This case study describes how life science data was successfully incorporated into an information literacy (IL) program in order to better align instruction with student and faculty needs. The librarian and instructor had developed a successful workshop in Biology 311-Principles of Genetics, a second-year course in 2006 (MacMillan, 2010). The instructor noted that while most students in the genetics course took Biochemistry 393, Introduction to Biochemistry, in the following semester, they were not linking knowledge gained in one course to the other as well as she expected. Many undergraduate biology programs continue to teach genetics and biochemistry from different philosophical or pedagogical perspectives which inhibits students from fully understanding or appreciating the content that is common to both subjects (Barrette-Ng & MacMillan, 2014). These two courses, however, were taught by the same instructor, so there were opportunities to encourage students to develop a more integrated understanding of both disciplines. In 2010 the librarian and instructor collaborated on a second IL workshop for the biochemistry course that would foster transfer of knowledge between the two subjects, and introduce students to other domain-specific data resources. Students learned how similar data informed research in genetics and biochemistry, and were able to practice skills gained in navigating complex gene databases as they explored resources on proteins. The primary goal of lab was to remove some of the artificial barriers that exist between these two disciplines by having students examine the molecular basis of genetically inherited diseases. Specifically, students in Biology 311- Principles of Genetics, used relevant data sources to investigate the molecular basis of their genetically inherited disease topic, and in Biochemistry 393, during the winter semester, they examined the structural origins of the molecular basis of their disease topic with related data. Both the genetics and biochemistry information literacy sessions were developed with the same guiding principle: to introduce students to the benefits of using ‘real-world’ tools early in their academic careers. They were both structured to provide scaffolded practice exploring selected bioinformatics resources, followed by assignments that required integrating information from these resources with other course content to answer questions about the role of genes and proteins in genetically-inherited diseases. As with the first genetics session, working with the biochemistry class enabled the librarian to develop new data competencies and gain a deeper understanding of the two disciplines. This has contributed to a more robust and sustainable IL program that aligns more closely with faculty and student needs. The case study will provide background information on the resources included in the sessions, activities used to guide students in their exploration of these resources and suggestions for integrating bioinformatics data into information or data literacy instruction.

Researchers work with scholarly publications, data, and discovery tools in an integrated workflow. This suggests that academic librarians need to develop some familiarity and competencies with the scholarly communication patterns of the discipline in order to better integrate data and information literacy to educate the next generation of scientists. Providing an early introduction to bioinformatics data resources enables students to see science in action in fields where the published article may be almost secondary to the supporting data. Research data in these disciplines are in many cases more important than the articles they are linked or associated with (Akers & Doty, 2013; Castelli, Manghi, & Thanos, 2013). In a report by the National Academy of Sciences entitled BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists, a key recommendation was the “need to involve students in working with real data and tools that reflect the nature of life sciences research in the 21^st century” (as cited in Ditty et al., 2010, p. 1). Similarly, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) endorsed the use of bioinformatics and related data resources as a core competency for students in molecular biology courses (Boyle, 2004; Voet et al., 2003).

Bednarski, Elgin and Pakrasi (2005) were among the earliest to incorporate bioinformatics data into undergraduate courses. Bednarski developed an inquiry-based laboratory project which introduced undergraduate students to several key bioinformatics databases including the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), GenBank, and Protein Data Bank (PDB), in order to study the effects of mutations on protein structure, function and human physiology. Students indicated they appreciated the investigative nature of these exercises and had a better understanding of how researchers develop hypotheses about genetic disease topics and share their scientific results. The authors also concluded that “the oral and written reports gave students a chance to practice their skills in communicating scientific information, and the collaborative nature and group work in the lab gave students opportunities to both defend their ideas and learn from their peers” (Bednarski et al., 2005, p. 216).

Further evidence of the benefits of incorporating bioinformatics resources within undergraduate information or data literacy instruction to enhance student understanding of molecular processes has been reported by a number of recent studies (Badotti et al., 2013; Dymond et al., 2009; Weisman, 2010; Wightman & Hark, 2012). Best practices for implementing similar programs have been delineated (Badotti et al., 2013; Bednarski et al., 2005; Miskowski, Howard, Abler, & Grunwald, 2007; Via et al., 2011; Weisman, 2010), while others have discussed the programmatic role librarians can provide in supporting molecular biologists as they navigate the myriad data resources (MacMullen & Denn, 2005). Effective collaborations between librarians and the life sciences faculty have also been described in the literature (Bowden & DiBenedetto, 2001; Brown & Krumholz, 2002; Callinan, 2005; Dinkelman, 2010; Ferrer-Vinent & Carello, 2008; MacMillan, 2010; Winterman, 2009).

