Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS)

From now through the 20^th, the University Library will once again be administering the Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (SAILS) to Samford undergraduate students. This will give us a detailed snapshot of our students’ information literacy skills and will help us to optimize our instructional efforts to meet areas of need.  The library has previously administered the SAILS survey in 2011 and 2014.

Students will be sent a link to the survey via their Bulldog Mail e-mail account.  Those who choose to participate will be asked to answer some questions about the various library and information resources they may use.  At the conclusion of the test, they will have the opportunity to enter our prize drawing. Prizes include a new iPad Mini 2 (32GB), two $50 Target gift cards and a $100 Amazon gift card.

This is an anonymous test; the researchers will not know the identity of the students, and the information we gather will be reported to others only in aggregate form, so no one will be able to identify the students or their individual responses. Each student is assigned a randomly generated identification number which may be used by Samford to confirm their participation in this assessment. This number is not associated with their names or other identifying information by Project SAILS and individual responses will not be shared with the university.

It is our hope that all our students who are contacted will allow their responses to the test to be used for this Samford-approved research project.  

If you want to know more about this research, please email Lauren Young, Instruction Coordinator here at the library. 

If you have questions about Samford University's rules for research, please contact Dr. Drew Hataway, Assistant Professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Chair of the University's Institutional Review Board.