Case Study Now Publically Available
October 9, 2012, Boston, Oxford – Credo Reference, a company that believes the world would be a better place if more decisions and ideas were powered by knowledge, today announced the results of a case study conducted at Columbia University around its new Literati solution. Literati helps students not only easily discover and use the library’s authoritative content, but also understand the value of the library’s resources over non-authoritative sources that are abundant on the open web. Literati is a library’s connection to information literacy.
The study, which was conducted by the Literati Customer Solutions team in conjunction with the embedded librarian coordinators of Columbia’s Undergraduate Writing Program, focused on Literati as the core instructional tool for the first-year seminar. Literati’s Mind Map, Topic Pages and customized tutorials were employed to change the understanding of the research process, and Columbia University’s students, faculty and librarians confirmed their value and effectiveness.
The case study is freely available to anyone who registers at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Literati_Columbia_Case_Study.
Key findings include the following:
“Because (Literati) is such a rich resource, the students gravitated toward it. It is intuitive and helps them with preliminary work on their projects. Moreover, the librarians can get a lot of mileage out of this one resource,” said one instructor who participated in the study.
“Partnering with Columbia University on this case study helped us better understand the specific research and information literacy needs among students in their Undergraduate Writing Program, and tailor their Literati service accordingly,” said Mike Sweet, CEO of Credo Reference. “The knowledge that we have gained will be highly valuable as we continue to evolve Literati’s blend of technology, content and services.”
About Literati
Literati by Credo has three components:
Technology:
Literati includes a growing selection of nearly 10,000 Topic Pages that integrate Credo’s reference e-books with a library’s existing resources and discovery services, extending their value. Topic Pages are valued at over $3.5 million.
Other technologies such as the Mind Map and embedded tools provide a powerful way to visualize and understand the research process.
Content:
Literati is packaged with over 600 XML-enriched general reference e-books along with over 500,000 images, videos and audio clips that enhance learning.
Services:
What makes Literati truly unique are the customized and complementary services provided by on-staff librarians and educators. These services integrate faculty & student outreach, multimedia instruction and assessment tools. Instructional materials such as tutorials, modules and guides are developed based on the library’s strategic goals and are not limited to Credo products.