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Santa Clara UniversityUniversity Library

Teaching and Learning Services

Introduction

The SCU Library is excited to share our information literacy program learning outcomes (PLOs). Read more below, or access documents that describe the outcomes and their background:

Program Learning Outcomes

We develop learners who...

  • Strategically explore research problems
  • Critically evaluate information sources and systems
  • Ethically engage in information communities

Dimensions

To operationalize these broad learning outcomes, we focus on specific dimensions within each outcome. Dimensions are facets of learning associated with the larger outcome. 

When writing session outcomes for a specific class or workshop, we connect them to one or more dimensions. 

We design programmatic assessments of student learning at the dimension level, in order to gather evidence of student progress toward the broader program learning outcomes.
 

Strategically explore research problems
  • Explore a topic with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to consider contradictions
  • Interpret a research context to intentionally apply methods, sources, and tools
  • Reflect on and adjust search strategies as part of an iterative research process
  • Elevate diverse perspectives, including minoritized and nontraditional authorities, by engaging with their ideas
Critically evaluate information sources and systems
  • Examine how systems produce and deliver information
  • Interrogate sources of information for bias, gaps, or misrepresentations
  • Analyze how authority is conferred and evaluate authority in context
  • Reflect on information and data privilege
Ethically engage in information communities
  • Reflect on personal information behaviors, including how they may perpetuate or challenge misrepresentations, inaccuracies, and bias
  • Articulate social and personal impacts of new forms of information technology
  • Practice responsibility to one’s communities by ethically gathering, using, and producing information
  • Work for change in information communities

FAQs

What are program learning outcomes (PLOs)?

PLOs are clear, concise, and measurable statements that describe what students are expected to know, be able to do, and/or value upon successful completion of their academic program. SCU Library has developed PLOs with discrete learning dimensions, which unpack each outcome into more specific and detailed facets.

PLOs and their dimensions are aligned with broader program goals and mission. They reflect the broader educational aims of the program and institution.
 

What are the PLOs based on?

The PLOs are grounded in – and map back to – the Association of College & Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy, the guiding document for librarians and information professionals who teach information literacy in U.S. institutions of higher education. 

The 2016 Framework conceptualizes information literacy as an interconnected set of threshold concepts, knowledge practices, and dispositions, rather than a checklist of skills. It replaced the previous Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. 

Though the PLOs connect to the Framework, they also reflect an effort to localize it to SCU, specifically in terms of social justice, Ignatian pedagogy, and university strategic priorities.

We want our information literacy program and its learning outcomes to be attentive to:

  • Information social justice
  • Student as scholars and practitioners
  • Students as participants and producers
  • Diverse information types, including data and primary/archival sources
     
Why did the SCU Library develop these information literacy PLOs?

There were two primary drivers: 

  • Localize: As described above, we wanted to keep the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy as an active reference, but localize it conceptually for our institution.
  • Imagine: We wanted to imagine a future for our information literacy program that is aspirational, but not so far-fetched that we can’t accomplish it.

The PLOs were finalized for the 2025-2026 academic year.
 

What do PLOs help accomplish?

PLOs will help the information literacy instruction program:

  • Present a clear vision within the library and externally
  • Tell the story of our teaching and its impact more clearly
  • Shape discussions about information literacy, teaching, and learning across campus
  • Incorporate social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion imperatives into our work
  • Participate in discussions about the upcoming Core Curriculum revision
  • Contribute to assessment of the information literacy undergraduate institutional learning outcome, led by the Office of Educational Assessment
  • Chart a roadmap for our teaching priorities going forward