Information literacy emerged as focused area in libraries and information management in recent years . The phrase has developed various meanings over the past couple of decades, However, ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards, defined information literacy:
Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information."1
the standards are both broad and deep and list the the basic standards as following:
He argued:
Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information."1
the standards are both broad and deep and list the the basic standards as following:
- The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
- The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
- The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
- The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
- The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.
Standards 1 and 2 are, in my opinion, the ones that librarians would typically have the most direct effect on, though often in relatively limited circumstances. Many of us in academic libraries routinely teach students how to find the kind of information they need for research, and give them suggestions on how to evaluate it which they may or may not apply.
I'm not sure who besides the student could be responsible for Standard 3, and I have no idea how that would be assessed in any broad way. What's clear from the research I've read about is that most people have trouble incorporating new information into their knowledge base and value system, especially if it conflicts with values they already hold. But a rigorous liberal education should help people get past that barrier. Regardless, Standard 3 is really quite expansive, and unless they're actually teaching an information literacy class (or a writing class, where I've worked on this with students), librarians typically aren't working with students to evaluate information in any depth or look at sources critically. This requires that both the librarian and the student have read the work. I could be mistaken, though. How many librarians out there discuss any books or articles in depth with students and help them evaluate them critically? Pointing out how to tell primary from secondary sources or scholarly from popular articles is one thing, or doing a quick website evaluation to show that some website is biased or unauthoritative, but those are relatively superficial compared to reading and discussing works with students, and it's the reading and discussion that teaches students how to evaluate well and signals whether something has been comprehended, much less evaluated. I'll grant it can happen, and just last week I helped a student working on an essay by discussing the course reading with him and helping him generate ideas, but that's unusual.
Standard 4 is also goes beyond the level of student involvement that most librarians have. Accomplishing a specific purpose can be interpreted many ways, but the specific purpose of most students I see is writing a research essay of some kind. I help them find sources, discuss the different kinds of sources their are and what they could do for an essay, but I don't work with them in the way that instructors would, and I'm usually not in a position to know if they've accomplished their task well. When I teach writing, I do work with students to help them write research essays, which often involves seeing how students use their sources in their writing and teaching them how to use the sources more appropriately. That's work I could do as a librarian, but it's not work I normally do. Librarians who teach courses that have research components have that sort of direct role, but other than that how many do? In addition, the Standard implies that this can be done repeatedly, for any project. Given the relatively limited time most librarians have directly with students, how much would our direct teaching enable students to reach that point without significantly more guidance than we typically give?
I'm not sure who besides the student could be responsible for Standard 3, and I have no idea how that would be assessed in any broad way. What's clear from the research I've read about is that most people have trouble incorporating new information into their knowledge base and value system, especially if it conflicts with values they already hold. But a rigorous liberal education should help people get past that barrier. Regardless, Standard 3 is really quite expansive, and unless they're actually teaching an information literacy class (or a writing class, where I've worked on this with students), librarians typically aren't working with students to evaluate information in any depth or look at sources critically. This requires that both the librarian and the student have read the work. I could be mistaken, though. How many librarians out there discuss any books or articles in depth with students and help them evaluate them critically? Pointing out how to tell primary from secondary sources or scholarly from popular articles is one thing, or doing a quick website evaluation to show that some website is biased or unauthoritative, but those are relatively superficial compared to reading and discussing works with students, and it's the reading and discussion that teaches students how to evaluate well and signals whether something has been comprehended, much less evaluated. I'll grant it can happen, and just last week I helped a student working on an essay by discussing the course reading with him and helping him generate ideas, but that's unusual.
Standard 4 is also goes beyond the level of student involvement that most librarians have. Accomplishing a specific purpose can be interpreted many ways, but the specific purpose of most students I see is writing a research essay of some kind. I help them find sources, discuss the different kinds of sources their are and what they could do for an essay, but I don't work with them in the way that instructors would, and I'm usually not in a position to know if they've accomplished their task well. When I teach writing, I do work with students to help them write research essays, which often involves seeing how students use their sources in their writing and teaching them how to use the sources more appropriately. That's work I could do as a librarian, but it's not work I normally do. Librarians who teach courses that have research components have that sort of direct role, but other than that how many do? In addition, the Standard implies that this can be done repeatedly, for any project. Given the relatively limited time most librarians have directly with students, how much would our direct teaching enable students to reach that point without significantly more guidance than we typically give?
Standard 5 is a complete washout, because no one but librarians and publishers seems to care much how information is acquired as long as it's easily acquired. I've written before arguing that the legal and economic barriers to scholarly information are incompatible with scholarly values. For example, if scholars want access to articles their library can't get for some reason, they'll go through informal and technically illegal channels to get those articles. Standard 5 says the information literate person uses information ethically and legally, but I think there are cases where scholarly ethics and copyright law conflict. The very willingness of otherwise ethical scholars to defy certain copyright laws supports my point. Though I wouldn't advocate piracy of copyrighted information to anyone, this standard contains more than just "literacy." It's an ethical injunction as much as anything, and for the other standards to be met, sometimes it might be necessary to acquire something illegally. Finding information and incorporating it into your worldview to accomplish a task isn't the same as using the information legally.
Notes
- American Library Association. Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report.(Chicago: American Library Association, 1989.)
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