Flashlight Case Study — Improving Information Literacy: A Flashlight Evaluation of Project JSTOR

Project JSTOR was a three-year grant initiative from 1999- 2002, supporting 35 public and private colleges and universities in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Its goals: strengthen digital library use and scholarly research, particularly through the acquisition and use of the JSTOR digital library collection. Through the program, 20 colleges and universities became participating JSTOR members, joining a network of 15 other member institutions in the region. The Flashlight Program conducted an external evaluation which included extensive interviews and surveys of program participants.

Perhaps the most significant finding was the power of Faculty-Librarian Instructional Partnership (FLIP) grants. Small grants helped at least one faculty member and a librarian at an institution to team up and improve a course’s ability to develop information literacy among students. The grants seemed to help advance a new working relationship between faculty and librarians, while triggering substantial institutional increases in the use of the JSTOR collection and other online resources.

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