Communications in Information Literacy - Volume 17 - Issue 2 - Article 9 - Quality Matters: Using a Peer-Review Process to Create a Cohesive Multi-Campus Library Online Instruction Program

Oct 15, 2026

Librarians in a newly combined, multi-campus research and instruction department conducted a large-scale peer review of their online instruction program and materials. The collaborative assessment aimed to align three departments around a cohesive, self-guided library instruction vision while establishing consistent quality standards and shared ownership. The work used an original rubric grounded in Quality Matters Course Design Standards, documenting goals, challenges, and outcomes to strengthen online research, information, and data literacy for faculty and students. The collaboration’s processes and quality assurance structures offer a transferable model for similar academic library transitions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Peer review and collaborative assessment

Goals and quality standards

Rubric development and QM alignment

Outcomes, challenges, and model for other libraries

Communications in Information Literacy | Volume 17 Issue 2 | Article 9 | | --- | --- | | 12-2023
Quality Matters: Using a Peer-Review Process to Create a Cohesive Multi-Campus Library Online Instruction Program
Stephanie Jacobs
University of South Florida, [sajacobs@usf.edu](sajacobs@usf.edu)
Maryellen Nash
Nashville State Community College, [Maryellen.Nash@nscc.edu](Maryellen.Nash@nscc.edu)
Theresa Burress
University of South Florida, [tburress@usf.edu](tburress@usf.edu)
Kaya van Beynen
University of South Florida, [kayatown@usf.edu](kayatown@usf.edu)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit](https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit)
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Let us know how access to this document benefits you. | | Recommended Citation Jacobs, S., Nash, M., Burress, T., & van Beynen, K. (2023) . Quality Matters: Using a Peer-Review Process to Create a Cohesive Multi-Campus Library Online Instruction Program. Communications in Information Literacy, 17 (2), 487–509 . [https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2023.17.2.9](https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2023.17.2.9) This open access Innovative Practice is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4 .0) . All documents in PDXScholar should meet accessibility standards. If we can make this document more accessible to you, contact our team. Quality Matters: Using a Peer-Review Process to Create a Cohesive Multi-Campus Library Online Instruction Program Stephanie Jacobs, University of South Florida Maryellen Nash, Nashville State Community College Theresa Burress, University of South Florida Kaya van Beynen, University of South Florida Abstract Librarians within a newly combined, multi-campus research and instruction department undertook a large-scale peer review of their online instruction program and materials. This collaborative assessment project sought to unite three library departments with a cohesive vision for self-guided online library instruction while establishing consistent quality standards and building a shared sense of ownership and accomplishment. These goals were achieved through a collaborative assessment of online instructional modules that included the development of a novel rubric based on the Quality Matters Course Design Standards. This article reports on that ongoing journey, as well as the goals, challenges, and outcomes of the process, which at its core was dedicated to ensuring that high-quality online research, information, and data literacy programming are available for faculty and students. The processes and structures that the team built to facilitate collaboration and quality assurance may serve as a model for other academic libraries experiencing similar transitions. Keywords: Quality Matters, information and data literacy, asynchronous online instruction Innovative Practices edited by Andrea Baer, Carolyn Gamtso, and Merinda McLure Jacobs, S., Nash, M., Burress, T., & van Beynen, K. (2023). Quality matters: Using a peerreview process to create a cohesive multi-campus library online instruction program. Communications in Information Literacy, 17(2), 487–509. Quality Matters: Using a Peer-Review Process to Create a Cohesive Multi-Campus Library Online Instruction Program College and university libraries have been offering asynchronous, online information literacy programming to varying degrees and purposes for decades. Often, staff or librarians with instructional design expertise coordinate this type of programming to serve distancelearning programs. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 and the abrupt move to remote learning across the globe, many research and instruction departments quickly increased the scope of their existing online instruction or developed online instructi

FAQs

What problem did the multi-campus team address through peer review?

The team sought to review and improve online instruction modules so that three campus departments could operate with a cohesive vision, consistent quality standards, and shared ownership of the program.

How did the team ensure quality and standardization?

They developed and applied a novel rubric based on the Quality Matters Course Design Standards to guide professional development and evaluate instructional modules through a cross-campus peer-review process.

What does the article report as outcomes of the process?

It reports the ongoing journey and describes goals, challenges, and outcomes focused on ensuring high-quality online research, information, and data literacy programming for faculty and students.

Oct 15, 2026

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