglong-term goals and objectives.

Standard Five: Understands many of the economic,legal, and social issues surrounding the useof information and accesses and uses informationethically and legally.

Effective communication

Enhanced self-esteem

Clarified values

Independence

Meaningful interpersonal relations

Leadership development

Appreciation of diversity

Social responsibility

Spiritual awareness

Outcomes include identifying and discussingissues related to censorship and freedom of speech;demonstrating an understanding of what constitutesplagiarism and does not represent work attributable toothers as his/her own.

Outcomes include functioning on the basis of personalidentity, ethical, spiritual, and moral values; understandingand practicing principles of academic integrity.

rarians teach students to identify, access, and evaluate inform-ation and research sources, and apply that process to theirlearning. Reference and bibliographic instruction introducesstudents to resources at their academic library designed to helpthem be successful. All of these information skills arenecessary for the development of knowledge and academicsuccess.

Over the past thirty years, three institutional models ofacademic advising have been used: a faculty-only model, anacademic adviser model, and a blend of the two. One studynoted broader participation in advising is good for academicinstitutions. In discussing the findings of their study onacademic advising satisfaction, Lowe and Toney note that“the nature of the institution has become much more complex.As a result, advising has evolved from a faculty responsibilityinto one that involves the entire campus community.”3 Thatsame philosophy is fundamental to information literacy: “Incor-porating information literacy across curricula, in all programsand services, and throughout the administrative life of the univ-ersity, requires the collaborative efforts of faculty, librarians,and administrators.”4 As members of the campus community

March 2008 141

who traditionally support these goals through library ins-truction, reference service, and collection development, librar-ians can broaden their participation by taking on more formalstudent advising responsibilities.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The library literature is limited with regard to academic lib-rarians serving as academic advisors in undergraduate pro-grams. One article appeared in College and Research LibrariesNews. Paul Studdard provided a brief overview of his role as anadvisor, describing how his training as an academic librarianlends itself well to academic advisement.5 Advisementactivities for Studdard include mentoring students with anemphasis on being accessible, assisting with appropriate courseselection for the student, and providing guidance with choosinga major and subsequent professional goal. He points out “lib-rarians are skilled in listening to others and determining theirinformation needs.” This ability to conduct a good referenceinterview allowed Studdard to research and grasp graduationrequirements as well refer students to standard career referenceresources as they prepared to graduate.

Studdard asserts that advising has a positive impact on theadvisees, the librarian, and the university. Advisees are able tobenefit from the multiple responsibilities most academic lib-rarians have in public, technical, and administrative services. Alibrarian with responsibility for reference, instruction, andcollection development frequently has contact with classroomfaculty from multiple departments. These liaison relationshipsare valuable when advising students interested in those areas.Librarians benefit from the additional opportunity to participatein the campus academic community and have increased educ-ational impact. The university benefits from the successful andtimely matriculation of students.

Beyond the library literature, there is considerably morewritten with regard to the role of advising and who should serveas an academic advisor. Harvey W. Wall described the nuts andbolts of good academic advising.

Of necessity, the academic advising function will include scheduleplanning, appropriate choice of major, and explanation of thecurriculum requirements for that major. It will involve teaching studentsthe proper clerical functions to effect their favorable progress throughthe institution. It will touch on, but not primarily or exclusively,personal adjustment and career choice issues. Finally, good academicadvising will teach the student how to locate appropriate specializedservices, such as financial aid, career development, and personalcounseling, when these services are deemed necessary.6

Wall, whose thirteen years experience as director of the Division ofUndergraduate Studies at Penn State, advocates an approach toacademic advising inclusive of classroom faculty and professionaladvisors. This approach incorporates student development of technical,critical thinking, and decision making skills.

Despite limited library literature on advising, many aspectsof academic advising literature parallel academic librarianshipgoals. When defining effective advising and its role in theinstitution, Lowe and Toney state that “students' needs fortimely, accurate information and comprehensive support” arenecessary.7 Academic librarians attempt to achieve the sameoutcomes when working with students. This includesselecting and maintaining appropriate materials for thecollection in a variety of formats, as well as providing libraryinstruction and reference assistance for developing a researchstrategy. It is also noted “The academic advisor serves as afacilitator of communication, a coordinator of learningexperiences, and a referral agent.”8 The role of the academiclibrarian mirrors that of the academic advisor. She serves as afacilitator of access to scholarly communication, a coordinatorof library learning experiences, and an information referralagent.

“Despite limited library literature on advising,many aspects of academic advising literature

parallel academic librarianship goals.”