A common theme among many of these studies are the benefits associated with collaborating with the teaching faculty, including the potential to enhance librarians’ domain knowledge and expertise in the subject area. Many of the authors also provide valuable guidance on how to use bioinformatics tools more effectively. Familiarity, if not expertise in using bioinformatics databases is now considered a critical competency in life sciences librarians, as articulated in two recent reports. One prepared for the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) examined the role of liaison librarians in research libraries and recommended more sustainable engagement strategies that shift the focus to what users do (e.g., research, teaching, and learning) rather than on what librarians do (e.g., collections and reference) (Jaguszewski & Williams, 2013). In the second study published by Ithaka S+R, the author posits that an “an emerging theme in the development of the liaison model is to shift the focus away from the work of librarians to that of scholars and to develop engagement strategies based on their needs and success indicators” (Kenney, 2014, p. 4).

In a study that examined the data information literacy needs of students and the research faculty, Carlson, Johnston, Westra and Nichols (2013) concluded that librarians can leverage teaching opportunities by integrating data into training and that a major “objective of this collaboration was to increase the capacity of librarians to engage with students and faculty” (p. 215). The authors of this study also determined that most researchers in this study thought that offering some type of data literacy was required for their students (Carlson et al., 2013). Other studies have also concluded that academic librarians are well positioned to support data literacy and data competencies (Calzada Prado & Marzal, 2013; Gray, 2004; Schield, 2004; Stephenson & Schifter Caravello, 2007).

The development of the two IL sessions described in this paper rests on two contexts. The first is the rapidly changing information environment in the life sciences and the second is the institutional setting where the classes take place.

The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2001 resulted in a deluge of life science data, particularly from large-scale sequencing projects that generate data pertaining to the structural and functional aspects of genes and proteins (Hey, Tansley, & Tolle, 2009). The discovery and analysis of this type of data has been facilitated by the emergence of bioinformatics databases and the development of a robust data infrastructure including disciplinary repositories that provide quality control and sustainable preservation.

Furthermore, researchers in the life sciences are increasingly being mandated to adhere to funder and/or publisher mandates to disclose the results of their research, including data, in an appropriate disciplinary data repository so that findings from any publically funded research is accessible and reproducible to others (Smith et al., 2011; Vickers, 2011).

In addition to providing sustainable data preservation and discoverability, bioinformatics databases are a unique form of scholarly content, integral to the scholarly communication paradigm in the life sciences. They are now built into the work of researchers, journal publishers, libraries and funding agencies intent on making research results more widely available (Bourne, 2005).

The accessibility of life science data is further enhanced by the interoperability between key publishers and selected data repositories. For example, scientific publishers including Elsevier, Wiley, Springer and Nature are increasingly mandating that authors submit any data associated with a manuscript at an appropriate data repository such as he National Center for Biotechnology’s (NCBI) GenBank and Protein Data Bank as a condition of publication. Increasingly, the article and associated data are linked bi-directionally which enabled students in this case study to begin their research on their disease topic from either the article or appropriate data repository.

While sophisticated, bioinformatics resources are relatively user-friendly, enabling inexperienced users to navigate and comprehend their potential if the right conditions are met (MacMillan, 2010). Fortunately, at the University of Calgary, the collaboration between the instructor and the librarian has met those conditions in developing workshops that not only introduce students to content-rich resources, but foster the integration of that content across disciplines.

The University of Calgary has a student population of approximately 31,000 students and offers over 200 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Information literacy support is provided for a variety of undergraduate programs including the biological sciences. When the author first worked with the biological sciences department, the main contact point with students was a first-year course with an assignment that introduced students to library resources in order to locate a peer-reviewed article on a research topic. However as students in first year did not need to do much research outside of the library assignment, this may not have been the most effective place for IL instruction, and the sessions were eventually dropped from the course in 2010. An instructor in the second year genetics course, however, did require her students to integrate information resources in their work, and so began the collaboration that is detailed in the case study. Information literacy instruction in these second-year courses is extended in third and fourth year in biochemistry and cellular biology courses where instruction includes reminders about bioinformatics content but focuses on bibliographic resources and information management.

The initial collaboration between the instructor and the librarian on an information literacy session for Biology 311-Principles of Genetics began in 2006, with the goal of providing a more authentic inquiry-based learning environment, and has been refined annually ever since to incorporate new resources, changes to interfaces and greater understanding of where students have the greatest difficulty. In 2010 this collaboration was extended to Biochemistry 393-Introduction to Biochemistry, so that students would better understand the content that is common to both disciplines by investigating the effects of mutations on different levels of protein structure, function, and genetically inherited diseases (Barrette-Ng & MacMillan, 2014). Lessons learned in developing Biology 311 were applied to the new class and both model authentic pathways that replicate researcher workflow, incorporate scaffolded steps and hands-on practice that leverage the interoperability of different bioinformatics resources. Both are assessed through short term assignments and larger projects that require further independent exploration of the resources.

