Radford University librarians receive research accolade

A web article co-authored by five McConnell Library faculty members has been selected by the American Library Association Library Instruction Round Table's (LIRT) Top Twenty Committee as a 2013 Top Twenty article.

"Teaching web evaluation: A cognitive development approach," written by Candice Benjes-Small, Alyssa Archer, Katelyn Tucker, Lisa Vassady and Jennifer Resor Whicker, was selected from more than 160 submissions.

"Every year, hundreds of articles about information literacy are published, so to be chosen for the Top 20 of 2013 is a great honor," said lead author Benjes-Small. "The LIRT lists are very well regarded and heavily used in our field, so it’s exciting to be included."

LIRT will publish information about the 20 selected articles in the June issue of LIRT News.

The RU article examined a recent revamping of library Web evaluation workshops to incorporate findings from cognitive development research. The project and the resulting workshops have been successful in blending student engagement with educational content.

"It’s been thrilling to hear from readers of our article that they’ve employed our lesson plan with similar positive results," said Benjes-Small. "Because the LIRT lists have a high profile, I expect even more librarians will read the article.  RU is gaining a great reputation for our information literacy efforts!"

You can find more information about the Top Twenty Committee as well as information about past selections at the ALA website.