CONTEXT FOR THE CASE STUDYThe campus, with an enrollment of 800 traditional students andadult learners, is part of a multicampus university. Students canbegin the first two years of over 160 university degrees to becompleted at another campus in the system, or complete one of

142 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

five baccalaureate degrees conferred at the campus. Thesedegrees are Business, Information Sciences and Technology,Communications, Applied Psychology, and Letters, Arts, andSciences. In 2005, there was a need for an additional academicadvisor in the applied psychology program. The program hadthirty-nine students enrolled for fall 2005 and thirty-six studentsenrolled for spring 2006. In identifying an advisor in theprogram, the Director for Academic Affairs approached thereference librarian with this opportunity. Librarians have facultystatus in the university. Since arriving at the campus in the springof 2004, the librarian has worked closely with faculty andstudents in the applied psychology program to provide referenceassistance, library instruction, and develop the collection.Serving as an academic advisor in the program is a naturalextension of the teaching and research services she provides inthe campus library.

Academic advising is an important part of the undergraduateexperience at the university. Both the advisor and the adviseehave a role in this experience, with the student being heldresponsible ultimately for their completion of all graduationrequirements. In accepting the additional responsibility as anacademic advisor, the author learned more about the universitycurriculum, student services, and the students enrolled in theprogram. Serving as an academic advisor also benefited herposition as reference librarian. This included providing refe-rence service disguised as advising, and advising disguised asreference service.

“In accepting the additional responsibilityas an academic advisor, the author learned

more about the university curriculum,student services, and the students

enrolled in the program.”

LIBRARIAN AS ADVISOR

Academic Advising

All of advisees assigned to the librarian were adult learnersage twenty-four and over in applied psychology. Most were twoyears or less from graduation, and all were previously advised byamember of the applied psychology faculty. Four of the adviseeswere already acquainted with the librarian through previouscourse-related instruction and reference desk consultations.

In preparation for advising, the librarian met with both thecampus' applied psychology program head and the under-graduate advisor coordinator in August 2005. The program headprovided the Bachelor of Arts semester schedule which recom-mends a sequence of courses including degree and graduationrequirements for applied psychology majors. In addition totraditional classroom course work, all students in the programcomplete a twelve credit internship program. The under-graduate advisor coordinator provided general nuts and boltsinformation for advising at the university. These included thegeneral advising and scheduling calendar, the advisor hand-book, and training on the university's enrollment managementsystem.

As an academic advisor, the librarian gained a better under-standing of university policy and procedure and the academic

concerns of students by assisting an advisee transfer in twocourses from a community college toward her degree require-ments. She showed an understanding of expected standards ofachievement and likelihood of success by advising a student notto take a program required course online based on that student'srecognized technological limitations. Suitable career objectives,as demonstrated by student abilities and interest, were es-tablished by working with students to determine where tocomplete their internship as required for graduation and servingas an academic reference for a graduate school candidate. Thelibrarian planned a course of study and advised about courses,adjustments, and prerequisites by reviewing advisee degreeaudits and meeting with each student during and beyond thescheduling period to ensure courses were going well and gra-duation requirements were in progress. Advisees were referredto other resources to defer grades and search for internship op-portunities. Finally, the librarian kept informed and currentregarding the program by communicating frequently with theprogram head, undergraduate advisor coordinator, and intern-ship advisor.

Librarianship from Academic Advising

The most surprising part of serving as an academic advisorwas its impact on the librarian's position as a reference librarian.Adding the responsibility of academic advisor provided herwith opportunities to further develop relationships with facultyin the applied psychology program as well as other degreeprograms on campus, improve reference service to the campusand university, and increase her visibility to students within theprogram.

The librarian attended several meetings geared toward advi-sors on campus. This includes a training session on enhance-ments to the enrollment management system and the advisingday for students interested in pursing a university degree offeredat another campus. She met with and provided library instruc-tion for more psychology faculty. In 2004–2005, the librarianprimarily worked with the program head, but in 2005–2006, shealso taught library instruction sessions for a full time instructorand an adjunct instructor for applied psychology. Many of thestudents in these courses scheduled reference consultations afterthe instruction session.

After the first scheduling and advising period, three of thelibrarian's advisees sought assistance with library researchprojects. While all three students were in courses with libraryinstruction components taught by the librarian, one of thosestudents did not seek out the librarian's assistance until after shebecame her advisor.

“Ad Hoc Advising from Librarianship”

In the current electronic course registration era, students donot have to meet with an advisor to schedule for courses in theupcoming semester. Not all students take full advantage of theopportunity to consult with their advisors on scheduling andother course related questions beyond the first semester. For thestudent who does not meet with their advisor or procrastinatesregistering for classes, there can be some confusion with regardto program requirements, general education requirements, andthe basic mechanics of how to schedule for classes. Thelibrarian worked with several “unassigned” advisees in appliedpsychology and other degree programs.

