Information Literacy

Information literacy is the ability to locate, evaluate, and apply the content of print, non-print, and digital resources both to academic study and to professional, public, and personal life.

Information literacy competencies facilitate fundamental academic tasks and processes such as framing a question, defining a thesis, and assessing the value and relevance of texts. They promote the achievement of both general and disciplinary learning by enabling students to retrieve, manage, and apply disciplinary literatures. The goals, content, and methods of information literacy instruction primarily derive from those of contemporary library instruction but also draw upon elements of many academic disciplines to address issues such as scholarly communication, the presentation of information, protocols of networks and digital interfaces, and socioeconomic and legal aspects of knowledge and information. At its more basic level, information literacy instruction is offered through workshops and integrated into existing courses and their assignments. At the more advanced level, instruction for it is like other cross-disciplinary competencies -- meaningfully taught and learned only in a disciplinary context.

View information literacy standards, goals and outcomes statements (pdf).

Information Literacy Resources

Information literacy in the college curriculum:

• Philosophical Shift: Teach the Faculty to Teach Information Literacy (an ACRL paper)
• Grafstein, Ann. " A discipline-based approach to information literacy." The Journal of Academic Librarianship v.28 no4 (July 2002) p. 197-204.
• Shapiro, Jeremy J. & Shelley K. Hughes. " Information Literacy as a Liberal Art: Enlightenment proposals for a new curriculum." Educom Review v.31, no2 (March/April 1996).
• Grassian, Esther & Susan E. Clark. " Information Literacy Sites." College & Research Libraries News v.60 no2 (Feb. 1999).
• Integrating Information Literacy into the Liberal Arts Curriculum - Projects funded to Date: Five Colleges of Ohio, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant. This is a list of numerous assignments and departmental plans for a wide variety of disciplines.

Tips for designing assignments:

• Designing Research Assignments from Queens University Library (Kingston Ontario)
• "IL in Classrooms" from the Association of College and Research Libraries
• "Creating Effective Library Assignments" from University of Maryland Libraries.
• "Alternatives to Term Papers" from Lawrence University Library

Information literacy for first year students:

• Incorporating Information Literacy into Oberlin's First Year Seminars: A Faculty Guide (pdf)

Discipline specific information literacy resources:

• Black Studies:

  • Information Competence for Black Studies (California State University, Long Beach). This is not one specific assignment, but connections to resources, articles and websites.
  • Information Competence for Black Studies - Tutorial  (California State University, Long Beach) This is an online tutorial for the student, including pre- and post- test options.

  Mathematics:

  • Internet Mathematician (Virtual Training Site, University of Bristol) This is a tutorial to teach students about mathematics information resources.
  • Math 100 (Lewis & Clark College)

• The Sciences:

  • Brown, Cecelia. "Integrating Information Literacy into the Science Curriculum." College and Research Libraries v.63 no2 (2002) p.111.

• Writing:

  • ENG 600 - Fundamentals of Research in Composition (Humboldt State Unviersity) This A page for a graduate level course for students getting Masters/PHDs in composition, but it includes good ideas and resources.