This case study will outline each of the classes, and describe the information resources and activities. Details are provided so that others may adapt the work to their own contexts.

Incorporating disciplinary data from gene and protein data sources within undergraduate IL has benefits for librarians and students. For the librarian, developing familiarity with life science data provided an opportunity to engage with the discipline more deeply. Developing competencies through the discovery and analysis of molecular biology data has informed the librarian’s domain expertise in genetics and biochemistry, in turn providing valuable contextual knowledge when demonstrating and answering questions about the various data resources. Gaining knowledge of bioinformatics resources has also translated into an improved alignment of library services with faculty requirements, and has resulted in many productive conversations with faculty members about their data use and needs. This in turn has led to a more collaborative, sustainable and rigorous information literacy program. The value of this collaboration with a faculty members extends beyond the classroom, and has resulted in numerous presentations to both library and biology audiences.

As mentioned earlier in this paper, librarians, particularly science librarians, need to maintain currency in patterns of scholarly communication, to better align their professional activities more closely with the research and learning needs of students and faculty members. Jaguszewski and Williams posit that “an engaged librarian seeks to enhance scholar productivity, to empower learners, and to participate in the entire lifecycle of the research, teaching, and learning process” (Jaguszewski & Williams, 2013, p. 4). This need to develop new skills in order to take on new roles is a dominant theme in current literature (Auckland, 2012; Kenney, 2014).

Students make significant learning gains through the experiential learning provided in the library sessions. Using bioinformatics databases to answer specific molecular biology questions ensured that students were able to extend and integrate learning throughout the academic year, progressing from easy to more complex questions, while at the same time understanding concepts that underline both disciplines. In both courses, bioinformatics tools facilitated the discovery and analysis of life sciences data, illustrating the role of gene and protein structure in determining related functions. Students can learn about these topics in a lecture or from a textbook but using PyMol to substitute an amino acid and visualize the impact on protein structure and function in three-dimensions provides a more engaged, interactive and authentic learning experience. Using these databases in conjunction with other sources such as PDB and PubMed allowed for a more integrated understanding of how various sources of information serve researchers. Using a GenBank record, a patent, and a scholarly article that refer to the same data demonstrates how these resources complement each other, and how students can correlate information found across the resources to better understand it. Starting from genetics resources to solve problems in biochemistry underscores the deep connections between the two disciplines and encourages deeper transfer of knowledge.

In considering the gains students make through this integration beyond the simple exposure to new resources, it is possible to relate them to the threshold concepts in information literacy currently under discussion by the ACRL. Many of the Knowledge Practices described in the Framework document are supported by the design of the library session and accompanying assignments (Gibson & Jacobson, 2014) . Students are encouraged to develop a deeper understanding of how knowledge in the discipline is created and deploy that understanding to search and research more effectively, in order to synthesize information from a variety of sources into a scholarly artefact. Students develop an understanding of bioinformatics data in BIOL 311 through the library session and subsequent practice. They then deepen that understanding in BCEM 393, through exercises deliberately designed to foster knowledge transfer, and again have multiple opportunities to practice extracting information from data.

Students who participated in these sessions gained hands-on experience with critical tools in their discipline, developed an appreciation for how knowledge in genetics and biochemistry is created and integrated based on incremental discoveries, and how new bioinformatics tools facilitate the synthesis of information into knowledge. Their instructor has noted that students have developed a more integrated understanding of biochemistry and genetics, in part through seeing how researchers use similar data to understand questions in both domains. The librarian frequently attends the poster sessions and has observed students demonstrate an ability to use the bioinformatics data in conjunction with more conventional text resources to explore genetic factors in disease. Some of the Graduate Teaching Assistants, now working with the classes, were early participants in the library sessions and frequently comment on the usefulness of early exposure to the databases.

Throughout this collaboration, assignments and activities have been continuously revised in response to new resources, new interfaces and observations of where students have been challenged to understand the material or the processes to access and link material. From experience and the literature, the following suggestions for incorporating bioinformatics data emerge. Many of these are common to IL as a whole, but worth reconsidering and relating to new content:

This case study presents the development of two linked IL sessions that introduce undergraduate students to bioinformatics resources. While each of the classes provides benefits to students in terms of enhanced content knowledge, linking the courses through their foundational information resources helps students understand genetics and biochemistry as integrated fields of inquiry. This has clear benefits for the students, and indeed for the librarian. Moving beyond the consideration of IL as isolated experiences, to a more integrated curriculum allows for a deeper engagement with student learning and a closer alignment with the needs of current and future researchers. This closer alignment has led to more effective collaborations, not only with the instructor in these courses, but also with other members of the department. Developing an understanding of the role of bioinformatics databases has allowed the librarian to work with current researchers at a different level, as well as providing future researchers with necessary skills.