Program
ALA Unit/Subunit: ACRL
Meeting Type: Program
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open
Commonly known as the ‘2+2’ system, the robust 28-member Florida College System’s Statewide Articulation Agreement guarantees that 60 credit hours earned as part of an Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree will transfer to a four year institution. This transfer of credits, including a block of 36-hour general education credits, enables many Floridians to affordably and conveniently complete their baccalaureate degree. In addition, Florida colleges also offer a number of two-year career-specific A.S. degrees enabling students to seek employment immediately upon graduation.
As librarians, we questioned whether Florida's two-year colleges are adequately preparing A.A. degree students, ( i.e., those who anticipate transition to the State University System). College faculty librarian involvement with and access to this potential transfer population is limited and takes place primarily through library instruction in English Composition I (ENC1101) and Speech Communication (SPC1608). How do we ensure that the potential transfer students receive adequate library instruction to succeed upon transfer to a university?
With respect specifically to student development in information literacy competencies, we want to ensure that students who do transfer to a university are academically ready for upper-level research paper assignments.
Thus, a college librarian and a university librarian teamed up to determine whether some gaps exist in what is taught in L.I. classes at the college level; what the university expectations are for library research for upper class level assignments, what gaps could and should be closed, thereby helping to reduce what is commonly referred to as ‘transfer shock’. They’ll share their findings, including how they built partnerships between key players in library instruction at both the college and university, what they learned and how they developed methods to apply that information to college-level library instruction classes in order to help ensure that future ‘2+2’ transfer students are better prepared and less stressed over increasingly complex research paper assignments.
Karen Kaufmann
Faculty Librarian, Research & Instruction
Seminole State College of Florida
Peggy Nuhn
UCF Connect Librarian
University of Central Florida
Morgan Tracy
Director, College Libraries
Seminole State College of Florida
Rachel Mulvihill
Head, Teaching & Engagement
University of Central Florida