As an area on campus with computers and people to ask forhelp, “self-advised” students come to the library to schedule the

next semester. These students, when they asked for helpscheduling classes at the reference desk, were referred to thelibrarian by library staff. She was able to assist these studentsbut always recommended an appointment to meet with theassigned advisor. In a few cases, the students were not evenaware who their advisor was. Although these students usuallywere not in the applied psychology program, the librarian wasable to apply her knowledge of the available advising resourcesto teach students how to schedule for classes and select coursesappropriate for their academic success.

Working with these students on the fly was like conductinga reference interview. With a reference interview, the librariandetermines what the researcher is looking for, evaluates theassignment as given by the instructor, what sources have beenconsulted, what resources might be appropriate for the topic,how to use the recommended resources, and how to evaluatethe information found. In these situations, questions wereasked to determine the student's intended course of study,evaluated with their permission their current degree audit tolearn what courses were already completed or in progress,recommended courses for further study, and taught them howto schedule the classes selected. Not all opportunities to blendlibrarianship with advising were the result of direct campusreferrals. As a member of the libraries' virtual reference serviceteam, the librarian also was able to assist students enrolled atother campuses who logged into the service with similarscheduling questions.

OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The role of an academic advisor parallels that of an academiclibrarian. Both put lifelong learning and academic success ofstudents first. Both rely on a variety of resources, both locallyand across the institution, to support those goals. Both take intoconsideration the changing academic needs of students while atthe university and beyond. Both spend time with students toassess their academic needs and recommend strategies formeeting them. Academic advising is an opportunity to bringinformation literacy skills to students. In the same way thatlibrarians collaborate with students to learn how to develop asearch strategy, use the online catalog, and search databases,academic advisors work with student to navigate undergraduatedegree options, understand the degree audit, and access theenrollment management software.

“Academic advising is an opportunity to bringinformation literacy skills to students. In thesame way that librarians collaborate withstudents to learn how to develop a searchstrategy, use the online catalog, and search

databases, academic advisors work with studentto navigate undergraduate degree options,understand the degree audit, and access the

enrollment management software.”

The knowledge librarians have of many disciplines makesadvising students easier with regard to completing course re-quirements. Library instruction and knowledge gained about

March 2008 143

course assignments from the reference desk allow a librarianadvisor to match and educate advisees about course selections.Reference interview skills provide a strong foundation forasking students the right questions related to academic interests,study skills and habits, and learning style. This in turn allowslibrarians to advise students about course selection and aca-demic expectations.

CONCLUSION

Academic librarians should be given opportunities and en-couraged to advise undergraduate students. Academic librariansare appropriate members of the university community to effect-ively meet the demands of an increasingly customer serviceoriented university environment. Advising provides librariansanother opportunity for collaboration with classroom facultyand reinforces the shared educational outcomes of students asoutlined by ACRL and CAS. Academic librarians offerdiscipline expertise and expert knowledge of local departmentsand programs. This understanding of expected standards ofachievement directly supports the advising program. Ongoingpositive interactions in support of educational goals are acornerstone of advising and academic librarianship. Thisreflects the institutional shift of advising as a discrete faculty-only activity to a collaborative process developing studentsacademically, professionally, and personally.9 Academic librar-ians welcome the questions of students and opportunities toteach strategies for locating information. These informationadvising skills directly apply to academic advising skills.

144 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

APPENDIX A. SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, inthe online version, at doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2007.12.003.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS), “AcademicAdvising: CAS. Standards and Guidelines,” http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Clearinghouse/Research_Related/CASStandardsForAdvising.pdf (accessed August 28, 2006).

2. Association of College and Research Libraries, “Information Li-teracy Competency Standards for Higher Education,” http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm%23f1. (accessed July 17, 2006).

3. Anna Lowe & Michael Toney, “Academic Advising: Views of theGivers and Takers,” Journal of College Student Retention, 2 (2000/2001): 93–108.

4. Association of College and Research Libraries, Information LiteracyCompetency Standards for Higher Education, “Presidential Com-mittee on Information Literacy. Final Report,” http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers/presidential.htm (accessed July 17,2006).

5. Paul Studdard, “Academic Librarians as Advisors: Working withStudents to Plan Their Future,” College & Research Libraries News61 (October 2000): 781–782, 792.

6. Harvey Wall, “Personal Perspectives on the History of AcademicAdvising,” NACADA Journal 8 (Fall 1988): 65–76.

7. Lowe and Toney, “Academic Advising,” p. 94.8. ibid, pp. 103.9. ibid, pp. 95.