In the spring of 2010, the UC Irvine libraries formed the Image Services Team (IST) to meet burgeoning visual literacy needs as image use in higher education and image-based research is on the rise across the humanities and sciences. The team submitted a proposal program for Image Services (available upon request) on Sept. 10th, 2010.
The Image Services Team set about developing modular training sessions based on the objectives in our Visual Literacy training rubric. This rubric was informed by data we reiceved in a library wide survey that tested for training needs regarding image based research skills. See the following essential documents:
- Updated Training Rubric 6.13.11 (download PDF)
- Finding and Using Images: Initial Intake Survey (download PDF)
- Images-Survey-Findings-Fall2010 (download PDF)
The team assigned two to three team members to rotate taking the lead in designing and writing each training session. For each session, the IST develops a “takeaway” learning object or tool that is embedded in the Visual Literacy Guide. The IST has attempted to gather feedback through an evaluative survey after each session
The Image Services Team has viewed our educational charge as a phased approach. Our current focus is on phase one:
- Phase One: immerse reference staff and librarians in Visual Literacy Training
- Phase Two: encourage reference staff and librarians to utilize skills and share image resources in reference transactions as needed
- Phase Three: work with undergraduate curriculum developers to find areas to embed visual literacy education training sessions
The team is in planning to partner with UC Irvine’s undergraduate curriculum developers to promote our Libguides and integrate some of our tools and resources into image-based research assignments. The IST has initiated discussions with Cathy Palmer, the head of our Education and Outreach department to help us identify areas in the undergraduate experience where it would make sense to embed visual literacy training. Some ideas that have come out of these discussions are to give presentations to peer tutors and teaching assistants, as well as freshmen who participate in our Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) as they are required to design a poster.
The IST recognizes that visual literacy education encompasses all academic disciplines and does not lie solely within the purview of visual arts, and that therefore our whole staff needs visual literacy training in order to effectively work in an increasingly visual academic climate. In fact, this winter the ACRL’s Image Resources Interest Group (IRIG) released a draft document titled: Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The standards were collaboratively written by members of ACRL’s Visual Literacy Task force using the information literacy competency standards as a foundational document.
In comparing our objectives with the standards on this document the IST was excited to see that our rubric mirrors all seven of these standards . The ACRL/IRIG document goes beyond listing core standards by providing detailed measurable objectives for each standard. This is a missing element in our rubric and will prove to be very valuable when creating evaluations for future sessions.
The IST finds that the positive feedback from session attendees demonstrates how reference staff and librarians have been empowered to learn new skills in our sessions. The IST has been encouraged by the feedback of our peers in the library community as well. We welcome your feedback and comments regarding our work and the resources we have created.
The Image Services Team: libuciimage@uci.edu
Judy Bube, Ashley Burke, Holly Tomren, Jorge Santigo, Jeff Schneidewind, and Virginia Allison, Stephen Clancey