Library Assessment: Rubrics

ISU requires departments and units to put the performance criteria statements of learning outcomes into a rubric. The university wants a rubric for what students should learn by the time they graduate. The library may also wish to create rubrics for for more specific activites and assignments, such as what students should learn from library instruction sessions.

Rubrics can take different structures and forms but they all require a specified level of understanding or achievement by the students or trainees of an instructional program or session. Rubrics can take some work to get right because your librarian colleagues need to agree on the interpretation. Some discussion may ensue about what it means to crawl unassisted.

Rubrics should be shared with students and trainees. After all, shouldn't they be told what you expect them to learn?

Examples of rubrics follow. Take care when viewing them.

“The most accessible rubrics, particularly those available on the Internet, contain design flaws that not only affect their instructional usefulness, but also the validity of their results.” (Tierney 2004)

Copy & Paste

library|"information literacy" rubric                  "writing center" rubric