Identifying information literacy skills and behaviors in the curricular competencies of health professions

Authors

  • Micah J. Waltz Lecturer, Veterinary Integrative Biosciences Department, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, and Joint Appointment to Medical Sciences Library, University Libraries, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2390-944X
  • Heather K. Moberly Dorothy G. Whitley Professor and Coordinator of Veterinary Services, Medical Sciences Library, University Libraries, and Joint Appointment to Veterinary Integrative Biosciences Department, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5080-2656
  • Esther E. Carrigan Professor and Deputy Director, Medical Sciences Library, University Libraries, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9748-490X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.833

Keywords:

Curricular Competencies, Information Literacy, Evidence-Based Practice, Medical Education

Abstract

Objective: This research identified the presence of information skill and behaviors components of information literacy in curricular competencies to inform a medical sciences library’s instructional schema for five different professional programs at Texas A&M University: College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, and School of Public Health.

Methods: Curricular competency documents were collected from each program and reviewed. Coding categories were identified from the curricular competencies of professional health curricula using data-driven qualitative coding. To guide the identification and coding of competency categories, we developed a seven-category rubric from the coding categories. Three researchers used this rubric to independently code the categories of all of the included professional health curricular competencies. An additional researcher used a revised version of the rubric to identify action verbs in each competency.

Results: Competencies for four of the five professional health curricula explicitly stated information skills and behaviors. Each of the five curricula included several competencies that depended on information-specific skills and behaviors. The most common verb used to describe implicit or explicit competencies was “evaluate.”

Conclusions: The representation of information skills and behaviors aligns with the drive behind the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Both underpin the importance of evidence-based medicine methodology.

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Additional Files

Published

2020-07-01

Issue

Vol. 108 No. 3 (2020): July 2020

Section

Original Investigation