Task Force on Information LiteracyThe Senate Library Subcommittee established a Task Force on Information Literacy in 2000, charged with defining information literacy, especially as it contrasts with computer literacy. The task force's report in April 2001 recommended that faculty and librarians collaborate to identify and promote basic proficiencies, increase awareness of information literacy issues, and develop instructional materials to increase student success in seeking and using information. The challenge ahead is to develop plans to teach the necessary skills for life-long learning, and to identify valid measures of a student's attainment of these skills.
Information Literacy Skills and Life-long LearningThe nature of these life-long learning skills is highlighted in the working definition of information literacy proposed by the task force and endorsed by the Senate Library Subcommittee in October 2001: "The traditional definition of literacy has been transformed by digital technology, demanding an additional array of information skills and concepts beyond an ability to read and write. Information literate individuals recognize when information is needed, and they are able to locate, evaluate, and ethically use that information to accomplish a specific purpose. Information literacy also involves the organization, synthesis, and presentation skills required to create and communicate information effectively.
"The IPFW student who is information literate understands the role, value, and power of information in modern society, and understands the process and importance of scholarly communication in industry, government, and non-business organizations. Additionally, the information literate student appreciates how information may be used to improve the quality of life; with this knowledge, the student realizes the global networking capabilities he or she now possesses, and will seek to attain further information literacy skills in support of life-long learning."
Information Literacy DefinedFrom this working definition, the librarians at Helmke Library identified the core elements of information literacy: Information literacy enables an IPFW student to recognize an information need, develop a strategy to locate, evaluate, and synthesize information, and cite sources of information accurately.
Implementing the Information Literacy Initiative at IPFWThrough a survey of IPFW academic units in 2000, the General Education Subcommittee sought input on the issue of computer literacy, generally defined as information-technology skills. The subcommittee's "SR 00-13 Report and Recommendations on a Computer Literacy Requirement" (Senate Reference SR 00-13, January 31, 2001) concluded that "In general, departments/programs prefer that computer literacy skills be integrated into required courses, so that the requirement can be met without adding hours to the GE [general education] requirement." The report identified required courses within the academic units that presently teach and assess computer literacy and information-technology skills.
In keeping with this campus trend, the initiative to teach and assess information literacy at IPFW involves integrating basic information skills and concepts within existing required courses. Many models for teaching information skills and concepts have been proposed over the years, and the effort has a long history in American higher education. Often called "library or bibliographic instruction," these programs have focused on designing effective library assignments, library skills workbooks, online guides and interactive tutorials, course related- or fully course-integrated instruction sessions, as well as entire stand-alone courses (Spitzer, Eisenberg, and Lowe 1998). At many universities, instruction programs have lately become all-encompassing, and the concept of "information literacy instruction" reflects this broader scope.
Establishing empirical standards for information literacy demands that librarians and the teaching faculty collaborate closely. The contemporary approach calls for librarians to develop programs and services that prepare instructors to integrate information skills and concepts into their own courses (Smith 1997; Lampert 2003). Librarians and instructors working together are best qualified to devise exercises and other disciplinary-specific assessment measures through which students demonstrate their attainment of agreed-upon information literacy proficiencies.
It is such a librarian-instructor information literacy partnership and "train-the-trainer" strategy that the information literacy task force recommends for IPFW. Information literacy, as an expectation of all IPFW graduates, can be introduced at the beginning level and reinforced at the advanced level through an integrated approach that targets required survey, research, and writing courses and the capstone courses in every academic program. The success of students as critical thinkers and consumers of information in work and life will depend on the information literacy agenda that librarians and the teaching faculty set for them today (Iannuzzi 1998).
Information Literacy ResourcesThe following sections point to official statements concerning information literacy issued by the Association of College and Research Libraries and the American Library Association, and to the Web sites of the major organizations involved in promoting information literacy. Papers and Web sites created by librarians engaged in active information literacy initiatives are also appended.
Official Information Literacy StatementsObjectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians (January 2001), and Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (January 2000), Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association
Organizations Dealing with Information LiteracyAssociation of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy website, maintained by the Institute for Information Literacy Executive Committee, provides bibliographic resources and issues guidelines and standards
National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL), hosts meetings in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere to coordinate action plans for more than 90 member organizations
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Information Literacy Section, formerly the User Education Roundtable, focuses on international information literacy programs and trends
Additional ResourcesInformation Literacy on the WWW (2000), assembled by Florida International University Libraries, provides links to academic libraries' information literacy statements
Directory of Online Resources for Information Literacy (2002), developed by Drew Smith at University of South Florida, Tampa, and maintained by Mark Dibble, Instruction and Public Service Librarian, Blumberg Memorial Library, Texas Lutheran University
Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum: How is your Library Measuring Up? (1998), by Cerise Oberman, Bonnie Gratch Lindauer, and Betsy Wilson, panel presentation at the American Association of Higher Education, Atlanta, Georgia, March 24, 1998, and published in CRL News 59(5), May 1998
Information Literacy Blueprint (1994), by Christine Susan Bruce, Division of Information Services, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
Cited ReferencesIannuzzi, Patricia. "Faculty Development and Information Literacy: Establishing Campus Partnerships." Reference Services Review 28 (1998): 97-102,116. This article is part of a special issue on information literacy, available through IPFW's licence to the publisher's Web site.
Lampert, Lynn D. "Who's Afraid of Partnerships for Information Literacy Initiatives? Working together to empower learners." College & Research Libraries News 64 (April 2003): 246-248, 253. The text of this article is available without restriction on the ACRL Web site.
Spitzer, Kathleen L., Michael B. Eisenberg, and Carrie A. Lowe. Information Literacy: Essential Skills for the Information Age. IR-104. ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, Syracuse University, 1998. This 349-page report is freely available in the ERIC (Institute of Education Sciences) database by searching for ED427780 as a keywords (all fields) search.
Smith, Risė L. "Philosophical Shift: Teach the Faculty to Teach Information Literacy." Paper presented at the ACRL 8th National Conference, Nashville, April 11-14, 1997. The text of this article is available without restriction on the ACRL Web site.
| Created by: |
P. Sandstrom |
| Date created: |
2002-10-12 |
| Date revised: |
2007-07-28, 2005-07-19, 2003-07-15 |
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