Student Proficiencies

This list was developed and approved by the Digital Information Literacy Office (DILO) Library Advisory Committee in the Fall of 1997. These proficiencies represent the skills and level of understanding we expect students to achieve after their first year at The University of Texas at Austin.

Understanding of Resources and Services
Students should:

• know what types of information resources and services are available to them (as members of the UT community) in the library and through UT Library Online
• know that librarians can assist them; they should be encouraged to seek assistance when they need it

Identification of Sources
Students should:

• be able to formulate relevant questions based on their information need
• understand and be able to identify a variety of potential sources of information
• be able to recognize that there are core resources for every discipline and recognize some specific indexes related to their major
• understand, in general terms, what sorts of information can and cannot be found via the computer (e.g. based on date, format, accessibility, subject matter, and level of content)
• understand conventions for naming and locating works in print or electronic format (i.e.: call numbers and URLs)

Development of Search Strategies
Students should:

• be able to perform effective database searches. They should generally understand concepts such as: search term selection, keyword searching, Boolean operators, database content (full-text, abstracts, and citations), thesauri, truncation, nesting, field specific searching, and phrase searching
• be able to look at an unfamiliar information source and develop strategies for learning what it contains and how to use it
• be able to read and analyze search results and use information contained in results to develop new search strategies
• be able to recognize the differences between primary and secondary sources and be able to identify when to use each

Evaluation and Citation of Information
Students should:

• understand the need to evaluate information/sources and be able to describe criteria for evaluating different types of information resources
• understand the reasons for citing information by knowing the elements common to intellectual works and be able to cite a variety of different types of works
• understand the principles of intellectual property, copyright, and plagiarism and use information in an ethical manner

Use of Technology
Students should:

• be able to use the software (e.g. Internet browsers and Telnet clients) required to connect to and use electronic sources
• understand the characteristics of different information formats and be able to use software needed to view those formats on multiple platforms. Formats include word processing documents, ASCII text files, PDF files, compressed files, sound files, images, and so on.
• be able to copy, save, download, print, or e-mail information from a source and access it later